Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff
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Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
and scholar, was a member of a German noble family, which took its name from the village of Seckendorf between Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
and Langenzenn
Langenzenn
Langenzenn is a municipality in the district of Fürth, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 15 km west of Fürth.The town lies on the river Zenn and has a population of 10.518 people Langenzenn is a municipality in the district of Fürth, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 15 km west of...
.
The family was divided into eleven distinct lines, but only three survive, widely distributed throughout Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf, son of Joachim Ludwig von Seckendorf, was born at Herzogenaurach, near Erlangen
Erlangen
Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach.Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants....
.
In 1639 the reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Ernest the Pious, made him his protegé. Entering the university of Strassburg
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
in 1642, he devoted himself to history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
. The means for his higher education came from Swedish officers, former comrades of his father who had been actively engaged in the Thirty Years' War
Thirty 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....
and who was executed at Salzwedel on February 3, 1642 for his dealings with the Imperialists. After he finished his university course Duke Ernest gave him an appointment as hofjunker
Valet de chambre
Valet de chambre , or varlet de chambre, was a court appointment introduced in the late Middle Ages, common from the 14th century onwards. Royal Households had many persons appointed at any time...
in his court at Gotha, where he laid the foundation of his great collection of historical materials and mastered the principal modern languages.
In 1652 he was appointed to important judicial positions and sent on weighty embassages. In 1656 he was made judge in the ducal court at Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
, and took the leading part in the numerous beneficent reforms of the duke. In 1664 he resigned office under Duke Ernest, who had just made him chancellor and with whom he continued on excellent terms, and entered the service of Duke Maurice of Zeitz (Altenburg
Altenburg
Altenburg is a town in the German federal state of Thuringia, 45 km south of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district.-Geography:...
), with the view of lightening his official duties.
After the death of Maurice in 1681 he retired to his estate, Meuselwitz in Altenburg, resigning nearly all his public offices. Although living in retirement, he kept up a correspondence with the principal learned men of the day, He was especially interested in the endeavours of the pietist
Pietism
Pietism was a movement within Lutheranism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid-18th century and later. It proved to be very influential throughout Protestantism and Anabaptism, inspiring not only Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement, but also Alexander Mack to...
Philipp Jakob Spener
Philipp Jakob Spener
Philipp Jakob Spener was a German Christian theologian known as the "Father of Pietism."...
to effect a practical reform of the German church, although he was hardly himself a pietist. In 1692 he was appointed chancellor of the new university of Halle, but he died a few weeks afterwards.
Seckendorf's principal works were the following:
- Teutscher Fürstenstaat (1656 and 1678), a handbook of German public law
- Der Christen Stat (1685), partly an apology for Christianity and partly suggestions for the reformation of the church, founded on PascalBlaise PascalBlaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
's Pensées and embodying the fundamental ideas of Spener - Commentarius Historicus et apologeticus de Lutheranismo sive de Reformatione (3 vols., Leipzig, 1692), occasioned by the Jesuit MaimbourgLouis MaimbourgLouis Maimbourg was a French Jesuit and historian.Born at Nancy, Maimbourg entered the Society of Jesus at the age of sixteen, and after studying at Rome became a classical master in the Jesuit college at Rouen. He afterwards devoted himself to preaching, but with only moderate success...
's Histoire du Luthéranisme (Paris, 1680), his most important work, and still indispensable to the historian of the Reformation as a rich storehouse of authentic materials.
See Richard Pahner, Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff und seine Gedanken über Erziehung und Unterricht (Leipzig, 1892), the best sketch of Seckendorf's life, based upon original sources. See also Theodor Kolde
Theodor Kolde
Theodore Kolde was a German theologian, born at Friedland in Silesia. He studied at the universities in Breslau and Leipzig . In 1876 he commenced lecturing on theology at the University of Marburg, where he became professor extraordinary in 1879. In 1881 he was appointed professor of Church...
, "Seckendorf", in Herzog
Johann Jakob Herzog
Johann Jakob Herzog , German Protestant theologian, was born at Basel.He studied at Basel and Berlin, and eventually settled at Erlangen as professor of church history....
-Hauck's Realencyklopädie (1906).