HARSDORFFER

harsdorffer, georg philipp (1607-1658), german poet, was born at nuremberg on the 1st of november 1607. he studied law at altdorf and strassburg, and subsequently travelled through holland, england, france and italy. his knowledge of languages gained for him the appellation "the learned," though he was as little a learned man as he was a poet. as a member of the _fruchtbringende gesellschaft_ he was called _der spielende_ (the player). jointly with johann klaj (q.v.) he founded in 1644 at nuremberg the order of the pegnitzschafer, a literary society, and among the members thereof he was known by the name of strephon. he died at nuremberg on the 22nd of september 1658. his writings in german and latin fill fifty volumes, and a selection of his poems, interesting mostly for their form, is to be found in muller's _bibliothek deutscher dichter des 17ten jahrhunderts_, vol. ix. (leipzig, 1826). his life was written by widmann (altdorf, 1707). see also tittmann, _die nurnberger dichterschule_ (gottingen, 1847); hodermann, _eine vornehme gesellschaft, nach harsdorffers "gesprachspielen"_ (paderborn, 1890); t. bischoff, "georg philipp harsdorffer" in the _festschrift zur 250 jahrigen jubelfeier des pegnesischen blumenordens_ (nuremberg, 1894); and krapp, _die asthetischen tendenzen harsdorffers_ (berlin, 1904).