GRESEMUNDT, DIETRICH. - German humanist, b. at Spira in 1475, d. at Magonza in 1512. In his youth he was in Rome, studied law at Italian universities, and took his doctorate at Ferrara; he subsequently lived at Magonza, first as a canon, in 1506 as spiritual vicar, and in 1508 as protonotary of the archbishopric.
A friend of Wimpheling and of the humanists of Heidelberg, learned but of little talent, he wrote: In septem artium liberalium defensionem dialogus (1494); De furore germanico diebus genialibus rarnisprivii dialogus (1495), against the “mad custom” of carnival; De violata iuxta Moguntiam S. Cruce historia et carmen (published posthumously by J. Wimpheling, 1514). Johannes Trithemius recounts his biography in the Catal. virorum illustrium (in M. Fréher, Tirth. Opera hist., I, Francoforte 1601, p. 176), apologizing for having placed beside famous ancient names that of a young man; Beatus Rhenanus speaks of him in a letter to J. Reuchlin (in Reuchlins Briefwechsel, Tubinga 1875, p. 115) and addresses a letter to him (Arg., pridie idus iaunarii 1510) preserved in Pomponii Laeti opera (Strasburgo 1516, f. LIII).