Beschrijving
Engraving of Johannes Aventinus
Johannes Aventinus (1477-1534), born Johann Georg Turmair, was a German Renaissance humanist, historian, and philologist from Bavaria. He became the official historian of Bavaria in 1517 and is best known for writing the Annals of Bavaria, one of the earliest critical histories of the region. Aventinus collected and preserved many historical sources that would otherwise have been lost. Although he remained Catholic, he supported some ideas of the Protestant Reformation and criticized abuses within the Church, leading to his brief imprisonment. His work had a lasting influence on German historiography and earned him the nickname ’the Bavarian Herodotus.’
Unknown engraver.
