Georg Philipp Harsdörffer

Georg Philipp Harsdörffer (1 November 1607 – 17 September 1658) was a Baroque-period German poet and translator. Born in Nuremberg, he studied law at Altdorf and Strassburg, and subsequently traveled through the Netherlands, England, France and Italy. His knowledge of languages earned him the appellation "the learned." As a member of the Fruitbearing Society (Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft) he was called der Spielende (the player). In 1644 jointly with Johann Klaj he founded the order of the Pegnitzschäfer (Pegnitz Shepherds), a literary society, in Nuremberg. He was known by the name Strephon among the members of this order. His writings in German and Latin fill fifty volumes, and a selection of his poems, which are mostly interesting for their form, can be found in Müller's Bibliothek deutscher Dichter des 17ten Jahrhunderts, vol. ix (Leipzig, 1826). Widmann (Altdorf, 1707) wrote a biography of him. He was the father of Karl Gottlieb Harsdörffer, (1637–1708)