Albertinus Aegidius

Albertinus Aegidius (Deventer, Holland, 1560-1620, Munich), left Holland at a time of religious conflict and is thought to have travelled to Spain and Austria before entering, in 1593, the service of Duke Wilhelm der Fromme of Bavaria and then of Maximilian I, Wilhelm's son and successor. The holder of various offices at court, including secretary to the Geheimer Rat (1595) and to the Hofrat (1597), Albertinus as a staunch Catholic was a member of the Geistlicher Rat, 1612-19. He wrote prolifically in support of the Counter-Reformation (see Gegenreformation). From 1601 to 1606 he was in charge of the court library which acted as a source for his abundant moral and religious writings. These were mostly translations or compilations of French, Italian, Latin, and particularly Spanish sources.

Especially influential were his translations of Guevara which included Guldene Sendtschreiben (1598-9), Contemptus vitae aulicae (1598, facs. edn. by C. E. Schweitzer, 1986), Lustgarten und Weckuhr (1599), and Institutiones vitae aulicae oder Hofschul (1600, facs. edn. by M. M. and E. A. Metzger, 1978). With his translation and moralistic adaptation of Guzmán de Alfarache by Mateo Alemán (Der Landtstörtzer: Gusman von Alfarche oder Picaro genannt, 1615, reprinted with a postscript by J. Mayer, 1975) he introduced the picaresque novel (see Schelmenroman) into German literature.