Johann Wolfgang Trier

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Johann Wolfgang Trier (* 1686 in Möhra ; † around 1750) was a German lawyer and heraldist .

Life

Trier studied law in Leiden . In 1709 he received his doctorate in law from the University of Leiden . Two years later he became a professor of heraldry at the University of Leipzig . King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia appointed him court counselor and full professor of law at the University of Frankfurt an der Oder around 1724 . His professional advancement to the head of the law faculty ended when he resigned: he was dismissed in 1743 because of “extreme incompatibility”. He then moved to Denmark that same year . Here Trier took up a job as a secretary for a trading and shipping company. He remained loyal to this society until his death.

His resignation was preceded by many diatribes against colleagues and other contemporaries, including the legal scholar Johann Gottlieb Heineccius . Trier became ingloriously known through his introduction to heraldic art . The writings were published in Leipzig in 1729 . The remarkable work consists of two sections. The first section deals with basic heraldic terms, the second contains the coats of arms of the crowned heads of the time, the electors, clerical and secular rulers as well as the imperial counts, some foreign princes, imperial cities and the republics.

Title vignette on Trier's coat of arms

Each of the coats of arms depicted in the copper engraving is accompanied by an astonishingly precise description and a historical explanation. This work served as a model for many later authors. It is one of the source works of the 18th century.

Publications

  • Introduction to the coat of arms art, in which this science is presented through German rules and examples and the coats of arms of the crowned heads ... in copper are presented and explained . Leipzig publishing house. Johann Friedrich Braun, 1714/1729 (134 copper plates, 250 woodcut illustrations)

literature

personal data
SURNAME Trier, Johann Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German heraldist and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH 1686
PLACE OF BIRTH Möhra (Thuringia)
DATE OF DEATH around 1750