Conrad von Einsiedell

Conrad (also: Cunrad, Kurt) von Einsiedell was a noble (eques) from Misnia, a son of Abraham von Einsiedel and his wife Ursula Ebeleben. Born on May 9, 1597 (?), he studied law at the universities of Jena (where he enrolled in the summer of 1610) and Wittenberg (where he enrolled in 1614). One of his fellow students enrolling in June of 1614 was Johann Heinrich von Gunterrod. He finished his dissertation, Tractatus de iuribus ad imperatoris Romano-Teutonici Maiestatem pertinentibus, sine Regalibus, in December of 1618. It was published by Michael Oelschlegel in Halle the next year. (Oelschlegel and his heirs also signed responsible for publishing most of Pascha's works half a century later.)

Egerton Castle's conclusionary assertion that Einsiedell was "a fencing master in Jena" has not been corroborated. Einsiedell's contribution to fencing history appears limited to translating the Bolognese master Hieronimo Cavalcabo's Traité ou instruction pour tirer des armes (1597), which itself is a translation of the Italian original by Villamont. The work was published at Leipzig in 1611 while Einsiedell was a student at Jena. Einsiedell credits his father for allowing him to travel through France, England and the Netherlands before "resuming" his studies at Jena. This casts some doubt that he was indeed born in 1597, as he would have been 13 at the time of his enrollment, and around 8 during his travels.

Einsiedell was encouraged to translate the work by his mentor, Monsieur Daniel Cachedenier de Nicey, a French noble who had studied fencing with Cavalcabo for a decade.

His political and administrative career indicates that he was a competent jurist, diplomat and negotiator. The fact that his dissertation on the Rights of the Roman-German Emperor was reprinted sixty years after it was first published implies that it was held in some esteem.

He died on February 8, 1668 in Halle. —JCA

Works:

Einsiedell, Conrad von (transl.): Neves künstliches Fechtbuch. Leipzig: In verlegung Henning Großn des jüngern / Buchh: Typis Beerwaldin: Druckts Jacob Popporeich: 1611.

Einsiedell, Conrad von: Tractatus de iuribus ad imperatoris Romano-Teutonici Maiestatem pertinentibus, sine Regalibus. Halle: Michael Oelschlegel, printed at Peter Faber, 1619. Reprinted by Simon Johannes Hübner at Halle in 1678.