Johann Michael Moscherosch’s life spans the Thirty Years’ War and the first decades of the postwar era. His career as a civil servant and learned poet (
poeta doctus) reveals a man buffeted by the chaos of war, by courtly intrigues, and by his own character flaws. Beyond the age-old embellishments that have grown around this multifaceted author, his biography holds some exemplary features: the rise of a law student who was drawn to the courts for economic survival and social reputation. Like Moscherosch, for more than three centuries German students from the bourgeoisie sought employment at court to secure financial independence and to raise their social standing (see Martin Opitz, J. M. R. Lenz, Friedrich Hölderlin, G. W.F. Hegel, Goethe). Yet once he found shelter in the free…
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Citation: Hoffmeister, Gerhart. "Johann Michael Moscherosch". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11780, accessed 21 November 2024.]
