HEGIUS (VON HEEK), ALEXANDER (c. 1498), German humanist, so called from his birthplace Heek in Westphalia. In his youth he was a pupil of Thomas a Kempis, at that time canon of the convent of St. Agnes at Zwolle. In he settled down at Deventer in Holland, where he either founded or succeeded to the headship of a school, which had many famous pupils, chief of whom was Erasmus. Hegius died at Deventer on Dec. 7, 1498. His writings were published after his death by his pupil Jacob Faber, but his fame rests not on these, but upon his services in the cause of humanism. He succeeded in abolishing the old-fashioned mediaeval textbooks and methods of instruction, and led his pupils to the study of the classical authors themselves. See D. Reichling, "Beitrage zur Charakteristik des Alex. Hegius," in the Monatsschri f t fur Westdeutschland (1877) ; H. Hamelmann, Opera genealogico-historica (171I) ; H. A. Erhard, Geschichte des Wiederaufbliihens wissenschaftlicher Bildung (1826) ; C. Krafft and W. Crecelius, "Alexander Hegius and seine Schuler," from the works of Johannes Butzbach, one of Hegius's pupils, in Zeitschrift des bergischen Geschichtsvereins, vii. (Bonn, 1871).