Founded in 1452
It is one of the oldest public libraries of France
In fact, it includes two libraries :
The Humanist School Library of Sélestat and the Library of the great Humanist Beatus Rhenanus
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This library is closely linked to the stupendous rise of the humanist school : it is the relic of a particularly glorious period not only for Sélestat, but for the whole of Alsace. In 1441, Priest Jean de Westhus and the Magistrate appointed as head of the Latin school a very talented educator, Louis Dringenberg, who introduced the teaching methods of Rhenish Humanism. Under his rule(1441-1477) and that of his successors Craton Hofman (1477-1501), Jérôme Gebwiler (1501-1509) and Jean Sapidus (1510-1525) the number of students steadily grew, reaching nearly a thousand by 1515. Most of the first generation of Alsatian Humanists received an education there. Every school needs to have its proper tools to work with, such as a library, for instance. It was hard to obtain books especially at a time when manuscripts were rare and when the first incunabula were very costly. Therefore, the latin school's library was gradually formed by successive gifts. On March 13th, 1452 Jean de Westhus gave his collection of manuscripts, 20 large volumes : Sélestat's humanist library was born. Other members of the clergy and masters or old pupils of the school followed his example. In 1470, the chaplain Jean Fabri gave 12 volumes. Shortly before his death, Dringenberg bequeathed all his books to his beloved school. The well-known humanist Jacques Wimpfeling made gifts of precious incunabula each time he visited his birthplace. Martin Ergersheim, parish priest in Sélestat from 1503 to1518, left in his will the whole of his rich private library comprising more than 100 volums, to the school. The school library was installed in the upper storey of a chapel overlooking the south side of the parish church. The books were set out on tables or desks ; many were chained to protect them from theft. |
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A few days before his death on July 13th, 1547,the famous scholar Beatus Rhenanus, a close friend of Erasmus of Rotterdam, bequeathed to his native town his library , one of the richest and most beautiful of its time. As pulic libraries were then extremely scarce, each scholar had to form his own personal library. For this reason, Beatus Rhenanus worked passionately during his life-time to build up his collection of books. The young student of Sélestat already owned about 60 works. During his four year-study at the University of Paris, he acquired 188 volumes. Then followed his long and fruitful career in Basle and in Sélestat. Little by little, the shelves of his library filled up. His personnal fortune permitted him to buy all the books he needed for his historical or literary studies. Former teachers or fellow-students would send him their works. The printer of Basle, Froben, used to send him a copy of the works which he had prepared for printing. All these treasures (about 670 big volumes) became property of the town in 1547. A considerable collection for the time, especially as many of these volumes are anthologies of up to 15 different works. It is also a unique collection. The magnificient libraries of other great humanists have been dispersed. Our Rhenanus collection remains the only witness of this great era : it allows us not only to follow the intellectual development of the most famous humanists, but it also allows us to piece together the literary and religious preoccupations of a great period of our history. |
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