, in Latin Donellus, one of the most learned civilians of the sixteenth
, in Latin Donellus, one of the most
learned civilians of the sixteenth century, was born at
Chalons on the Saone, in 1537. His school-master had
so disheartened him by severity, that neither threats nor
promises could make him remain in school. But at last,
being afraid he should be placed in a menial situation, he
applied more diligently to his studies. He learned civil
law at Toulouse, under the professors John Corrasius and
Arnold du Ferrier, who had no less than four thousand
auditors. He was admitted to the degree of D. C. L. at
Bourges, in 1551, and professed that science in the same
city with Duaren, Hotman, and Cujacius, and afterwards
at Orleans. He was very near being killed in the massacre of 1572, because he was a protestant; and could
not have escaped the violence of the murtherers, if some
of his scholars, who were Germans by nation, had not
saved him by disguising him in a German dress, as one of
their domestics. He had embraced the reformation whea
rery young, at the instigation of his sister. He staid some
time at Geneva, and afterwards he went into the palatinate, where he taught the civil law in the university of
Heidelbergh. He was invited to Leyden in 1575, to take
upon him the same employment, which he accepted and
discharged in a worthy manner, but baring imprudently
engaged himself in some political disputes, he was forced
to leave Holland in 1588. He returned to Germany, and
was professor of law at Altorf until his death, May 4, 1591.
He had so happy a memory, that he knew the whole Corpus Juris by heart. His works, most of which had been
published separately, were collected under the title of
“Commentaria de jure civili,
” 5 vols. folio, reprinted at
Lucca, 12 vols. folio, of which the last appeared in 1770.
2. “Opera Posthuma,
” 8vo. The most valuable of his
writings, is his book on the subject of last wills and testaments, which he is said to have treated with great learning and precision.