Georg Philipp Harsdorffer

Georg Philipp Harsdörffer (November 1, 1607 – September 17, 1658), German poet and translator, was born in Nuremberg.

He studied law at Altdorf and Strassburg, and subsequently traveled through the Netherlands, England, France and Italy. His knowledge of languages earned him the appellation "the learned." As a member of the Fruitbearing Society (Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft) he was called der Spielende (the player). In 1644 jointly with Johann Klaj he founded the order of the Pegnitzschäfer (Pegnitz Shepherds), a literary society, in Nuremberg. He was known by the name Strephon among the members of this order.

His writings in German and Latin fill fifty volumes, and a selection of his poems, which are mostly interesting for their form, can be found in Müller's Bibliothek deutscher Dichter des 17ten Jahrhunderts, vol. ix (Leipzig, 1826). Widmann (Altdorf, 1707) wrote a biography of him.

He was the father of Karl Gottlieb Harsdörffer, (1637–1708)

References

Emblem in his book Icones mortis

• S. Taussig, C. Zittel (éds.), Japeta. Édition et traduction, Brepols Publishers, 2010, ISBN 978-2-503-52760-4
• Julius Tittmann, Die Nürnberger Dichterschule (Göttingen, 1847)
• Hodermann, Eine vornehme Gesellschaft, nach Harsdörffers "Gesprächspielen" (Paderborn, 1890)
• T. Bischoff, "Georg Philipp Harsdörffer" in the Festschrift zur 1600 jahrigen Jubelfeier des Pegnesischen Blumenordens (Nuremberg, 1894)
• Krapp, Die asthetischen Tendenzen Harsdörffers (Berlin, 1904).
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.