Introduction

Biography

Köpfel earned a me­di­cal de­gree in 1498, then stu­died theo­lo­gy in Ba­sel, Swit­zer­land. He pre­sent­ed his doc­tor­al the­sis there in 1504, then moved to Hei­del­berg, Ger­ma­ny, where he stu­died law un­til 1513.

He be­came preach­er at the Stras­bourg ca­thed­ral in 1515, and served as court preach­er and chan­cel­lor to Car­di­nal Alb­recht of Bran­den­burg (1520–23). He was one of the ear­ly lead­ers in the Pro­test­ant Re­for­ma­tion.

Köpfel’s al­te­rnate name Ca­pi­to comes from the La­tin trans­la­tion of Köp­fel; Fa­bri­ci­us refers to his fa­ther’s po­si­tion as a mas­ter crafts­man.