Philipp Nicolai

NICOLAI, Philipp. b. Mengeringhausen, near Kassel, 10 August 1556, d. Hamburg, 26 October 1608. He was privately educated at Dortmund, Mühlhausen, and Korbach. From 1574 to 1579 he studied theology at Wittenberg and Erfurt. He completed his degree at Wittenberg in 1594 after studying with Aegidius Hunnius. He became pastor at Herdecke (Westphalia) in 1583, and later at Cologne (1586–7), Altwildungen (1588–96), Unna (1596–1601), and finally St. Katherinen, Hamburg. Nicolai wrote numerous theological books, which show him as a passionately orthodox Lutheran. He also wrote several volumes of poetry. His importance to hymnology rests on his two masterpieces, ‘Wie schön leuchtet der...