Beatus Rhenanus (also known as
Beatus Bild;
22 August 1485 –
20 July 1547), was a
German humanist, religious reformer, and
classical scholar.
Rhenanus was born in
Schlettstadt (Sélestat) in
Alsace. His father, Bild, was a prosperous butcher from
Rheinau (the source of his name "Rhenanus"), who was able to provide his son with an excellent education. Rhenanus attended the famous
Latin school of Schlettstadt, and in 1503, went to the
University of Paris, where he came under the influence of
Jacobus Faber Stapulensis, an eminent
Aristotelian. In 1511, he relocated to
Basel, where he befriended
Desiderius Erasmus and played an active role in the publishing enterprises of
Johann Froben. He returned to Schlettstadt in 1526 to devote himself to a life of learned leisure. He continued a lively correspondence with many contemporary scholars, including his friend Erasmus, and supervised the printing of many of Erasmus's most important works. Rhenanus died in
Strassburg (Strasbourg).
Rhenanus's own publications include a
biography of
Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg (
1510), the
Rerum Germanicarum Libri III (
1531), and editions of
Velleius Paterculus (
1522), based on a manuscript he discovered. He also wrote works on
Tacitus (
1519), Livy (
1522), and a nine-volume work on his friend Erasmus (
1540-1541). 
