Paul Melissus Schede, now considered a transitional figure from the classical humanist to the manneristic baroque style of poetry, was perhaps the most significant poet in Germany during the second half of the sixteenth century. He prefigured the poetic orientation, although not the metrical reforms, of Martin Opitz, as well as the style of several later baroque poets. The first to draw the attention of his countrymen to the vernacular poetry of other European countries, Schede was, perhaps, more internationally minded than any other German poet of his age. Despite his internationalism, however, he repeatedly expressed pride in his Franconian origins. On several occasions he compared himself to three other Franconian neo-Latin poets who were among the best-known German authors of the sixteenth century: Conrad Celtis, Ulrich von Hutten, and Petrus Lotichius Secundus. He published poems not only in German, Latin, and Greek but also in French.

Schede...