Example for the Identification of a Recipient

Possible Recipients of the Letter from 3 January, 1689

mindmap
Mindmap illustrating the possibilities of the recipient of the letter of 3 January 1689

(Clicking on the mindmap enlarges it in a separate window.)

General:
  • Same addressee as in “Letters from the Dresden Period”, volume 1, letter no. 116 (because of “DEO DUCE”)
General Indications:
  • Latin language
  • Line 1f: “nudius tertius annus”
  • Line 6: “Do Duce” as motto
  • Line 20: ex militari vivendi genere
  • Line 25: Rex = Ludwig XIV.
  • Line 28: is in military service (Louis XIV.?) but really should leave it
Possibility: Christian II. of Pfalz-Birkenfeld

Reasons for:

  • Spener corresponds with him in the Latin language ALSO.
  • A close – almost paternal – relationship to addressee
  • Localized in Southwest Germany

Reasons against:

  • Spener had written to him in January, 1668, already 12 months before (definitive and not deduced!)
  • Spener wrote on 29. July, 1687, to the prince who had chosen “Deo duce” as his motto (in German, though, but on the same subject), which fits with “tertius annus”.
  • Christian II. has just entered into military service under Louis XIV., while the addressee already is in service (already for a longer period?) and obviously thinks about leaving such service.
Possibility: Johann Karl of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen

Reasons for:

  • Was likewise Spener’s pupil, so that a close relationship similar to that of his brother could exist.  

Reasons against:

  • Gelnhausen is not in Southwest Germany
  • No longer in military service since ca. 1674.
Possibility: Johann Reinhard III. of Hanau-Lichtenberg

Biographical Data:

  • Born 31. July, 1665 in Bischofsheim am Hohen Steg (=Rheinbischofsheim)
  • 1680 ruled over Hanau-Lichtenberg, but, because he still was underage, Christian II. of Pfalz-Birkenfeld at first ruled for him
  • 1686f visited Dresden with his brother during a grand tour
    “capital city” is Buchsweiler
  • 1688 takes over independent rule over Hanau-Lichtenberg after reaching maturity
  • He attempts to counter French repression with tax relief for his subjects.

Reasons for:

  • Area on the left bank of the Rhine
  • Commitment to his subjects
  • In “Letters from the Dresden Period”, volume 3, letter no. 116, Spener does not speak about a letter from which he could have known about the motto, but rather writes, “I recollect not having known…” –> personal encounter? Possible during visit to Dresden

Reasons against:

  • No military assignment from which he could have withdrawn.
Possibility: Leopold Ludwig of Pfalz-Veldenz-Lützelstein

Biographical Data:

  • 1. February, 1625 – 29. September,1694

Reasons for:

  • County of Veldenz, which LL wanted to bequeath to his brother Charles XI of Sweden, is awarded in 1695 by Paris to Christian II. of Pfalz-Zweibrücken.
  • No previous contact to Spener discernible
  • His age speaks against him. Spener hardly ever writes in this way to one who is not a very close acquaintance, and not with a prince.

And so is an identified recipient in the Edition of the Letters of Philipp Jakob Spener designated: