Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen(1622-1676)
- Writer
Grimmelshausen was born about 1622 in Gelnhausen (South of Germany),
the exact date is unsure. His father ran an inn, which caused that
Grimmelshausen were forced to join the Hessen-army in 1635 (it was the
time of the 30-year-war in Germany). After being "freed" by the Swedes
1636 he was forced to their army until 1638. Serving in various
regiments until 1648, when the Westfalian Peace ended the war. 1649 he
married Katharina Henninger, and did the turn to private business when
he succeeded in getting a job as a "man for everything" on several
castles. 1665 he finally opened his own inn, which he ran until his
death on the 17th of August 1676. Grimmelshausen is only known to us
because of his book "Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus", in which he
described several events seen by a boy during the war. The very drastic
scenes described the terror so explicite that you can still feel the
pain of the people who had the misery of encoutering such things.
Furthermore, the book is one of the earliest novels written in the
German language.