Johannes Virdung

Johann, Hans or Johannes Virdung of Hassfurt (15 March 1463 – 1538/39) was a celebrated astrologer of the early sixteenth century from the Electoral Palatinate.

[1] He had an official position at Heidelberg, at the court of the Elector Palatine.

He wrote various works under generic names (Prognosticon, Practica), including a millennarian work, Practica von dem Entchrist around 1510.

One of the early sources for the Faust legend occurs in a letter of Trithemius to Virdung.

[5] Virdung studied at the University of Leipzig beginning in 1481, then in Kraków from 1484 to 1486 or 1487.