Gabriel Mudaeus
Gabriel Mudaeus (c. 1500 – 21 April 1560), born Gabriël van der Muyden, was a Flemish jurist who revived the study of law in Belgium.
Biography
Gabriel Mudaeus was born in Brecht. He began his studies in his native city and continued them at the University of Louvain, at the Pedagogy of the Lily, where he followed the teaching of Erasmus and Juan Luis Vives. In 1523 he won the first prize in philosophy at the intercollegiate competition.
He was then chosen as tutor to the sons of Laurent de Blioul, auditor to the Privy Council of Charles V, whom he took on a journey through the universities of France. We can think that they stayed in Paris, but also in Orleans, Bourges and perhaps in Avignon.
While his previous training was solely philological and philosophical, this trip must have opened him up to the study of law, as can be seen on his return to Louvain. In 1531, he received a licentiate in law and in 1539 a doctor utriusque iuris (in both canon and civil law). As early as 1537, he had been entrusted with the teaching of the Institutes of Justinian. As a professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Louvain, Mudaeus introduced the Erasmian method of research into a field that had been dominated exclusively by tradition; among his pupils were François Baudouin, Jean Crespin, Jacob Reyvaert (Raevardus), and Matthew Wesenbeck. Mudaeus (also called Mudée) renovated legal studies in the Netherlands and contributed, together with his successors, to making Louvain an important center for the teaching of Roman law and law in general.
He explicitly placed himself under the patronage of Guillaume Budé and Andrea Alciato. However, he left only a purely didactic work and not any scientific work.
Gabriel Mudaeus died in Leuven.
Works
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References
- R. C. Van Caenegem, D. E. L. Johnston. An Historical Introduction to Private Law. Cambridge University Press, 1992.
- David M. Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law. Oxford University Press, 1980.
- Fernand De Visscher, "Gabriel Mudaeus." In: Études de droit romain public et privé, III. Milano: A. Giuffrè, 1966, pp. 433–45.
