Module: Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter

Introduction

Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter (1506 – 1557) was a German diplomat, theologian, philologist and hebraist. He studied law, theology and oriental languages ​​in the 1520s at the universities of Tübingen and probably Heidelberg and Basel. His book collection comprised over 800 works, of which more than 300 were written in Hebrew and Arabic. This collection was acquired by Duke Albrecht V. and is the basis for the very extensive collection of oriental manuscripts in the Bavarian State Library. This collection also contained works on classical philology, theology and natural history writings, for example in the field of medicine or astronomy.

Source: Maximilian de Molière: Confronting Kabbalah. Studies in the Christian Hebraist Library of Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter. PhD Thesis, University of Munich, 2021. (forthcoming)