Joachim Vadian
humanist from St Gall
Joachim Vadian (29 November 1484 – 6 April 1551), born as Joachim von Watt, was a humanist, scholar, mayor and reformer in the free city of St. Gallen.
Biography
Vadian was born in St. Gallen into a family of wealthy and influential linen merchants. After having gone to school in St. Gallen, he moved to Vienna at the end of 1501, where he took up studies at faculty of arts the university, in particular under Conrad Celtis and Matthias Qualle.
In Vienna, he changed his name to Joachimus Vadianus; like so many other humanists, he preferred a Latin name to express his admiration for the classic masters. He evaded the outbreak of the bubonic plague of 1506/07 by moving to Villach where he worked as a teacher and studied music. A study trip through northern Italy brought him to Trent, Venice, and Padua, where he met the Irish scholar Mauritius Hibernicus.
In 1509 completed his studies with the degree of Master of Arts and returned for a short while to St.
The public source identifies “Joachim Vadian” as humanist from St Gall. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Joachim, Vadian and humanist.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q116098. VIAF identifies the subject as 29572382. The Library of Congress control number is n50046630. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1484, 1551, 1501 and 1506.
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This entry incorporates text from “Joachim Vadian” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.