18 Facts About Johannes Trithemius

Johannes Trithemius, born Johann Heidenberg, was a German Benedictine abbot and a polymath who was active in the German Renaissance as a lexicographer, chronicler, cryptographer, and occultist.

Johannes Trithemius is considered the founder of modern cryptography and steganography, as well as the founder of bibliography and literary studies as branches of knowledge.

Johannes Trithemius had considerable influence on the development of early modern and modern occultism.

The byname Trithemius refers to his native town of Trittenheim on the Moselle River, at the time part of the Electorate of Trier.

When Johannes Trithemius was still an infant his father, Johann von Heidenburg, died.

Johannes Trithemius decided to stay and was elected abbot in 1483, at the age of twenty-one.

Johannes Trithemius often served as featured speaker and chapter secretary at the Bursfelde Congregation's annual chapter from 1492 to 1503, the annual meeting of reform-minded abbots.

Johannes Trithemius wrote extensively as a historian, starting with a chronicle of Sponheim and culminating in a two-volume work on the history of Hirsau Abbey.

Johannes Trithemius's work was distinguished by mastery of the Latin language and eloquent phrasing, yet it was discovered that he inserted several fictional passages into his works.

Johannes Trithemius's forgery regarding the connection between the Franks and the Trojans was part of a larger project to establish a link between the current dynasty of Austria with ancient heroes.

Johannes Trithemius's efforts did not meet with praise, and his reputation as a magician did not further his acceptance.

Johannes Trithemius remained there until the end of his life.

Johannes Trithemius seemed to have a falling out with Maximilian regarding their differences when the emperor wanted to organize a separate ecclesiastical council in 1511, in slight of Pope Julius II.

Johannes Trithemius was buried in St James's Abbey's church; a tombstone by the famous Tilman Riemenschneider was erected in his honor.

Literary scholar Andrew McCarthy opines that Johannes Trithemius considered himself a true necromancer, who studied in order to gain knowledge of the workings of the universe without attracting publicity.

Johannes Trithemius conjured a shade of Mary, who looked exactly like her when alive.

Johannes Trithemius was distraught by the experience though, and ordered Trithemius never to do it again.

Possible explanations are that either its real target audience was the selected few such as Maximilian, or that Johannes Trithemius wanted to attract public attention to a tedious field.