Conrad Peutinger
| Konrad Peutinger | |
|---|---|
Portrait by Christoph Amberger, 1543
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| Born |
14 October 1465 Augsburg, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 28 December 1547 (aged 82) Augsburg |
| Occupation | Scholar, antiquarian |
| Nationality | German |
| Period | Renaissance |
| Literary movement | Renaissance humanism |
Conrad Peutinger (14 October 1465 – 28 December 1547) was a German humanist, jurist, diplomat, politician, and economist. A senior official in the municipal government of the Imperial City of Augsburg, he served as a counselor to Emperor Maximilian I and his successor Charles V. Also known as a passionate antiquarian, he collected, with the help of his wife Margareta Welser (1481–1552), one of the largest private libraries north of the Alps.
He was born in Augsburg, the son of a reputable merchant family. He studied law at the universities of Padua and Bologna in Italy, where he obtained his doctorate and came in close touch with the humanism movement. Back in Germany, he was elected syndic of his hometown Augsburg and from 1497 held the office of a town clerk (Stadtschreiber), representing the city in several Imperial diets, notably that of Worms including the hearing of Martin Luther in 1521. Peutinger's accounts were a valuable source for later historians like Theodor Kolde.
He was on close terms with the Habsburg emperor Maximilian I, who appointed him Imperial councilor. Peutinger, an early proponent of economic liberalism, mediated between the Imperial estates and the Augsburg Fugger and Welser families. He was able to assert his position under Maximilian's successor Emperor Charles V, however, his politics aiming at a balance of power were aborted by the advancing Reformation after the 1529 Protestation at Speyer. When in 1534 the citizens of Augsburg turned Protestant, he retired from public offices.
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