Seyfried Rybisch

Seyfried Rybisch (13 September 1530 – 17 August 1584) was a Silesian nobleman and humanist from Breslau (Wrocław). He served as an Imperial counsellor in Silesia and Hungary from 1559 until his death, but he is best known for his description of two academic pilgrimages undertaken between 1548 and 1554. Life Academic pilgrimages Seyfried Rybisch was born in Breslau on 13 September 1530. Named for his paternal grandfather, he was the second son and fifth and last child of by his first wife, Anna von Rindfleisch. His family belonged to the local patrician class and the imperial nobility. No portrait of him is known, although there are several of his father. In 1542, his father sent him to study Latin and Greek from Johannes Troger, the city physician of Görlitz. In 1545, he enrolled in the Protestant gymnasium in Strasbourg to study under Johannes Sturm. There he lived with Martin Bucer. He returned to Breslau in 1548. Only two weeks after his return, Rybisch set out on an "academic pilgrimage" (peregrinatio academica) to France. En route he witnessed the Diet of Augsburg and the aftermath of the 1546 magazine explosion in Mechelen. His travels in France took him to Paris, Orléans, Angers and Poitiers. In December 1548, he attended the wedding of Francis, Duke of Aumale, and Anna d'Este in Paris. In 1549, he attended the coronation of Catherine de' Medici in Paris (10 June) and witnessed the entry of King Henry II. He was hosted on one occasion by Charles de Cossé, Count of Brissac, who spoke German. He spent much of his time in actual studies, including in both laws, but there is no evidence he ever received a degree. He was registered with the "German" nation at the University of Orléans in 1550–1551. In Poitiers, he signed the album amicorum of . He also asked the locals about the battle of Poitiers in 732. At the University of Bourges, he studied under Eguinaire Baron and François Douaren. In Geneva, he heard the preaching of John Calvin, although without meeting him. As he prepared to return home, he saw in Nuremberg the effects of the Margrave's War of 1552.