Cornelius Loos, also known as Losaeus Callidius (1546 - February 3, 1595), was a Roman Catholic priest, theologian, and Professor of Theology, and was the first Catholic official to write publicly against the witch trials then raging throughout Europe. Events 1112 - Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry uniting the fortunes of those two states "Witch trial" redirects here For the song by Rush, see Fear series. For this, he was imprisoned and forced under torture to recant; his work was confiscated and suppressed by Church officials, and the manuscript was lost for almost 300 years.
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Life
Cornelius Loos was born in 1546 in Gouda. Gouda (population 71797 in 2004 is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. He was from a patrician family and studied Philosophy and Theology at what is today known as the Catholic University of Leuven. The Catholic University of Leuven, or Louvain, was the largest oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. In 1574, Loos and his family were forced to leave for political reasons (primarily the capture of the city by Protestant/nationalist rebels during the Dutch Revolt). The Dutch Revolt, Eighty Years' War or the Revolt of the Netherlands (1568—1648 was the revolt of the Seventeen Provinces in the Low Countries After he was ordained as a priest, he was awarded a Doctor of Theology degree in 1578 at the University of Mainz, where he became a Professor of Theology and a vigorous campaigner against Protestant beliefs. The Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz is a University in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named
In the 1580s, Loos published a number of works: a prayer book, polemical theological writings against Protestantism, a political work (by subscription) about the Netherlands rebellion, a survey of German Catholic authors, and a pocket Latin grammar book.
In 1585, he moved to Trier, where he observed the witch trials taking place there. Trier (Trèves Luxembourgish: Tréier; Augusta Treverorum is a City in Germany on the banks of the Moselle River. Loos first wrote letters to the city authorities, and, failing in that effort, he sought in 1592 to publish a book protesting against the hunts and questioning some of the beliefs of the witch hunters. The attempted publication of De vera et falsa magia (True and False Magic)[1] offended Petrus Binsfeld, the Suffragan Bishop of Trier, and who served as the deputy to Johann VI von Schonenberg, one of the highest ranking officials in the Holy Roman Empire. Peter Binsfeld (alternate spelling Peter Binsfield, lat Petrus Binsfeldius) (c A suffragan bishop is a Bishop subordinate to a Metropolitan bishop or Diocesan bishop. The Archbishopric of Trier (Erzbistum Trier was a Roman Catholic Diocese in Germany, that existed from Carolingian times until the end of the The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in
Before the book could be printed, the manuscript copy was seized and Loos imprisoned. He was forced to make a public recantation of his errors on his knees before an assembly of church officials, including the Papal Nuncio, in Brussels on March 25, 1593. Nuncio is an ecclesiastical Diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word Nuntius, meaning "envoy Events 1199 - Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France which leads to his death on April 6. The manuscript was believed destroyed by the Inquisition and was lost for 300 years.
De vera et falsa magia discovered
In 1886, George Lincoln Burr discovered the manuscript of True and False Magic in the Jesuit Library in Trier (a remnant of the University, which was dissolved in 1798). George Lincoln Burr ( January 30 1857 &ndash 1938 was a US Historian, Diplomat, Author, and Educator, best Although the title page was missing and no author was listed, Burr was able to authenticate the document by comparing the points made in the text with the points recanted in Loos’s confession to the Inquisition. A copy can be found in the rare manuscript collection at Cornell University,[2] and the original is in the Trier Municipal Library. [3]
In the manuscript, Loos argues against the existence of witchcraft and especially against the validity of confessions obtained under torture. (It should be noted that Binsfeld had in 1589 published his own book on witchcraft, in which he supported confessions and denunciations obtained through torture. Peter Binsfeld (alternate spelling Peter Binsfield, lat Petrus Binsfeldius) (c ) In his work, Loos is believed to have been influenced by the arguments of Johann Weyer, a Protestant Dutch physician, who in 1563 put forth a book attacking the persecution of witches while also categorizing kinds of magical demons. Johannes Wier aka Johann Weyer, in Latin Ioannes Wierus and Piscinarius, (c [4] After recanting, Loos was under constant watch by religious officials, and was briefly imprisoned several more times, under the accusation that he had relapsed into theological error. This continued persecution was conducted by his nemesis, a priest in the Jesuit order named Martin Del Rio. The Society of Jesus ( Latin: Societas Iesu, SJ and SI or SJ, SI) is a Catholic religious order Martín Antonio Delrio (or Martin Antoine Del Rio, May 17, 1551 - October 19, 1608) was a Jesuit theologian Loos died February 3, 1595, in Brussels, succumbing to the Plague; Del Rio lamented that Loos had died before Del Rio could have him executed. Events 1112 - Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry uniting the fortunes of those two states Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is The Black Death, or the Black Plague, was one of the deadliest Pandemics in human history widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia [5]
Contributions
Although, as noted above, Loos was not the first to write against the witch hunts, he was the first Catholic priest and theologian to do so, and the first to specifically question the validity of confessions obtained under torture. [6] Even though his work was lost for 300 years, his opponent Martin Del Rio ensured his continuing fame by publishing a book denouncing him, and by summarizing each of his arguments in the recantation he forced Loos to sign. Martín Antonio Delrio (or Martin Antoine Del Rio, May 17, 1551 - October 19, 1608) was a Jesuit theologian [5]
Notes
- ^ The Witch Persecution at Trier, George L. Burr, ed. , "The Witch Persecutions in Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History", 6 vols. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania History Department, 1898-1912) vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 13-18
- ^ Witchcraft : catalogue of the Witchcraft Collection in Cornell University Library / introd. by Rossell Hope Robbins ; ed. by Martha J. Crowe ; index by Jane Marsh Dieckmann. Millwood, N. Y. : KTO Press, 1977.
- ^ A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom Part Two, p. 356, by Andrew Dickson White, 2004, Kessinger Publishing
- ^ The Hanover Historical Manuscripts Project, Jonathon Perry, 2001, Footnote #9
- ^ a b Text of Del Rio’s proclamation
- ^ The Catholics the First to Speak Against Witchcraft, New York Times, Wednesday, April 6, 1884, p. 12
External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Loos, Cornelius |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Callidius, Losaeus |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | 16th century Roman Catholic priest and theologian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1546 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gouda, The Netherlands |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 3, 1595 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Brussels |
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