GEBWILER, HIERONYMUS

(ca. 1473-1545)

Alsatianhumanistand schoolmaster. Born at Kaysersberg and educated atBaseland Paris (B.A. 1493, M.A. 1495), in 1501 he became headmaster of the famous Latin school at Sélestat, where he attracted several pupils who later became influential humanists, includingBeatus Rhenanus,Bonifacius Amerbachof Basel, and his own eventual successor as headmaster, Johannes Witz (Sapidus). In 1509 he moved to Strasbourg as head-master of the cathedral school, being determined to make the school into an idealclassicalGymnasium. He abandoned the traditional Latin grammar book of the Middle Ages, theDoctrinaleof Alexander de Villa Dei, and adopted a new humanist grammar by Johannes Cochlaeus. Gebwiler published editions of the Epistles of Horace and comedies of Plautus for use in teaching Latin, as well as an annotated edition of the commentaries on Aristotle'sPhysicsby the French humanistLefèvre d'Etaplesand an edition of the historical workDe inventorions rerum/On the Inventors of Thingsby the Italian humanistPolydore Vergil. He opposed the ProtestantReformation, and when the movement won control of Strasbourg in 1525 he left to become director of a school in Haguenau.