Clusius, Ellebodius and Purkircher: A Cross-Section of Humanist-Naturalist Cultural Exchange Between Vienna and Pozsony

Abstract

Carolus Clusius (1526–1609) is primarily known as Europe’s most famous botanist in his time, but he pursued a wide range of activitites as an eminent member of the res publica litteraria. He had manyfold relations to Hungary; Clusius-scholarship has so far focused on his friendship with the aristocrat Boldizsár Batthyány, but in Vienna he also exchanged a number of letters with the two most important Pozsony humanists in the period: Nicasius Ellebodius, the excellent Grecist, also of Low Countries origin, and Georg Purkircher, city physician of Pozsony and author of a number of humanist works. Based on archival, literary and artistic sources, Clusius’ friendship to them, their encounters, and their common fields of interest can be well demonstrated. Beyond contributing to the biographies of these three men of letters, the mapping of these relations also provide a good cross-section of knowledge transfer within Central Europe at the end of the sixteenth century.