Daniel Casper von Lohenstein
Encyclopedia
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
n playwright, lawyer, diplomat, poet, and chief representative of the Second Silesian School.
Family
The Casper and/or Caspar family came from the BriegBrieg
Brieg may refer to:* Brzeg , in Silesia, Poland** Duchy of Brzeg, a duchy of Silesia from 1311 – 1675* Briec , a town in Brittany...
principality, first well known as poet and diplomats.
Daniel Caspar was the son of the imperial customs-officer, Akzisefälle-Einnehmers
Octroi
Octroi is a local tax collected on various articles brought into a district for consumption.-Antiquity:Octroi taxes have a respectable antiquity, being known in Roman times as vectigalia...
and Biergefälle-Einnehmers named Johann (Hans) Casper (c.1600-after 1670), alderman and city constable of Nimptsch, and the Susanna skull of Greiffenstein (1612-1652). His father Hans in 1642 received a Wappenbrief
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
and was raised on 17 July 1670 to a hereditary imperial peerage, with the name of "von Lohenstein".
Youth
Daniel Caspar was born 1635 in the princely Schloss Nimptsch, to which his parents had withdrawn during the Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
. After initial private instruction in Nimptsch, his father sent him to Breslau where Caspar from 1642 to 1651 attended the Magdalenen-School, that had been upgraded in 1643 into a secondary school (Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium). In the midpoint of his philological and rhetorical education there, he already as eleven-year-old student carried out disputations with antique examples over what qualified one to be a peer. At 15 he composed his first tragedy, "Ibrahim". Lohenstein was friendly with Heinrich Mühlpfort.
After finishing secondary school, Caspar Breslau had to leave because there was as yet no university in the town. At the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
he studied under Benedikt Carpzov (1595-1666), the founder of the German criminal justice system, and at the University of Tübingen with Wolfgang Adam Lauterbach (1618-1678), where on 6 June 1655 he produced his Disputation ("Disputation Jurudica de Voluntate").
After finishing his studies, the (at that time usual) Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
which he joined led him first of all to the sovereign courts of Germany, then to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Leiden, Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
(but not Italy, due to the plague then raging there). With Italy ruled out, he spent some time in Hungary, coming into contact with the Turkish-Oriental cultural circles there.
Recalled by his father, he came home by ship, through a strong thunderstorm he remembered his whole life, in which he saw the sinking of 13 ships. After his homecoming, he established himself as a lawyer in Breslau and on 30 October 1657, at 22, in Breslau, he married Elisabeth Herrmann (died 1708 in Zettritz, Landkreis Landsberg (Warthe) ), Mark Brandenburg), the daughter of Caspar Herrmann, Amtmann
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
for Breslau's state property (Landgüter des Rats).
Patronage
He had in 1665 produced his second poetic work, the tragedy "Aggrippina", dedicated to duchess Louise von Liegnitz-Brieg-Wohlau (born princess of Anhalt-Dessau). Louise's queen-regent Elisabeth Marie in 1668 founded a Regierungsrat at Oels. Caspar was, as a scholar, advised Louise and also helped in the design and construction of the Piasten-Gruft in Liegnitz. Duke Christian strove to attract him to his court as a secret advisorRat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
, but Caspar declined before returning 1670 to Breslau, where a successful and promising career beckoned.
Already as student, he had moved among the patrician circles of the Breslau city-state and beyond. Now the eldest advisor there, Christian Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau (1616-1679) advocated Caspar as a poet and other works of his - like his famous funeral oration of 1679 addressed to Christian - were very admired. He came, on the abdication of the Obersyndikus Peter Muck von Muckendorff 1670, to receive the presidency of the Herzogtums Lauenburg, with the second Syndikus, Andreas von Assig, taking his place as Obersyndikus. Thus Caspar von Lohenstein became a Syndikus at Assigs.
Syndic and diplomat in Breslau
Thus he arrived in one of the most important offices of the city. The elevation of his family into the peerage a few weeks later might have been more for him than for his father. In the year 1675, Assig had to be abandon his office due to illness and Caspar took his place as Obersyndikus, holding that office for the eight years until his death.The governing of Schlesien after the Thirty Years' War were strongly marked by through anti-reforming efforts. When an imperial
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
edict commanded the dismissal of all Protestant schoolteachers, the danger of an occupation of Breslau by imperial troops under the leadership of the general Kop was so great that Caspar was dispatched to Vienna for negotiations. With the diplomatic skill of an educated man, he succeeded, moving the emperor so much that he gave up his demand. The city took advantage of his high diplomatic capabilities even more often, sending him as an ambassador, though he still achieved much as a lawyer as well as proving himself as a diplomat and politician.
Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein possessed some titles. He acquired in 1673 the Kittelau from duchess (Herzogin) Louise von Brieg and in the same year inherited Reisau and Roschkowitz from Tobias von Kleindienst. As an acknowledged poet, an ennobled Obersyndikus and landowner, Caspar was at his peak of life in the 1670s. Turning always more strongly towards the Habsburg position, he was appointed an imperial advisor in 1675. He died at the family Schloss at Breslau, Niederschlesien, of a stroke in 1683.
Works
Casper's production as a poet, especially when considered together with his contemporaneous work as lawyer and diplomat, is astonishing. Extremely productive, he was above all known as an author of theatrical pieces marked by the well known French Classicism in drama and as - next to Andreas GryphiusAndreas Gryphius
Andreas Gryphius was a German lyric poet and dramatist.Asteroid 496 Gryphia is named in his honour.-Life and career:...
- one of the most important dramatists of the baroque. In addition to this he was known as a poet and as a translator.
His novel "Großmütiger Feldherr Arminius", comprising around 3000 pages, appeared between 1689-90 and was a highpoint of baroque romantic art, despite concerns over the often obscure and overwrought language. In it he put up for discussion the situation of the German empire after the Thirty Years War and tries to take stock of contemporary knowledge.
His lyric poetry was published in periodic periodicals (eLib Austria full texts).
He used exaggeration and distortion in his works to work out the contrast to the "better" reality, and they thus stand in the tradition of Senecan
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
.
Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein in many of his writings showed his views on statescraft and the art of ruling, similar to "Christian Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau" on the topic.
List of works
- „Ibrahim, 1649/50 (first printed after his death in 1685)
- Cypress-Tafel, (tragic poem or lyricLyric poetryLyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
), 1652 - Denk- und Dankaltar, 1652
- Ibrahim, Trauerspiel (TragedyTragedyTragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
), 1653 - Rechtsstreit der Schönheit und Freundlichkeit, 1657
- Trauer- und Trostgedanken, 1658
- Schuldiges Ehren-Gedächtnis, 1660
- Cleopatra, DramaDramaDrama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
, 1661 - Redender Totenkopf, 1662
- Erlangte Ewigkeit, 1664
- Agrippina, Trauerspiel, 1665
- Epicharis, Trauerspiel, 1665
- Ibrahim Sultan, Schauspiel (tragedy that ends happily), 1673
- Blumen, poem, 1680
- Geistliche Gedanken, poem, 1680
- Trauer- und Lustgedichte, 1680
- Sophonisbe, Drama, 1680
- Großmütiger Feldherr Arminius, Roman (novelNovelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
), 1689-90
Further reading
- Gerhard Spellenberg: Daniel Casper von Lohenstein. In: „Deutsche Dichter des 17. Jahrhunderts. Ihr Leben und Werk“. Hrsg.: Harald Steinhagen und Benno Wiese. Berlin 1984
- Gerhard Dünnhaupt: "Daniel Casper von Lohenstein (1635-1683)", in: Personalbibliographien zu den Drucken des Barock, Bd. 4. Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1991, S. 2589-2606. ISBN 3-7772-9122-6
- Thomas Borgstedt: Reichsidee und Liebesethik. Eine Rekonstruktion des Lohensteinschen Arminiusromans (Studien zur deutschen Literatur 121). Niemeyer, Tübingen 1992, ISBN 3-484-18121-4
- Dieter Kafitz: Lohenstein's Arminius. Disputatorisches Verfahren und Lehrgehalt in einem Roman zwischen Barock und Aufklärung (Germanistische Abhandlungen 32). Metzler, Stuttgart 1970
- Oskar Pusch: Die Breslauer Rats- und Stadtgeschlechter in der Zeit von 1241 bis 1741, Bd. 3, S. 44 ff. (Veröffentlichungen der Forschungsstelle Ostmitteleuropa an der Universität Dortmund/Reihe B; Bd. 38). Dortmund 1988, ISBN 3-923293-25-9
- Gerhard Spellerberg: Verhängnis und Geschichte. Untersuchungen zu den Trauerspielen und dem Arminius-Roman Daniel Caspers von Lohenstein. Gehlen, Bad Homburg v.d.H. 1970
- Elida M. Szarota: Lohensteins Arminius als Zeitroman. Sichtweisen des Spätbarock. Francke, Bern 1970
- Max Wehrli: Das barocke Geschichtsbild in Lohensteins Arminius (Wege zur Dichtung 31). Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld 1938
- Wolf Wucherpfennig: Klugheit und Weltordnung. Das Problem politischen Handelns in Lohensteins Arminius (Deutsche Literatur- und Sprachstudien/Reihe A; Bd. 2). Becksmann, Freiburg/B. 1973
External links
- Online catalogue of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin