Maximilianus Transylvanus

Maximilianus Transylvanus (c. 1485/90–1538) Maximilianus Transsylvanus/Maximilian von Sevenborgen was probably born around 1485/1490. His origins lie either in Flanders or in Transylvania. All that is known about his education is that he was a student of Peter Martyr Vermigli. He first appeared as a writer with the present poem around 1507. Presumably he was employed as a secretary at the court of Maximilian I at this time. In 1518, Transylvanus co-authored a collection of poems dedicated to the imperial Blasius Hölzel ("Complurium eruditorum vatum carmina"). After the death of Maximilian I, Transsylvanus continued his service under the next Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and followed the latter to the Imperial Diet in Worms in 1521 and to Spain a year later. There he wrote the comprehensive report on Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world, his most important work. On behalf of Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary, Transylvanus was engaged in diplomatic missions in the Netherlands from 1523. He died in Brussels in 1538.