Joannis Vislicensis

Joannis Vislicensis (, Jan Vislicki; , Jan from Wiślica; –1520) was a medieval author of epic poetry in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland, a representative of the Polish-Latin branch of poetry.

Biography There is virtually no biographical information about Joannis beyond his poetic works and related correspondence with his teacher, Pavel the Ruthenian, and most of biographical details are uncertain or deduced indirectly. From his letter to Pavel the Ruthenian one may deduce he was a Pole (he called Poland his motherland: "patriae Poloniae cuius alumnum me fore profiteor") From his agnomen it is deduced he was born in a Wislica/Vislitsa. Polish historians consider Wiślica in Poland to be his birthplace.

Joannis Vislicensis studied at the University of Kraków, His teacher of literature was alias Rusin ("Pavel the Ruthenian"). Some historians claim he received a bachelor's degree in 1505 or 1506 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1510. In 1510–1512, Joannis Vislicensis taught Aristotle's philosophy, Euclid's mathematics and Cicero's rhetoric classes to students. Some historians (e.g., and ) doubt his scholarly credentials and claim that the scholarly degrees and extraneus non de facultate teachership belong to another Jan from Wislica, the name indeed appearing in Liber Promotionum. Kruczkiewich argues that otherwise Joannis would have added his academic title to his name with the poem, the way his teacher Pavel habitually did, since this would have been important for the promotion of the first book by a new poet. Kruczkiewich, comparing the dates, also raises doubts that a successful master [Jan of Wislica II] would drop his occupation and start anew studies in literature with Pavel the Ruthenian. The texts in the book are printed both in Latin and Belarusian.