Una lettera in ebraico e una in latino da Matthaeus Adriani a Caspar Amman sul nome di Gesù

Two letters, one in Latin and one in Hebrew, written in 1513-1514 by the baptised Jew of Spanish origin Matthaeus Adriani and adressed to the Augustian Monk Caspar Amman are published here for the first time on the basis of three manuscripts, preserved in Munich at the Baviarian National Library and at the University Library. In order to elucidate their context, after having provided the time frame for their composition, the vast discussion concerning the Hebrew name of Jesus, the only topic of the two letters is reconstructed. The significance of the letters emerges on the background of Adriani’s tumultous career as professor of Hebrew in Tubingen, Louvain and Wittenberg: in a world increasingly interested in learning Hebrew his Jewish background was his main asset and, at the same time, his Achilles’ heel.