LIPSIUS, JUSTUS (JOEST LIPS)

(1547–1606)

Scholar. Born in Flanders, Lipsius became famous in the field of classical philology, history, and political theory. He was a professor at various universi ties: in Jena, Germany, where he converted to Lutheranism; in Lei den (1578–1591), where he accepted Calvinism; and after 1592 in Louvain after he returned to Roman Catholicism. During his stay in Leiden, where he taught history and law, Lipsius published, among other things, his treatise De constantia (1584), evidence of his Christian-humanistic stoicism, and Politica (1589), a theory on the modern state in which he approved of Niccolo Machiavelli’s theses. Political and theological controversies obliged him to resign, but his writings remained influential for a long period.