Johannes Plavius

Who is Johannes Plavius?

Johannes Plavius was a German poet that most likely was born in Central German Thuringia, in Neuhausen or Plauen, from which his surname was derived.

At the end of 1624, he was part of a Dichterkreis in Danzig in Poland and called himself Magister for the first time in 1626. Danzig at the time had no university, so Plavius must have obtained his degree somewhere else, most likely Frankfurt/Oder since a Johannes Plavius Tyrigotanus is listed in the registers of the winter semester of 1621.

The pastor and poet Michael Albinus in Danzig, who was born in nearby Pröbbenauin in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, later wrote that Plavius was active as a private teacher, providing basic instruction in the Latin language. He may have operated one of the small, semi-official Latin schools in Danzig; one assumes that he had received the necessary educational license, because he had written his Praecepta logicalia in 1628. He was certainly close to scholars and students in the city, and he served as an influence to Andreas Gryphius. Plavius maintained relationshops with other poets, such as Martin Opitz, Johann George Moeresius, and Peter Crüger.