August 24, 2014 <Back to Index>
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Albrecht von Eyb (born in 1420 near Ansbach in Franconia; died in 1475) was one of the earliest German humanists. After preliminary studies at Erfurt, he went to Italy and devoted himself to humanistic study at the University of Pavia and University of Bologna. He returned to Germany in 1451, having in the meantime been appointed canon at Eichstätt and Bamberg. From 1452 to 1459 he was again a student at Bologna, winning the degree of doctor of canon and civil law. He was also honoured by an appointment as chamberlain to Pope Pius II. After his return to Germany he resided chiefly at Eichstätt. In 1462 he became archdeacon of Würzburg, not, however, without encountering violent opposition from the Bishop of Würzburg, who hated Eyb as a partisan of the Hohenzollern Margrave, Albrecht Achilles. Little is known of his last years. Eyb's best known and most important work is his Ehebüchlein (Book
on Marriage), in which he discusses the question whether a man should
take a lawful wife or not. It was published in 1472. In 1460 he had
written on the same theme in Latin "An viro sapienti uxor sit ducenda".
The German work treats of the joys and sorrows of married life and
general maxims of a moral or philosophical character are added. A
decision is finally rendered in favour of the married state. The
popularity of the book is attested by the fact that between 1472 and
1540 no less than twelve reprints were issued. Another work of Eyb is the Margarita poetica (Nuremberg, 1472), a textbook of humanistic rhetoric,
consisting of a collection of passages in prose and verse from Latin
authors, to which are added specimens of humanistic eloquence. In 1474
Eyb finished his Spiegel der Sitten (Mirror
of Morals), a lengthy work of ethical and moral content, probably based
on some Latin original. The book did not meet with the favour shown to
the Ehebüchlein and was not printed until 1511. Appended to it are German translations of two of Plautus's comedies, the Menaechmi and the Bacchides as well as of Ugolini Pisani's Philogenia. Eyb's
writings have been edited by K. Müller (Sondershausen, 1879) and
M. Herrmann, "Deutsche Schriften des Albrecht von Eyb" (Berlin, 1895). |