Maximilianus Transylvanus (also known as Maximilianus of Transylvania and Maximilian von Sevenborgen) was born about 1490. The only thing to be known of his education is that the Italian-born Spanish historian Peter Martyr was his teacher for a period of time. In 1507 Transylvanus appeared as an author for the first time with the release of a poem for the Diet in Constance that year. He probably had a position as secretary at the court of Emperor Maximilian I from this time on. Transylvanus continued his service to the next Holy Roman Emperor Charles V after the death of Maximilian I and followed Charles to the Diet of Worms in 1521 and a year later to Spain. There, at the court in Valladolid, Transylvanus wrote his most important work, a comprehensive report on Magellan's circumnavigation of the earth. He based his report on interviews of the survivors of the journey, which Magellan had untertaken on the order of the emperor. This report was printed in January 1523 with the title "De Moluccis insulis", it is the earliest published text on Magellan's circumnavigation.
In 1523, on the orders of Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary, Transylvanus was involved with the diplomatic mission to the Netherlands from then on. Maximilianus Transylvanus died on November 18, 1538 in Brussels.