Gregor Reisch

Gregor Reisch (* 1470 in Balingen (Württemberg ); † May 9, 1525 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a high school teacher and monk. He is a representative of the philosophical school of the late scholastic realists.

Biography

Gregor Reisch was born 1467-1470 in the Württemberg Balingen; his date of birth is not known. On October 25, 1487 he was matriculated at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau. During his studies he was an alumnus of Domus Studentenburse cartusiana. In 1488 he earned the degree of bachelor in 1489 and the title of Master of Arts. After working as a high school teacher Gregor Reisch entered 1496 the Order of the Carthusians. In 1501 he was prior of the monastery Buxheim and a year later, 1502, the Prior of the monastery at Freiburg Johannisberg, which he remained until his death. From 1508 he served additionally as Visitor of the Rhenish Province of the Order and 1521 as deputy to the superiors in the Grande Chartreuse. He died on May 9, 1525 Freiburg im Breisgau.

The scientific area of Reisch included except the Freiburg humanists Rhenanus, Jacob Wimpheling, Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg, Konrad Pellikan, Johannes Reuchlin and temporarily Erasmus of Rotterdam. His most famous pupils were John Eck, Martin Waldseemüller and Sebastian Münster. Gregor Reisch was an opponent of Luther's teachings and the resulting Protestantism. From 1509 Reisch was a close confidant of Emperor Maximilian I..

Writings

Explanation of Figure

The illustration is titled TYPE Arithmeticae and stands in the Margarita philosophica before the 4th book De quadrivii rudimentis, which deals with the arithmetic. The personalized Arithmetica holding in each hand an open book, probably with the description shown in the image two computing systems; can be found on her dress the beginnings of two geometric series of numbers: 1 - 2 - 4 - 8 and 1 - 3 - 9 - 27 In the foreground are two tables, right, a computational Bank and behind Pythagoras, left a recorded with numbers and characters table and behind Boethius. Pythagoras was in the Middle Ages (erroneously ) as the inventor of the widely used since ancient times Abakusrechnens, the " Computing on the line "; the computational Bank has four horizontal lines that are running reckoned with " computing pennies "; each line represents a point of the decimal system; the lines for the thousands and millions wear crosses lying; the bottom line is the one - line; is a Rechenpfennig between two lines, it means five units of the lower line. On the left side shows Boethius, erroneously referred to in the Middle Ages as the inventor of the Arabic numerals, the advantages of the method of calculation with Arabic numerals, the " computing on the spring "; it is known to the numbers 1 to 9 nor the 0 added that "nothing" is in itself, but can increase tenfold the previous digits.