Johann Georg Faust
Johann Georg Neumann in 1683 addressed the question in his Disquisitio historica de Fausto praestigiatore, establishing Faust's historical existence based on contemporary references.
Possible places of origin of the historical Johann Faust are Knittlingen (Manlius 1562)[incomplete short citation], Helmstadt near Heidelberg, or Roda.
The city archive of Ingolstadt has a letter dated 27 June 1528 which mentions a Doctor Jörg Faustus von Haidlberg.
Baron, searching for students from Helmstet in the archives of Heidelberg University, found records of a Georgius Helmstetter inscribed from 1483 to 1487, stating that he was promoted to baccalaureus on 12 July 1484 and to magister artium on 1 March 1487.
Trithemius alleges that Sabellicus received a teaching position in Sickingen in 1507, which he abused by indulging in sodomy with his male students, evading punishment by a timely escape.
[4] Conrad Mutianus Rufus in 1513 recounts a meeting with a chiromanticus called Georgius Faustus, Helmitheus Heidelbergensis (likely for hemitheus, "demigod of Heidelberg"), overhearing his vain and foolish boasts in an Erfurt inn.
Later records give a more positive verdict; thus the Tübingen professor Joachim Camerarius in 1536 recognises Faust as a respectable astrologer, and physician Philipp Begardi of Worms in 1539 praises his medical knowledge.
His body is reported to have been found in a "grievously mutilated" state which was interpreted to the effect that the devil had come to collect him in person by his clerical and scholarly enemies.
Johannes Wier in de prestigiis daemonum (1568) recounts that Faustus had been arrested in Batenburg because he had recommended that the local chaplain called Dorstenius should use arsenic to get rid of his stubble.
Philipp Camerarius [de] in 1602 still claims to have heard tales of Faust directly from people who had met him in person, but from the publication of the 1587 Faustbuch, it becomes impossible to separate historical anecdotes from rumour and legend.
Meanwhile, the chapbook of Spies was edited and excerpted by G. R. Widmann and Nikolaus Pfitzer, and was finally re-published anonymously in modernised form in the early 18th century, as the Faustbuch des Christlich Meynenden.
As summarized by Richard Stecher, this version is the account of a young man called Johann Faust, son of a peasant, who studies theology in Wittenberg, besides medicine, astrology and "other magical arts".
His boundless desire for knowledge leads him to conjure the devil in a wood near Wittenberg, who appears in the shape of a greyfriar who calls himself Mephistopheles.
After 16 years, he begins to regret his pact and wants to withdraw, but the devil persuades him to renew it, conjuring up Helen of Troy, with whom Faust sires a son called Justus.
