Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/89

 EDUCATION AND THE OLDER HUMANISTS 77 The flourishing school of Schlettstadt, called the Pearl of Alsace, under the direction of Ludwig Dringenberg, was more important than any we have yet mentioned. It was one of the first in Germany in which the history of the Fatherland was zealously studied side by side with the classics, and often numbered from seven to eight hundred pupils, among whom were Johannes von Dalberg, Geiler of Kaisersberg, and ' Germany's teacher,' Jacob Wimpheling. Wimpheling, born at Schlettstadt in 1450, was one of the most influential and attractive characters of the Middle Ages. He was not, it is true, of so peaceable or imperturbable a disposition as an Agricola or a Hegius, so lifted up above all that is earthly ; on the contrary, he was harsh and bitter in argument, often imprudent and tactless in speech, and, as he himself says, not un- frequently soured by ill health and overwork ; but, in spite of these defects, his noble and disinterested labours, his unwearying zeal as a teacher and writer, and his constant readiness to do good, won him the hearts of his contemporaries. 1 Wimpheling was a publisher as well as a scholar, and by his strong moral sense, his un- swerving love of truth, and his patriotism, he gave proof of his fitness for this new field of literary industry. His literary and scientific achievements had for their sole aim and object the perfection of his own nature, the elevation of the people in all classes, the reform of ecclesiastical abuses, and the glory of the Fatherland. ' Of what use,' he asks, ' are all the books in the world, the most learned writings, the profoundest researches, if they only minister to the vainglory of 1 Bieger, Amoenitates Litterariae Fribergenses, fasc. 2 and 3 ; Schrnidt, Histoire hitter aire de V Alsace, i. 188.