Johann Burchard May

Johann Burchard May (also: Majus, Maius, Mai, Maie ; born February 4, 1652 in Pforzheim ; † November 6, 1726 in Kiel ) was a German philologist and historian.

Life

Born as the son of pastor Johann Georg May, he was the older brother of Johann Heinrich May the Elder and, after initial training in his father's house, attended the grammar school in Durlach in 1664 . On May 12, 1662 he enrolled at the University of Wittenberg , where he attended the lectures of Konrad Samuel Schurzfleisch . Due to the military conditions prevailing at the time, he went to Frankfurt am Main , where he became tutor of some noblemen.

At that time he worked as a proofreader in printing works and wrote his script Litterae Francofurtenses . He then moved to the University of Giessen and dealt with law, as his publication "jure publico" shows. Margrave Friedrich VII. Magnus von Baden-Durlach appointed him high school professor of rhetoric at the high school in Durlach. There he also worked as a librarian. Forced by the French War, he had to leave his homeland. However, he was still paid his salary, so that he turned down many other offers.

In 1692 he was offered a full professorship in rhetoric and history at the University of Kiel , which he took up in 1693. At Kiel University he was one of the leading founding members of the Society of Researchers, which was dedicated to scientific life in Kiel. In 1725 he was retired for reasons of age, but continued his lectures in spite of all this and died the following year.

Selection of works

• Tractat de Pontificis Rome. Elections. 1726
• In Tacitum de moribus Germanorum
• In Pfannerum de praecipuis Germaniiae Principum gentibus
• From the church history and those of Patribus, which still exist in handwriting
• Historical remarques. 1699

literature

• Carsten Erich Carstens :  May, Johann Burchard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 123.
• Majus, Johann Burchard. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 19, Leipzig 1739, column 656 f.