Johannes Leib ("Janus Leibius" 28 April 1591 – 15 March 1666) was a German
physician,
lawyer,
poet and lyricist.[1][2]
Life
Leib was born in
Streufdorf, then a small town in a part of rural
Thuringia otherwise known to historians of the period for its relatively high level of recorded
witch trials. His father was a lawyer and
civic leader in the municipality.[1]
He began his studies at schools in
Heldburg,
Schleusingen (1608) and
Gotha (1610) before moving on the universities of
Jena (1612),
Altdorf (1615) [3] and
Ingolstadt before returning in 1617 to Altdorf. In 1619, his studies evidently completed, he returned to
Coburg and began working as a physician and advocate.[4] Despite the medical focus, sources indicate that his university level studies had been concerned chiefly with
Law.[1] While still at
Altdorf, probably 1616, he was "crowned" a poet laurate.[4]
Output
Leib published various tracts and pamphlets reflecting the range of his education and interests. Those mentioned in the sources include:
"Tractat von Ganerben" (concerning a form of joint property ownership)
"De prioritate creditorum" (apparently concerning the relative rights of different classes of creditor)
"Zodiacus Christianus" ("The Christian Zodiac")
"De Praedestinatione ad vitam aeternam " ("Predestination to Eternal Life")
His publications as a poet include:
"Epigrammata de laudibus et laboribus Gustavi Adolphi R. Sueciae" (Epigrams in praise of the Swedish warrior-king
Gustaavus Adolphus
"Nun danket alle Gott für seine große Gnade" ("Now thank we all our God for his Great Mercy"' – a hymn of praise for the ending of the
Thirty Years' War, which found its way into several contemporary hymnals)
Leib also took an interest in German proverbs, which is reflected in his 1627 book "Studentica Hoc est: Apophthegmata, symbola, et proverbia … germanico-latino-italica". The value of this compilation lies not just in the proverbs, mottoes and inscriptions that it lists, taken from usage in
Saxony but from insights included in it on the usages of popes, emperors and kings.[5]
References
^
abcJakob Franck[in German] (1883).
"Leib, Johannes". Leib: Johannes L. (nicht Leibe), Arzt, Jurist, Theolog und Parömiograph, geb... Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Vol. 18. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig &
Wikisource. pp. 171–172. Retrieved 25 August 2015. {{
cite book}}: |work= ignored (
help)
^As is common in this period, sources apply various different spellings of his name. The most prevalent appear to be Johann Leibe and Johannes Leib in German, and in LatinJanus Leibius.