Ernst Christoph Homburg

HOMBURG, Ernst Christoph. b. Mihla, near Eisenach, 1 March 1607; d. Naumburg, June 1681 (buried 27 June). The son of a pastor, Homburg studied law at Wittenberg (ca. 1632). After his ‘Wanderjahre’ in the Netherlands, Hamburg, Dresden and Jena, he became a lawyer in Naumburg in 1642. His career was disrupted by ill-health: he suffered from depression and from domestic problems, seeking refuge in writing. He was admired by his contemporaries for his secular work, including Schimpff- und Ernsthaffte Clio (1638) and a comedy, Von der verliebten Schäfferin Dulcimunda (1643). He was made a member of the ‘Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft’ and of the ‘Elbschwanordern’ (see Johann Rist*). His hymns were...