Georg Rudolf Weckherlin (15 September 1584 – 13 February 1653) was a German

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and diplomat. Influenced by the French

La Pléiade La Pléiade () was a group of 16th-century French Renaissance poets whose principal members were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay and Jean-Antoine de Baïf. The name was a reference to another literary group, the original Alexandrian Pleiad ...

, his poetry introduced

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

forms and themes previously unknown in German verse. In his political career, Weckherlin worked in the service of the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...

, serving on diplomatic missions to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Weckherlin would eventually come to be employed by the English crown as an expert on foreign languages and

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

, and continued to serve in this position in the

Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execu ...

Biography

Georg Weckherlin was born at Stuttgart. After studying law in

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

he settled at Stuttgart, and, as secretary to Duke Johann Friedrich of

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

, was employed on diplomatic missions to

and

. Between 1620 and 1624 he lived in England in the service of the

, and from this connection came to be employed in various positions in the English government. He was chief clerk to a succession of Secretaries of State and was especially skilled in foreign languages and

cryptology Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

. He acted as a licenser of London foreign news publications for Charles I and in the mid-1630s he assisted with the negotiations for the development of an offensive and defensive treaty with France that would have brought Britain directly into the Thirty Years' War.Jayne E. E. Boys, London's News Press and the Thirty Years War, Suffolk and Rochester, 2011, Although employed by the English crown, when

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

came in 1642, Weckherlin chose to remain in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and serve the bureaucracy that supported the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. In 1644 he was appointed "Secretary for Foreign Tongues" in England, a position in which, on the establishment of the Commonwealth, he was followed by Milton. His son had a position in the household of Charles I's oldest son Prince Charles and went into exile with the

royalists A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

. He did not return to England until 1660 after the death of his father in 1653 in London. Weckherlin was the most distinguished of the circle of South German poets who prepared the way for the

movement associated in Germany with

Martin Opitz Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (23 December 1597 – 20 August 1639) was a German poet, regarded as the greatest of that nation during his lifetime. Biography Opitz was born in Bunzlau (Bolesławiec) in Lower Silesia, in the Principality of ...

. His models were the poets of the French Pleiade, and with his

psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...

s and sonnets he broke new ground for the German lyric. An

epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

on the death of Gustavus Adolphus, in

alexandrine Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French ''Roman ...

s, seems to have won most favor with his contemporaries.

Works

Two volumes of his ''Oden und Gesänge'' appeared in 1618 and 1619; his collected ''Geistliche und weltliche Gedichte'' in 1641. Weckherlin's ''Gedichte'' (''Poems'') have been edited by Hermann Fischer for the ''Stuttgarter Literarischer Verein'' (vols. cxcix.-cc., 1894–1895). Selections were published by W. Müller (1823) and

Karl Goedeke Karl Friedrich Ludwig Goedeke (15 April 1814 – 28 October 1887) was a German historian of literature, an author, and a professor. He was born at Celle and was educated at Göttingen (1833-1838), where he attended lectures by Jacob Grimm, with w ...

(1873). His chief English poems were "Triumphal Shows Set Forth Lately at Stuttgart" (1616) and "Panegyricke to Lord Hay, Viscount of Doncaster" (1619).

Notes

References

* C. P. Conz, ''Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Schriften Weckherlins'' (1803) * E. Höpfner, ''G. R. Weckherlins Oden und Gesänge'' (1865) * Hermann Fischer, ''Beiträge zur Literaturgeschichte Schwabens'' (1891) * * This work in turn cites: * Fischer, in his contribution to the ''Stuttgarter Literarischer Verein'' as above * Cong, ''Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Schriften R. Weckherlins'' ( Ludwigsburg, 1803) * Höpfner, ''Weckherlins Oden und Gesänge'' (Berlin, 1865) * Bohm, ''Englands Einfluss auf Weckherlin'' (Göttingen, 1893) Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weckherlin, Georg Rudolf 1584 births 1653 deaths Writers from Stuttgart People from the Duchy of Württemberg German people of the Thirty Years' War 17th-century German poets German male poets German emigrants to England 17th-century English diplomats 17th-century English poets