CROTUS, RUBIANUS (JOHANNES JAGER) (C. 1480—C.
, German humanist, born at Dornheim and educated at Er furt, later becoming professor of theology at Cologne. In 1515 he contributed to the collection, Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum, his satirical letters on scholasticism and monasticism. After four years in Italy, Crotus became rector of Erfurt university (15 20) and there entertained Luther. Three years later he went to Fulda, but finally settled in Halle, where he reverted to his old religion (c. 153o) and became a canon. His Apologia appeared at Leipzig 1531.
See Kampschulte, De J. Croto Rubiano Commentatio (Bonn, 1862) ; Einert, Johann Jager aus Dornheim (1883) ; and Brecht, Die Verfasser der Epistolae obscurorum virorum (1904).