CONRAD PELLICAN (c. 1478-1556)

Conrad Pellican (c. 1478-1556) was born at Ruffach in the Alsace. He entered the Franciscan order in 1493 and studied at the universities of Heidelberg and Tübingen. Paul Scriptoris of Tübingen encouraged Pellican in his Hebrew studies which he learned through his own efforts, assisted by Paul Pfedersheimer and Johannes Reuchlin.

The best source for the life of Pellican is his own "Chronicle" which was written in 1544 and contains intimate descriptions of his life and relationships with other reknowned people of his times:

• Riggenbach, Bernhard, (ed.), Das Chronikon des Konrad Pellikan, Basel, Bahnmaier's Verlag, 1877 (written in Latin)

• A German translation is available:
  Vulpinus, Theodor, Die Hasuchronik Konrad Pellikans von Rufach (Strassburg: Heitz und Mündel, 1892)

Pellican and Johannes Reuchlin were friends and colleagues. They discussed together their progress in preparing Hebrew grammars for publication. Reuchlin lent Pellican a German translation of Moses Kimhi's Mahalak Shebile Ha-daat, which Pellican used in his writing of de modo legendi et intelligendi Hebraeum, "Germany's first grammar of the Hebrew language." 34

In 1515 Pellican copied David Kimhi's Sefer Shorashim , which was loaned to him by "Joh. Behaim" of Ulm. This may also have included all or part of Sefer Miklol.38

Pellican bought or copied a great collection of Rabbinic materials and showed an interest in cabbalistic writings. In 1515 he found a Pentateuch in Nuremberg printed in 1515 in Venice which contained the Targum Onkelos and the commentary of Rashi.39 Pellican's library contained many commentaries and grammatical writings of the Kimhis and a rich array of Rabbinical books and manuscripts.

Pellican retained a close relationship with Johannes Reuchlin, whom he visited shortly before Reuchlin's death in Bad Liebenzell (1522).

Pellican became a very significant figure in the history of the Reformation. He taught Bible in Basel and Ruffach, and then became a wandering scholar before teaching again in Basel. In 1516 he collaborated with Sebastian Münster and Wolfgang Capito in publishing what has been called the "first Psalter in Hebrew printed in Germany": Hebraicum Psalterium. 37

As teacher of Bible in Basel he became, with Johannes Oekolampadius, a Reformer himself (1523). In 1526 he was enlisted by Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss Reformer, to become Professor of Hebrew at Zurich. Pellican continued working in Zurich until after the death of Zwingli in 1531, publishing many biblical commentaries.

In the early period of the Reformation, Pellican's Hebrew grammar was important and influential, even though it was soon displaced by Reuchlin's de rudimentis hebraicis.

de modo legendi et intelligendi Hebraeum

Published in Strassbourg, 1504

de modo legendi et inelligendi Hebraeum was a Hebrew primer, thirty-nine pages in length. It presented, in very simple Latin descriptions:

• the essentials of the Hebrew letter, their use and pronunciation
• the verbs
• the divine names
• excerpts in Hebrew from the book of Isaiah
• Psalms 110 and 113
• and a lexicon of approximately 400 words, arranged alphabetically, in three languages; Latin, Greek and Hebrew (the Hebrew font is difficult to read)

Pellican states that he relied upon Moses Kimhi's Mahalak Shebile Ha-daat.35 Other writers have confirmed this dependence. 36