Hans Jacob
Christoph von Grimmelshausen
born 1621/22, Gelnhausen, near
Frankfurt am Main
died August 17, 1676, Renchen,
Strasbourg
German novelist, whose Simplicissimus
series is one of the masterworks of his
country’s literature. Satiric and
partially autobiographical, it is a
matchless social picture of the often
grotesque Thirty Years’ War (1618–48).
Apparently the son of an innkeeper of
noble descent, Grimmelshausen was
orphaned at an early age. While still a
child, he was drawn (or kidnapped) into
the Thirty Years’ War by Hessian and
Croatian troops. He served as a
musketeer, formally joined the imperial
army, and in 1639 became secretary to
Reinhard von Schauenburg, commandant at
Offenburg. After the war, as steward for
the Schauenburg family, Grimmelshausen
collected taxes from peasants, dragged
defaulters into court, and served as
host at a Schauenburg tavern. To
supplement his income, he sold horses.
He left in 1660 when it was found that
he had bought land with money belonging
to the family. Afterward he was
successively a steward for a wealthy
physician and art lover, Johannes Rüffen
of Strasbourg; a tavernkeeper at
Gaisbach; and a bailiff at Renchen,
where he survived an invasion.
Grimmelshausen, who had begun writing
in his army days, published two minor
satires (in 1658 and 1660) and then (in
1669) the first part of Simplicissimus
(full title Der abenteuerliche
Simplicissimus Teutsch [“The Adventurous
Simplicissimus Teutsch”]).
Grimmelshausen’s authorship, however,
was not established until 1837 from the
initials HJCVG, which he used in a
sequel to identify himself merely as
editor.
Modeled on the 16th-century Spanish
picaresque novel, Simplicissimus tells
the story of an innocent child brought
into contact with life through his
experiences of the Thirty Years’ War.
The novel traces the development of a
human soul against the depraved
background of a Germany riven by war,
depopulation, cruelty, and fear.
Simplicissimus gives full rein to
Grimmelshausen’s power of narration, eye
for realistic detail, coarse humour,
social criticism, and gift for creating
convincing characters.
Grimmelshausen’s continuations of
Simplicissimus include Die Lanstörtzerin
Courage (1669; Courage, the
Adventuress)—which inspired Bertolt
Brecht’s play Mutter Courage und ihre
Kinder (1941; Mother Courage and Her
Children)—and Das wunderbarliche
Vogelnest (1672; “The Magical Bird’s
Nest”). One part of the latter,
translated as The False Messiah (1964),
is about an adventurer whose pose as the
messiah enables him to steal a wealthy
Jew’s money and daughter; it is a satire
on gullibility and avarice.
