Georg Michael Lingelsheim

Georg Michael Lingelsheim

Georg Michael Lingelsheim (born December 5, 1556 (according to other information December 9, 1557 or 1558) in Strasbourg , † July / August 1636 in Frankenthal ) was an Electoral Palatinate official and scholar of late humanism .

Life

Born as the son of a teacher at the academic high school in Strasbourg , Lingelsheim initially worked as a preceptor (private tutor) for an English nobleman after completing his legal studies in Heidelberg . In 1583 he received his doctorate from the law faculty of the University of Basel . From 1583/1584 to 1592 he was tutor of Prince Elector Friedrich IV (together with Otto von Grünrade ) at the Electoral Palatinate court of Johann Casimir in Heidelberg and promoted his turn to the Reformation . From 1587 (according to other information from 1592) he was a member of the Upper Palatinate Council under Friedrich IV. And his successor Friedrich V , whose opponent he was. He was one of the most influential people in Palatinate politics at the time. From 1593 he was administrator of the abolished Walderbach monastery . In 1619/20 Martin Opitz was hired and supported by Lingelsheim as a private tutor for a short time during his studies in Heidelberg. Via Lingelsheim, Opitz came into contact with the Heidelberg group of poets around Julius Wilhelm Zincgref . After the Electoral Palatinate was conquered by the troops of the Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II under the leadership of Spinola , Lingelsheim was forced to emigrate to Strasbourg in 1621. During the brief reinstatement of Friedrich V in 1633, he was captured in Frankenthal and died in custody there.

Work and meaning

Lingelsheim was one of the central figures of the late humanist republic of scholars. He corresponded by letter with around 80 contemporary, mainly Protestant, scholars and diplomats across Europe, from which over 2000 letters from and to Lingelsheim have been preserved. In it he campaigned for a compromise between the various Protestant denominations in defense of Habsburg Catholicism. Among others, Marquard Freher , Jan Gruter , Paul Melissus Schede , Johann Joachim von Rusdorf and Julius Wilhelm Zincgref frequented his house. His correspondence is one of the most important sources for the history of late humanism in the denominational age.

Apart from his dissertation, Lingelsheim is not aware of any independent publications. However, he published and translated various works by other authors. So he published z. B. 1620 the "history of his time" by Jacques-Auguste de Thou in Geneva. Pierre Dupuy and Nicolas Rigault , who were entrusted with the publication of de Thou's work, sent the manuscript to Lingelsheim, as they had to fear sanctions from the court of Maria de 'Medici if it were published in France .

literature

• Axel E. Walter: Late Humanism and Confessional Politics in the Confessional Age - Georg Michael Lingelsheim and his European Correspondents
• Axel E. Walter: Late humanism and denominational politics. The European Republic of Scholars around 1600 as reflected in the correspondence of Georg Michael Lingelsheim . (Early Modern Age 95), Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen 2004. ISBN 3-484-36595-1 .
• Samuel Kinser: The works of Jacques-Auguste de Thou , p. 27ff
• Volker Press :  Lingelsheim, Georg Michael. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , p. 621 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• Biography at the House of Bavarian History (badly programmed page without a link, search for "Lingelsheim")