The 17th-century historian
Thomas Dempster claimed Benedict was of Scottish origin, presumably based on his surname (derived from the Greek
cheridon, meaning swallow) and possibly his association with the Scottish Abbey in Vienna (which was actually founded by Irish monks). However, he was from the area around
Nuremberg, where he became a monk at the Abbey of
St Aegidius. Chelidonius wrote Latin poetry on the
passion of Christ and the life of the
Blessed Virgin Mary to accompany woodcuts published by Albrecht Dürer in 1511. He moved to
Vienna in 1514, becoming abbot of the Scottish Abbey in 1518. In 1519, he published an edition of the
Libri quatuor sententiarum by 12th-century theologian Bandinus. This work was an abridgement of
Peter Lombard's
Sentences, which Chelidonius mistakenly believed was Lombard's model. He was a close friend of theologian
Johann Eck, an opponent of
Martin Luther. Following Dempster, the
Dictionary of National Biography attributed a tract against Luther,
Contra Lutherum apostatam, to Chelidonius. However, the tract cannot be identified. Benedict died on 8 September 1521. ==Works==