Johann Heinrich Boeckler

Johann Heinrich Boeckler

Johann Heinrich Boeckler (or Latinized Johannes Boeclerus and mixed forms and under the pseudonym Petrus Nasturtius ) (born December 13, 1611 in Cronheim , † September 12, 1672 in Strasbourg ) was a German polymath .

Life

Johann Heinrich Boeckler was the son of Johann Boecklers, the last Protestant pastor of Cronheim, and his wife Magda, daughter of the high school principal in Feuchtwangen , Hartmann Summer. In 1638 he married Susanna Schallesius (approx. 1621–1687), the daughter of the Strasbourg priest Samuel Schallesius. His wife's sister, Elisabeth, was married to the grammar school director and Latinist Johann Christoph Artopaeus . One son and two daughters reached adulthood. The son Johann Boeckler was a professor of medicine in Strasbourg, the daughter Anna Maria was married to his student Ulrich Obrecht , professor of history and constitutional law in Strasbourg, and the daughter Christine to Johannes Faust , professor of theology in Strasbourg. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren also achieved professorships in Strasbourg.

Title page of De iure belli et pacis .

Boeckler attended the Princely School in Heilsbronn and then studied at the University of Altdorf , later in Tübingen and Strasbourg . His academic teachers were primarily the theologian Johann Schmidt and the historian Matthias Bernegger . After completing his studies, he found the center of his life in Strasbourg. At first he was a teacher at the local grammar school, from 1637 professor of rhetoric and from 1640 on, succeeding his teacher Matthias Bernegger, professor of history. A canonical at the Thomaskirche was also associated with the professorship . The time in Strasbourg was interrupted by a few years in Sweden after the Thirty Years War . Initially, after being appointed by Queen Christina , he taught political science and politics at Uppsala University from 1649 as a professor of eloquence. In 1650 he became a Swedish state historian in Stockholm and received an honorary salary . Despite the good position, Boeckler returned to Strasbourg in 1654 and filled his old chair. As a friend of Sweden, he was of the opinion that Sweden had saved both German and Protestant freedom, but could not get used to Sweden in the long run. In Strasbourg, after his return, he was considered the most important and popular teacher at the university for over two decades. In 1662 the Elector of Mainz, Johann Philipp von Schönborn , appointed him a councilor. Emperor Ferdinand III. appointed Boeckler to imperial council and count palatine in 1663 . In addition to the pension from Sweden, he is said to have received gifts of money and a pension from the French King Louis XIV .

In his time Boeckler had a very great impact on the scientific community, and at Protestant universities he still had a very strong effect well into the 18th century. He was in correspondence with many other scholars and politicians, including Hermann Conring , Georg Kaspar Kirchmaier , Johann Georg Styrzel and Johann Christian von Boyneburg , who was also politically close to him. He also developed a lively and successful activity as an academic teacher. His students included Philipp Jacob Spener , Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff , Jacob Henning , Johannes Scheffer , Johann Benedict Carpzov II and Georg Engelbrecht the Elder , the most famous student was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz . He has his greatest importance as a historian for universal and imperial history. Here he oriented himself in the humanistic tradition on ancient literature, in particular on the universal historical view of Tacitus . In addition, in the tradition of Niccolò Machiavelli , he also included the contemporary problems of the princely states . In 1636 he also gave the important academic speech Oratio de CC Tacito , a commentary on the histories of Tacitus, and later the Oratio de Vellei Historia, printed in 1642 . He dealt intensively with the political exegesis of the works of Velleius Paterculus and Suetonius . Boeckler made significant contributions to state theory . He published several ancient authors and commented De jure belli et pacis by Hugo Grotius . Politically and journalistically, he spoke about the Palatine wild- catching dispute in 1662/1663, but also intervened in the dispute over the positions of Bogislaw Philipp von Chemnitz . For a long time his work on the Swedish-Danish war from 1643 to 1645 was considered the most important historical work. The Swedish Queen Christine provided him with material for this work. The final version of the work was done by his sons and son-in-law Ulrich Obrecht. Elector Johann Philipp von Schönborn used Boeckler in his dispute with the city of Erfurt, in another treatise he advocated the legal claims of the German Empire on Livonia .

So far, there has been no comprehensive examination of Boeckler's works.

Fonts (selection)

• Orationes duae. I. de C. Taciti Historia, II. De Tiberii Caesaris principatu. Strasbourg 1636
• Historia schola principum. 1640
• In C. Corn. Taciti quinque libros histor. annotatio politica. Strasbourg 1648
• Disseratio De Notitia Reipublicae, Ad C: Corn. Taciti lib. IV, 33. Uppsala 1649. ( digitized in the digital library Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
• Nomima tōn Aegyptiōn, sive leges Aegyptiorum. , 1657
• Iosephus Philonis, sive bios politiku, vita viri civilis. , 1660
• In Hugonis Grotii Ius Belli Et Pacis, Ad Illustrißimum Baronem Boineburgium Commentatio Jo. Henrici Boecleri. Strasbourg 1663/1664
• Elogium Christophori Forstneri. 1669
• Collegium politicae posthumum. Or political discourse of 1. improvement of Land and Leuth, 2. establishment of good policey, 3. handling of large expenses, and 4. of every regent's annual benefit and income. Anno (editori Magisteriali) 1669. at Strasbourg by the well-known JCto, and the right professors, Hn. J. Heinr. Böcklern, but now brought to the public for good publicity and promoted to printing. undated, undated [probably Strasbourg 1670]
• Bibliographia historico-politico-philologica curiosa. Leipzig 1677
• Joh. Henrici Boecleri brief instructions on how to track the classic authors with and with young people. The same goes for the dissertatio epistolica postrema de Studio politico bene instituendo. Strasbourg 1680
• Institutiones politicae. 1704
• Joh.Heinrici Boecleri Viri Celeberrimi Libellus Memorialis Ethicus , 1712
• Theses Juridicae de testamentis solemnibus et minus solemnibus. 1720

literature

• Franz Xaver von Wegele :  Boeckler, Heinrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 792 f.
• Paul Wentzcke :  Boeckler (Boecler), Johann Heinrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 372 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Wilhelm Kühlmann: Boeckler, Johann Heinrich. In: Killy Literature Lexicon . 2nd Edition. Volume 2, de Gruyter, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-020375-2 , p. 22 f. ( limited preview in Google Book search).
• Wilhelm Kühlmann: Boeckler, Johann Heinrich. In: Peter Kuhlmann , Helmuth Schneider (Hrsg.): History of the ancient sciences. Biographical Lexicon (= The New Pauly . Supplements. Volume 6). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02033-8 , Col. 122 f.

Web links

Commons : Johann Heinrich Boeckler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by and about Johann Heinrich Boeckler  in the German Digital Library
• Entry at Kalliope