HOOGSTRAETEN, JAKOB. — Dominican writer and polemicist, born at Hoogstraten (Brabant) around 1460, died at Cologne on 27 January 1527. He first studied at Louvain and then at Cologne; there he entered the Order of Preachers, taught for many years, served as master of students (1498), regent of studies (1505, 1509), and prior of the convent (1510–11). He also taught theology at the University and was inquisitor in the provinces of Cologne, Mainz, and Trier.
An intrepid defender of Catholicism, he was attacked by the greatest heretics of his time, against whom he waged a victorious and open struggle. In defence of the rights of the Mendicant Friars he wrote: Defensorium Pratum Mendicantium contra curatos, qui privilegia Pratum iniuste impugnant (Cologne 1507). Against a certain Piero da Ravenna he wrote: Defensio scholastica principum Alemaniae in eo quod sceleratos detinent insepultos in ligno (ibid. 1508), Iustificatorium principum Alemaniae (ibid. 1509), and Protectorium principum Alemaniae de maleficis non sepeliendis (ibid. 1511). He engaged in a long controversy with the celebrated humanist Giovanni Reuchlin. The latter had written the Speculum oculare against the converted Jew G. Pfefferkorn, who in his Speculum manuale had argued that all the books of the Jews, including the Talmud, should be burned because of the numerous errors concerning Jesus Christ and the Virgin that they contained. With the approval of the University of Cologne, H. condemned certain of Reuchlin’s ideas; the latter replied with the Defence against the Calumniators of Cologne. The affair was referred to the archbishop of Mainz, but Reuchlin appealed to Rome (September 1513); Leo X entrusted the examination of the matter to the bishop of Speyer (November 1513). Meanwhile H., in his capacity as inquisitor, condemned the Speculum, which was burned (February 1514). The bishop of Speyer considered this condemnation offensive to himself and issued a judgment favourable to Reuchlin (24 April 1514). H. appealed once more to Rome. In the meantime, the Faculty of Theology of Paris also condemned the Speculum oculare as heretical (2 August 1514). Similar condemnations were issued by the Universities of Louvain, Mainz, and Erfurt. But in Rome the affair became complicated by political interventions. A solution was delayed. Only on 13 June 1520 did Leo X declare the judgment of the bishop of Speyer null and prohibit Reuchlin’s work as scandalous, while confirming H. as inquisitor.
During this controversy H. wrote Libellus accusatorius contra oculare Speculum Ioannis Reuchlin legum doctoris coram commissariis archiepiscopi Magontini productus; Libellus alius supplex Romae Leoni X de eodem negotio oblatus anno 1525 (both published in Acta iudiciorum inter Io. H. et Io. Reuchlin, Hagenau 1518); Ad SS. Leonem papam X ac d. Maximilianum imperatorem Apologia (Cologne 1518); Apologia altera (ibid. 1519). He also wrote Destructio cabalae seu cabalistae perfidiae (ibid. 1519) against the Ars cabalistica and De verbo mirifico of Reuchlin himself. Finally, among his other writings, the following should be noted: Margarita moralis philosophiae (Cologne 1521); Epitome de fide et aperibus adversus chimericam illam atque monstruosam M. Lutheri libertatem falso ab eo christianam appellatam (ibid. 1525); Aliquor disputationes contra lutheranos (ibid. 1526).