Selnecker, Nikolaus 12/06/1530 - 05/24/1592

Nikolaus Selnecker (also Sellenecker, 1530-1592) was a German Protestant theologian, reformer, church hymn poet und composer. He grew up in Nürnberg. In 1542 he became an organist at the Nürnberg castle chapel. Then he studied jurisprudence and then theology.



In 1557 he became third court preacher at the court in Dresden. There he directed the court chapel choir and in 1558 took over the education of the electoral prince August. In 1559 he married the daughter of the superintendent Daniel Greiser.



In 1565 Selnecker went to Jena as a professor of theology. In 1568 Elector August appointed him Professor of Theology in Leipzig. In Wittenberg he obtained a doctorate in 1570.



In 1572 he sojourned in Gandersheim, in Oldenburg, where he reorganized the church there. In 1574 he was finally appointed minister at St. Thomas in Leipzig.



After the death of the Elector August he was deposed and fled to Saxony in 1589. For a short time he was superintendent in Hildesheim, but was able to return to Leipzig after the regime change in 1591.



Selnecker left behind 170 writings, including the Historia Lutheri (1575) and the Historie der Augsburgischen Konfession (1584). He also wrote 120 poems, of which several are still to be found in the EKG.