Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff

Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff

Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf (December 20, 1626 - December 18, 1692), German statesman and scholar, was a member of a German noble family, which took its name from the village of Seckendorf between Nuremberg and Langenzenn.

The family was divided into eleven distinct lines, but only three survive, widely distributed throughout Prussia, Württemberg and Bavaria. Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf, son of Joachim Ludwig von Seckendorf, was born at Herzogenaurach, near Erlangen.

In 1639 the reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Ernest the Pious, made him his "protegé". Entering the university of Strassburg in 1642, he devoted himself to history and jurisprudence. 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 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" 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, 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), 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 Philipp Jakob Spener 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 Pascal'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 Maimbourg'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, "Seckendorf", in Herzog-Hauck's "Realencyklopädie" (1906).


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff — (Kupferstich von Martin Bernigeroth) Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff (* 20. Dezember 1626 in Herzogenaurach; † 18. Dezember 1692 in Halle (Saale)) war ein Gelehrter und Staatsmann. Er gilt als Hauptvertreter des älteren deutschen Kameralismus …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff — Portrait de Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf (1626–1692), est un historien allemand. Biographie Né à Herzogenaurach, il est issu de la famille noble von Seckendorff. À la mort de son père en 1642, il se consacre à l étude de …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Von Seckendorff — Wappen derer von Seckendorff Ausschnitt aus einem Epitaph im Eichstätter Dom Seckendorff (auch: Seckendorf) ist der Name eines altes fränkische …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorff — Pl …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorff — Friedrich Heinrich Reichsgraf von Seckendorff (5 July 1673 ndash; 23 November 1763) was a Austria field marshal and diplomat in the service of the imperial Habsburg monarchy of Austria.FamilySeckendorff was born in Königsberg, Bavaria, into the… …   Wikipedia

  • Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorff — Este artículo o sección necesita referencias que aparezcan en una publicación acreditada, como revistas especializadas, monografías, prensa diaria o páginas de Internet fidedignas. Puedes añadirlas así o avisar …   Wikipedia Español

  • Freiherren von Seckendorff — Wappen derer von Seckendorff Ausschnitt aus einem Epitaph im Eichstätter Dom Seckendorff (auch: Seckendorf) ist der Name eines altes fränkisches Adelsgeschlecht …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Freiherrn von Seckendorff — Wappen derer von Seckendorff Ausschnitt aus einem Epitaph im Eichstätter Dom Seckendorff (auch: Seckendorf) ist der Name eines altes fränkisches Adelsgeschlecht …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Friedrich Heinrich Reichsgraf von Seckendorff — Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorff Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorff …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Seckendorff — Wappen derer von Seckendorff Seckendorff (auch: Seckendorf) ist der Name eines alten fränkischen Adelsgeschlechts. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Geschichte …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”