Laurentius Corvinus

Who was Laurentius Corvinus?

Laurentius Corvinus was a Silesian scholar who lectured as an "extraordinary" professor at the University of Krakow when Nicolaus Copernicus began to study there. He also attracted a reputation as one of the finest Silesian poets of the early Renaissance and as an important agent for cultural and religious change in his adopted home of Breslau.

Laurentius Corvinus was born as Laurentius Rabe in Neumarkt in Lower Silesia, about 30 km east of Legnica west of Vrotzuav, son of Barthel Rabe, a furrier and member of the local council. As a student at Kraków, he Latinized his name, possibly under the influence of Conrad Celtis, and became known as Corvinus. After receiving his M.A. at the University of Kraków, Corvinus lectured on "De ente et essentia" and Aristotle's Libri Posteriorum; the young Nicolaus Copernicus was probably one of his students during this time. Corvinus later helped to publish Copernicus' Latin translation of the Letters of the Byzantine Greek poet Theophylactus Simocatta by sending Copernicus's translation to the printer Johann Haller in Kraków to be published in 1509.