Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (German: Hans Jacob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, c. 1622, Gelnhausen – August 17, 1676, Renchen) – German writer, author of the rogue novel „The Adventures of Simplicissimus", the most popular work of German literature of the 17th century.

Biography

Origin

Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen was born in 1622 (according to some sources – in 1621), into an impoverished noble family, his ancestors came from the Thuringian village of Grimmelshausen on the Verre River, and in the 16th century settled in the city of Gelnhausen in the Kinzigtal valley (now in federal state of Hesse). At the time, this Protestant city had the status of a Free Imperial City. Grimmelshausen’s grandfather, a baker and innkeeper, renounced his title of nobility in 1592.

Youth

No documents have survived about the first twenty years of Grimmelshausen’s life. His father Johann Christoph died when Christoffel was four or five years old. The widowed mother soon remarried and left with her husband to Frankfurt am Main, leaving her son in Gelnhausen to be raised by her grandfather. The boy attended a local Latin school. Education here was aimed at training future priests or entering universities, so the main subject was Latin. In September 1634, the battles of the Thirty Years’ War also reached Gelnhausen. The city was captured by the Catholics and plundered. This was repeated in 1635. Many townspeople, including, apparently, Grimmelshausen, fled to the nearby fortress of Hanau, which was held by General Jacob von Ramsay and the Swedish-Lutheran troops.

Participation in the battles of the Thirty Years War

At the age of ten he was kidnapped by passing Hessian soldiers. There is reason to believe that in the summer of 1631, Grimmelshausen served as an orderly and in this capacity participated in the siege of Magdeburg. In 1637 he was a member of the imperial dragoon regiment in Westphalia, but due to his too young age he was not yet a soldier. In 1639, at the age of 17 or 18, he actively fought in the regiment of Hans Reinhard von Schauenburg. There he rose to the position of scribe in the regimental office. The first documentary evidence of his life dates back to the end of 1639, when he took the post of regimental clerk in Offenburg (Baden) under Baron Hans Reingart von Schauenburg, and from 1644 documents written by his hand have survived. In mid-1648, he moved to the service in Wasserburg on the Inn in the Upper Palatinate, where he served as secretary of the chancellery in the regiment of Johann Burkard von Elter. Here in July 1649 he completed his military career.

Civilian life

After the signing of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Grimmelshausen returned to Offenburg. Apparently, at the same time, Grimmelshausen converted to the Catholic faith and established his noble origin. His wedding, which took place in Offerburg on August 30, 1649, was a Catholic ceremony. The bride, Katarina Henninger (German. Catharina henninger), was the daughter of a regimental sergeant. In the marriage certificate, before the surname Grimmelshausen, the prefix „von" is again used, indicating a title of nobility, which Grimmelshausen’s grandfather abandoned. After the wedding, the newlyweds moved to the small town of Gaisbach in the Renchtal valley (today it is part of the city of Oberkirch in the state of Baden-W_rttemberg), where Grimmelshausen from 1649 to 1661 served as manager of the family estate of the Schauenburg barons. His duties were to supervise the estate and collect taxes from peasants who were in serfdom with the Schauenburgs. During the same years of his work, the manager also had to rebuild the Gaisbach castle, for which stones from the Schauenburg fortress were used. In addition, in 1653, he acquires the Spitalb_hne Wasteland, where he builds two houses, in order to exchange them for the estate of the governor of the castle, located in a picturesque location at the foot of the Black Forest, which he turns into a small tavern „At the Silver Star" („Zum Silbernen Stern") on the outskirts of the castle and kept it in the years 1656-1658; tried to trade horses. From 1662 to 1665 he was the vogt (commandant) of the nearby Ullenburg castle, which was in the possession of Johannes Kueffer Jr., a doctor from Strasbourg (lived 1614-1675), who received Ullenburg castle in pledged linen. There Grimmelshausen acted as manager and housekeeper. He brought the castle and the estate to a flourishing state, repaired the walls, built economic services, laid vineyards. But, not getting along with the owners in 1665, he returned to Geisbach. The difficult financial situation forces Grimmelshausen in 1667 to become a schultgeis (headman) in the Renchen community in the service of the Archduke of Strasbourg, Archduke Wilhelm of Austria, to whose land holdings this community belonged: Grimmelshausen was responsible for the consideration of local court disputes at the lower level, for collecting order. It was here, in spite of the many administrative matters, that Grimmelshausen wrote all his major works.

last years of life

In 1672 the Franco-Dutch war began (1672-1678). In 1673, King Louis XIV of France, with the support of the Bishop of Strasbourg, under whom Grimmelshausen served, opened a new field of hostilities on the Upper Rhine against the imperial troops. In 1675, Renchen also fell into the sphere of hostilities: the city and the surrounding settlements, the people who lived there bore the heavy burden of the war. Grimmelshausen again performed military duties. All this not only made Grimmelshausen’s life extremely difficult, but also led to a serious long illness, from which he died on August 11, 1676. In the church book in Renchen, there is a record of his death, which followed on August 17, 1676: "The venerable Johannes Christoforus von Grimmelshausen, a man of great spirit and high learning, the headman of this city, died in the Lord, and although in the confusion of war he was in military service, and his children were scattered in different directions, everyone gathered for his deathbed, and their father died, strengthened in the sacrament of Holy Communion, and was buried. May his soul rest in peace in the saints. „ Grimmelhausen’s wife Katarina, who bore him ten children, died on March 23, 1683.

Since 1924, the anniversary of the writer’s death has been solemnly celebrated.

Artworks

It remains unclear exactly when Grimmelshausen began his work as a writer. There is evidence that all of Grimmelshausen’s works appeared in the last ten years of his life, that is, since 1666. Many documents that he wrote as a scribe of the regiment and as a manager of the castle have survived, but neither manuscripts, nor diaries, nor letters concerning his literary activities and personal life have survived. With the exception of three books, he published under pseudonyms. Only in 1837, 150 years after the death of Grimmelshausen, Hermann Kurz was able to identify the real author.

There is still no complete (academic) collected works of Grimmelshausen in German. Some of his works have not been republished since the 18th century. The scientific biography of the author has not been written either. There is also no complete and reliable bibliography of the literature on Grimmelshausen.

„Simplicissimus"

In 1668, a largely autobiographical novel about Simplicissimus (German Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch, dh die Beschreibung des Lebens eines seltsamen Vaganten, genannt Melchior Sternfels von Fuchsheim, book 1-5) was published, which looks like a romance rather followed the traditions of the German knightly romance and satirical literature of the 16th century. The novel describes the adventures of Simplicissimus amid the devastating Thirty Years’ War.

Other works

Grimmelshausen had other, albeit less significant, works. Including satirical ones:


„Schwarz und wei_ oder die Satirische Pilgerin„(1666)

„Ausf_hrliche und wunderseltsame Lebensbeschreibung der Erzbetr_gerin und Landst_rzerin Courage„(1670)

„Der seltsame springinsfeld„(1670)

„Der teutsche michel„(1670)

„Trutz Simplex oder Lebensbescheibung der Erzbetr_gerin und Landst_rzerin Courasche„(1670)

„Das Rathst_bel Plutonis„(1672)

„Das wunderbarliche Vogelnest„(1672)

„Die verkehrte Welt„(1673)

„De_ Weltberuffenen Simplicissimi Pralerey und Gepr_ng mit seinem Teutschen Michel„(1673),


as well as gallant novels in the style of his time:


„Des vortrefflichen keuschen Josephs in _gypten erbauliche Lebensbeschreibung„(1670)

„Dietwalds und Amelindens anmutige Lieb- und Leidsbeschreibung„(1670)

„Des durchlauchtigen Prinzen Proximi und seiner ohnvergleichlichen Lympid_ Liebesgeschichterz_hlung„(1672).


Grimmelshausen wrote under pseudonyms that are anagrams of his real name:


Samuel Greiffensohn von Hirschfeld

German schleifheim von Sulsfort

Melchior sternfels von fugshaim

Philarchus Grossus von Trommenheim

Michael Rechulin von Sehmsdorf

Eric Steinfels von Grufenshohn

Simon Lengfrisch von Hartenfels

Israel Fromschmid von Hugenfels.


Memory and legacy


In 1879, a monument was erected in Renchen in the form of an obelisk, 6.5 m high, made of blue-red sandstone. The monument is located next to the Catholic parish church. The obelisk was originally created to honor the memory of the executed participants in the Baden Revolution of 1849. The Baden and Prussian authorities did not approve of the installation first in Rastatt and then in Offenburg for political reasons.

From April 4, 1896 to September 13, 1944, the satirical magazine Simplicissimus was published in Munich.

Grimmelshausen’s novella Ausf_hrliche und wunderseltsame Lebensbeschreibung der Erzbetr_gerin und Landst_rzerin Courage, written in 1670, became a source of inspiration for the play by Kurage and her children Mamasch, Mamas’ children.

On August 17, 1976, in connection with the 300th anniversary of his death in the Federal Republic of Germany, a special stamp and a commemorative coin in denomination of 5 marks was issued.

In 1977, the Grimmelshausen Society was founded, an international association of literary and cultural historians and interested citizens. The aim of the activity is to promote scientific research of the works of Grimmelshausen in their contemporary and historically significant relations, as well as to disseminate knowledge.

In 1979, the Grimmelshausen fountain was opened in front of the Renchner town hall. The well was funded by Burda.

Three schools in Germany bear the name of the great poet: the Grimmelshausen High School in Offenburg, founded in 1660, the Grimmelshausen School in Renchen, and the Grimmelshausen High School in Gelnhausen, founded in 1909, today one of the largest schools in Hesse.

The Grimmelshausen monument stands slightly south of the Mus Peak in the central Black Forest, where he lived for several years.

Since 1980, a monument has stood in Mummelsee in the northern Black Forest, the site of the Simplicissimus.

The Grimmelshausen Literary Prize has been awarded every two years since 1993.

In 1998, the Simplicissimus House was opened in Renchen – a literary museum on the history of the work of Grimmelshausen.