HEMERLI (not HEMMERLIN), FELIX: Swiss canonist, an advocate of reform in the Church; b.

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Henderson at Zurich probably Sept. 11, 1388; d. at Lucerne before 1464. He descended from an old and well to-do family, and in 1406 was matriculated at the University of Erfurt. Soon afterward, in 1408 or earlier, he appeared in Bologna, where he seems to have remained until 1412. In the beginning of that year he was chosen canon of the chapter of St. Felix and Regula in Zurich. In 1413 he was matriculated a second time in Erfurt, remaining there until he obtained the degree of bachelor from the faculty of canon law, probably in 1418. He was present at the Council of Constance. Probably at the end of 1421 he became provost of St. Ursus at Soleure and began his activity there with necessary reforms. In 1423 he reentered the University of Bologna to complete his studies, and associated with Johannes Andreas de Calderinis, and famous canon ists like Petrus Aristotiles, Salicetus, Antonius de Albergatis; and Lamola. In 1424 he was made doctor of canon law. He was in Zurich from 1427 till 1454, and in 1428 became cantor of the cathedral. In 1429 he appears also as canon of St. Maurice in Zofingen. He quarreled with his chapter, and many censures, both just and unjust, were hurled at him. Even his life was in danger. After the citizens of Zurich had concluded peace with the confederates, they invited the latter to a great festival in the middle of Feb., 1454. On this occasion, probably at the instigation of Gundolfinger, vicar of the cathedral church in Constance, whom Hemerli had provoked, the confederates captured the canon and delivered him over to Gundolfinger, who im prisoned him in the castle of Gottlieben, and later in Meraburg. Then he was handed over to the people of Lucerne, who imprisoned him in a tower, and afterward in the Franciscan monastery where he died.

Hemerli fought with much courage against the ignorance, stupidity, and immorality of the clergy, not halting before the highest authorities of the Church. He attacked the abuses of the Church, and wrote against the Lollards and mendicant friars, establishing his literary fame by a treatise, Contra validos mendicdntes (1438), which was edited later in German by Nicholas of Wyle under the title Von den ver»a6genden Bettlem (possibly in Transla tion oder Tutschungen etlicher Bücher, Esslingen, 1478?, Augsburg, 1536). In De libertate ecclesi astics he approved the efforts of the Council of Basel to abolish the celibacy of the clergy. Of his legal works may be mentioned Tractatus de matri. monio, De emptione et venditione unius pro viginti, and Processes judiciaries. His principal work is his great political Dialogus de nobilitate, in which he vehemently attacked the enemies of his native city, the people of the canton of Schwyz. In 1452 he wrote the story of his sufferings in his Passionale. During his captivity he wrote Registrum qeerele, a solemn assertion of his innocence and a vehement accusation against Gundolfinger, and a Dialogea de consolations inique suppressorum. Most of his writings were first edited by Sebastian Brant in 1497 (Basel). They were nearly all merely occasional tracts, lack breadth of view, profundity, and con sistency, and aim at sensational effect, with a predilection for scandalous stories. Therefore

Hemerli's admonitions had little influence toward promoting a real reformation.

(A. Schneider.)

Bibliography: B. Reber, Felix Hemmerlin von Zfamich, Zurich, 1846; F. Fials, Dr. Felix Hemmerlin ale Probet doe 3. Uraendiftes au Solothurn, Soleure, 1857; J. J. V6geli, Zum Veratdndnia van . . . Hrimmerlis Schriften, Zurich, 1873; O. Lorenz, DGQ, i. 78, 119-121, ii. 405, Berlin, 1886; A. Schneider, Der Zttrcher %anonikua and Kantor Magiater Felix Hemmerlin, Zurich, 1888.