ROLEVINCK, WERNER

Carthusian author of more than 50 works on historical, biblical, and theological subjects; b. Laer bei Horstmar, Westphalia, 1425; d. Cologne, Aug. 26, 1502. He was a renowned figure in the celebrated Charterhouse of St. Barbara, Cologne, from 1447 until his death. He was highly esteemed by J. trithemius and other scholars of the day for the sanctity of his life, his scholarship, and his gifts as a spiritual counselor. He died, a victim of charity, while ministering to seven of his brethren stricken by the plague. His most popular work was the Fasciculus temporum (Cologne 1470), a brief chronicle of world history from the coming of Christ to his own day, which went through 50 editions and was translated into numerous languages. Equally successful, and more lasting, was his De laude veteris Saxoniae nunc Westphaliae dictae (Cologne c. 1478; ed. H. Bücker, Münster 1953). It gives a lively and valuable account of the manners and customs of his homeland. His awareness of contemporary social problems is evident from the De origine nobilitatis (Cologne 1472), the De regimine rusticorum (Cologne c. 1427), and the De contractibus (Cologne c. 1475). Other works attest to his relation to the devotio moderna and his concern for monastic and clerical reform, for example, the Quaestiones duodecim ss. theolegiae studiosis (Cologne 1475). Most of his writings, which are chiefly biblical commentaries, still remain in manuscript form.

Bibliography: h. wolffgram, Zeitschrift für vaterländische Geschichte und Altertumskunde 48.1 (1890): 85–136; 50.1 (1892): 127–161.

[f. courtney]