Johannes Buxtorf

After the death of his father, who was minister of Kamen, Buxtorf studied at Marburg and the newly founded Herborn Academy, at the latter of which Caspar Olevian (1536–1587) and Johannes Piscator (1546–1625) had been appointed professors of theology.

On his return to Basel, Grynaeus, desirous that the services of so promising a scholar should be secured to the university, procured him a situation as tutor in the family of Leo Curio, son of Celio Secondo Curione, well known for his sufferings on account of the Reformed faith.

At the insistence of Grynaeus, Buxtorf undertook the duties of the Hebrew chair in the university, and discharged them for two years with such ability that at the end of that time he was unanimously appointed to the vacant office.

His correspondence with the most distinguished scholars of the day was very extensive; the library of the university of Basel contains a rich collection of letters, which are valuable for a literary history of the time.

Buxtorf did not live to complete the two works on which his reputation chiefly rests, his Lexicon Chaldaicum, Talmudicum, et Rabbinicum, and the Concordantiae Bibliorum Hebraicorum, both of which were edited by his son.