Johann Fischart

Johann Fischart (1546?-1590?) German poet and satirist, also called Mentzer or Mainzer because his father had come from Mainz, Germany. He was born in Strasbourg and studied there, as well as in Worms, Germany; Paris, France; and Siena, Italy.

He learned printing in Strasbourg, and in 1574 he became a doctor of laws in Basel, Switzerland. From 1575 to 1580 he was a freelance writer in Basel. He then returned to Germany and from 1580 to 1583 was a jurist in the imperial cameral court at Speyer. He left Germany for France, and during the last seven years of his life he served as a magistrate at Forbach in Lorraine

Fischart's most famous work, Geschichtsklitterung (1575), based upon the work of François Rabelais, satirizes Catholicism and the vices and perversities of his age. An earlier work, Aller Praktik Grossmutter (1572-1574), also based upon the works of Rabelais, satirizes the superstitious use of calendars and almanacs, while Flöhhaz (1573) humorously tells of a war between women and fleas. Philosophisch Ehzuchtbüchlein (1578), based upon the Greek essayist Plutarch, glorifies family life.

Many of his other writings are satirical thrusts against Catholicism and various adherents of the Catholic faith. The most noted of these writings are Bienenkorb des heiligen römischen Immenschwarms (1579) and Jesuitenhütlein (1580), modeled upon Dutch and French works. In the poem “Das glückhafft Schiff von Zürich” (1576) Fischart advocates a union between Zürich and the Swiss municipalities.