Mutianus Rufus

(real name, Conrad Muth). Born Oct. 15, 1471, in Homberg, near the city of Fritzlar; died Mar. 30, 1526, in Gotha. German humanist. A canon in the city of Gotha.

Mutianus Rufus led the Erfurt circle of humanists, which issued the Letters of the Obscurantists (Epistolae obscurorum virorum). His criticism of scholasticism, church ceremonies, and the ignorance and vices of the Catholic clergy helped pave the way for the Reformation. Mutianus Rufus, however, did not embrace the Reformation and considered the Peasant War of 1524–26 to be merely a riot.

References in periodicals archive ?

Mutianus Rufus, the outstanding intellectual from Gotha, Eobanus Hessus, probably the best German Neo-Latin poet, and Erasmus of Rotterdam, the quintessential Renaissance intellectual, were never offered the poet's crown, and at least Mutianus and Erasmus would have refused it with indignation--a clear sign of the debased status of this imperial gesture.

Triumph des Dichters: Gekronte Intellektuelle im 16. Jahrhundert

Her discussion here looks at, among others, Erasmus, Mutianus Rufus, Maarten van Dorp, Beatus Rhenanus, Willibald Pirckheimer, Urbanus Rhegius, and Wolfgang Capito.