Johann Nicolaus Esper

Johann Nicolaus Esper (born December 17, 1670 in Lenkersheim , † March 12, 1717 in Windsheim ) was a German pastor and writer.

He was the son of the theologian Johann Matthaeus Esper and attended school in Heilsbronn from 1682 to 1689 . He then studied first at the University of Jena , then from 1690 at the University of Altdorf . There he defended his dissertation to obtain the master’s degree on June 16, 1691. In 1692 he succeeded his father as pastor in his birthplace Lenkersheim. In addition to his pastoral office, he worked as camerarius of the Neustadt an der Aisch rural chapter. In 1694 he married Susanna Sophia Meyer, whose father Heinrich Meyer was a publisher in Altdorf . In 1716 he moved to Ipsheim as a pastor . As early as the following year he was killed in a carriage accident on Whitsun when he was on his way back from a synod in nearby Windsheim and the carriage was overturned on a corner stone because of the carelessness of the coachman.

The philosopher and poet Magnus Daniel Omeis , with whom Esper had studied in Altdorf, accepted him into the Pegnese Flower Order in 1708 and crowned him “poet”. Omeis was president of this Nuremberg- based literary society. There he was given the nickname "Hesperius" (" Night VIole "). Little of his literary works was printed, including a mourning poem for the Windsheim rector Johann Georg Otho, a mourning poem for the bailiff Sebastian Arzberger and a poem in praise of Johann Philipp Fuchs von Dornheim . At the Synod taking place in Neustadt an der Aisch in 1704 , he gave a speech De culto Dei Fanatico , which apparently was not printed.

Fonts (selection)

• Dissertatio vtrum virtus doceri queat? [...] Kretschmann, Ansbach 1689 (school speech).
• Dissertatio de erroribus quibusdam qui philosophis veteribus falso aut dubie saltem adscribi vulgo solent [...]. Meyer, Altdorf 1691.
• Faithful meal of thought about life and death [...]. Helmhack, Windsheim 1702 (mourning poem for Johann Georg Otho).
• The [...] Mr. Johan Philipp Fuchsen from Dornheim [...] of the high cathedral in Würzburg was a respectable Scholastico [...]. Millenau, Rothenburg ob der Tauber 1712.

literature

• Georg Wolfgang Augustin Fikenscher: Scholarly Principality of Baireut, or biographical and literary news from all writers who were born in the Principality of Baireut and who lived in or outside of it and are still alive. Volume 2, 2nd edition, Nuremberg 1801 (quoted from the German Biographical Archive ).
• Alfred Estermann: Important personalities of the 14th to 20th century. In: District Neustadt ad Aisch - Bad Windsheim. Home book for the district. Self-published, Neustadt an der Aisch / Bad Windsheim 1982, pp. 290–300, here p. 295.
• Renate Jürgensen: Melos conspirant singuli in unum. Repertory bio-bibliographicum on the history of the Pegnese Order of Flowers in Nuremberg (1644–1744) (= contributions to books and libraries. Volume 50). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-447-05358-7 , pp. 636-638.