Caesarius of Heisterbach

Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

Born c. 1180
Died c. 1240
Activity c. 1195-c. 1240

Places

Born in Germany
Active in Germany

Activities

Primary

Monk
Religious writer

Resources

Caesarius of Heisterbach's Works

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The Cistercian monk Caesarius of Heisterbach was born around 1180 in the vicinity of Cologne, today in northwestern Germany near the Rhine river (for his birth date, see

Dialogus miraculorum

IV, ch. 79, containing a reference to a crusade sermon delivered in Cologne in 1188 when he was still a young boy), and gained his education first at the local school of St. Andrews (

Stift

) in Cologne that was under the leadership of the Dean Ensfried and then at the cathedral school under the famous teacher Rudolfus (see the comments following Book I, ch. XXXII). Upon the advice of the Abbot Gevard, Caesarius joined the monastery of Heisterbach (today southeast of Bonn in the Siebengebirge east of the Rhine) in 1199 where he stayed a member for the rest of his life. Together with his abbot, however,…

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1962 words

Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "Caesarius of Heisterbach". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 March 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12345, accessed 23 November 2024.]