Background
Wimpfeling was born in Sélestat (Schlettstadt), Alsace, Lorraine.
Dean historian university professor writer
Wimpfeling was born in Sélestat (Schlettstadt), Alsace, Lorraine.
He then studied Canon law for three years, and finally theology.
In 1464 he became a student at the University of Freiburg, where he received his baccalaureus in 1466. Later he went to the University of Erfurt and the University of Heidelberg, where he received his magister in 1471. In 1483, he was cathedral preacher at Speyer.
In 1498, Philip, Elector Palatine, called him to Heidelberg as professor of rhetoric and poetry.
From 1500, he lived in Strasbourg, devoting himself to writing, before returning to his birthplace in 1513. At Sélestat a circle of pupils and admirers gathered around him.
After Martin Luther"s excommunication he took part in the attempt to prevail upon the Curia to withdraw the ban. This caused him to be suspected of having written a lampoon on the Curia, Litancia pro Germania, which was probably actually written by Hermann von dem Busche.
In 1524 he added to Jerome Emser"s dialogue against Huldrych Zwingli"s Canonis missae defensio in an open letter to Luther and Zwingli, in which he exhorted them to examine the scriptures carefully in order to discover for themselves that the Canons of the Mass contains nothing contrary to the doctrines and customs of the early Church.
Wimpfeling then retired from the struggle, and was ridiculed by Lutherans as a renegade and a persecutor of heretics. He died in 1528 in Sélestat.