# Jakob Schegk

Jakob Schegk (also known as Jakob Degen, Johann Jacob Brucker Schegk, Jakob Schegk the elder, Schegkius, and Scheckius; 6 June 1511 – 9 May 1587) was a polymath German Aristotelian philosopher and academic physician.

## Origins and education

Born Jakob Degen in Schorndorf, son of the citizen Bernhard Degen, he adopted the name Schegk/Schegkius which he used his entire adult life. A prodigy in classical languages, having studied with Johann Reuchlin’s student Johann Thomas in Schorndorf, Schegk made rapid progress upon enrolling at the University of Tübingen in 1527, taking his M.A. in 1529. He was received by the university senate and began lectures in philosophy and classics while only twenty. He remained in Tübingen for his entire career.

## Academic career

He took over the administration of the Tübinger Stift giving him the opportunity to develop a competence in theology. He likewise studied law prior to turning his attention to medicine in the 1530s. He took a doctorate in medicine in 1539 after studying with Leonhard Fuchs and Michael Rucker. He remained on the arts faculty until joining the medical faculty in 1553. Nevertheless, his philosophical expertise was too great to go untapped, and the university gave him the unusual dual commission to hold lectures in both medicine and Aristotle from 1564 onwards. His poor eyesight hampered his mobility, and he became totally blind by 1577. He nevertheless continued his academic career. In philosophy, he was a leading German Lutheran Aristotelian and was regarded as one of the greatest philosophical authorities of his age. He died at Tübingen.
While somewhat neglected by modern scholarship, his numerous commentaries upon the Aristotelian corpus are highly regarded, especially his De demonstratione libri XV. He engaged a long running dispute against the Italian Aristotelian philosopher Simone Simoni. A committed Aristotelian, he resolutely opposed the philosophical innovations of Petrus Ramus. He likewise was involved in a dialogue with Thomas Erastus concerning the ubiquity of Christ's physical body in the Lord's Supper.
Prominent students included Nicolaus Taurellus and Andreas Planer, and Schegk exercised a more distant influence on the French Paracelsian Joseph Duchesne Quercetanus. Recent studies have demonstrated his long lasting impact on early modern medical theory. Hans Weber dubbed him “the father and pioneer of Protestant Scholasticism.”

## Family

Jakob Schegk was married Corona Vogler. They had two sons:
* David Schegk (d. 1576), married Fortuna Kalt (born c. 1540), had one son.
** Johann Jakob Schegk (1565–1599), in 1593 got married Regine von Stetten (1571–1609), had one son.
*** Maria Magdalena Schegk (b. 1595), in 1616 got married Johann David Sigwart (1587–1632).
*** Johann David Schegk (1598–after 1645), in 1635 got married Sophia Praxedis Textor (b. 1616), daughter of hohenlohische Rat and Director of the Law firm Wolfgang Textor (1588–1650) of first marriage, who was ancestor of poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe through their descendants Johann Wolfgang Textor Sr. [de] (1638–1701), Christoph Heinrich Textor (1666–1716), Johann Wolfgang Textor [de] (1693–1771) and Catharina Elisabeth Goethe (1731–1808), had one son.
**** Johann Alexander Schegk (1639–1690), in 1662 got married Eva Dorothea Rittmann (1647–1712), had two children.
***** Johann Alexander Schegk (1670–1745), in 1697 got married Maria Sabina Peller Von Schoppershof (1672–1706), had three children.
****** Anna Maria Schegk (1699–1739), in 1718 got married Johann Andreas von Schmidt (1691–1760), had two sons.
******* Johann Georg von Schmidt (1722–1789), was married Margarete Klara Sichart von Sichartshoff (1723–1791), his son was Johann Heinrich Adolph von Schmidt (1754–1817).
******* Carl Alexander von Schmidt (b. 1727), was married Susanna Catharina Clara von Ebers (b. 1731), his daughter Anna Maria Magdalena von Schmidt (1755–1821) married Georg Christoph Drexel (1733–1810).
****** Jacob Carl Schegk (1703–1788)
****** Sophie Clara von Schegk (1706–1786), in 1724 got married The Real Secret Council Georg Friedrich von Scheid (1698–1763), had one daughter.
******* Aurelia Franziska Ludovika von Scheid (1740–1800), in 1758 got married protestant lawyer and Government councillor Lucas Friedrich von Hert (1720–1779), son of professor in Gießen Johann Casimir Hert (1680–1748) and grandson of doctor, physical therapist and professor Johann Christoph Hert [de] (1649–1731), had nine children, including Louise Friederike Sabine von Hert (1759–1826), who was married Top official in the financial administration of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt and subsequently of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and member of the government Ernst Wilhelm Zimmermann [de] (1752–1820).
***** Sophie Dorothea Schegk (1672–1699), in 1690 got married Philipp Jakob Otto (1658–1715), had one daughter.
****** Sophie Friederike Otto (1697–1762), in 1716 got married evangelical theologian and pastor Georg Heinrich Lange (1689–1755), had two sons.
******* Christian Heinrich Lange (1724–1797), in 1750 got married Margaretha Elisabetha Engelbach (1730–1773), daughter of Johann Jacob Engelbach (1692–1737) and his wife Johanna Catharina Sophia Engelbach, nee Rischke (1702–1773), had seven children, including Katharina Sophie Friederike Lange (1756–1841), who in 1778 married protestant office clerk, drink tax collector Johann Ludwig Maurer (1741–1803), Two of his granddaughters married brothers Ludwig Schleiermacher [de] (1785–1844) and Andreas Schleiermacher [de] (1787–1858).
******* Hermann Friedrich Gottlieb Lange (1728–1771), among his descendants was mayor West Berlin from 1948 to 1953 Ernst Reuter (1889–1953).
* Jakob Bernhard Schegk (d. 1581)

## Works

* Antisimonius, quo refelluntur supra trecentos errores Simonii ... Eivsdem Iacobi Schegkii Apologeticus, oppositus calumniae G. Genebrardi, Parisiensis Theologi. Tübingen: Georg Gruppenbach, 1573 (VD 16 S 2464).
* Antilogia Jacobi Schegkii Schorndorffensis, qua refellit XXVII Propositiones Servetianae Haereseos Tübingen: Ulrich Morhart, 1568 (VD16 S 2463).
* De demonstratione libri XV Basel: Johannes Oporinus et al., 1564 (VD 16 S 2475).
* De Vna Persona & duabus Naturis Christi: Sententia Iacobi Schegkij D. Medici Et Philosophi Clarissimi, Professoris Scholae Tubingensis ex fundamentis quidem Scripturae Sacrae, analysi autem Philosophica, & piè & eruditè explicata. Frankfurt: Peter Braubach, 1565 (VD16 S 2493).
* Hyperaspistes Responsi, ad quatuor Epistolas Petri Rami contra se aeditas Tübingen: Ulrich Morhart, 1570 (VD16 S 2478).
* Organi Aristotelei Pars prima eaq[ue] analytica. Basel: Eusebius Episcopius, 1577 (VD16 S 2483).
* Tractationum physicarum et medicarum tomus unus. Frankfurt: Johann Wechel, 1585 (VD16 S 2492).