Sachs, HANS, the most prolific and at the same time the most important German poet of his time, was born on 5th November 1494, at Nuremberg, where his father was a tailor. While at school he learned the rudiments of Latin, but was never a scholar in the academic sense of the term, although he was a very well- and widely-informed man. About the age of fifteen he began to learn the craft of shoemaking; his love of verse also led him to learn the art, almost mechanical, of verse-making from Leonhard Nnnenbeck, a weaver and meistersinger in his native town. On finishing his apprenticeship, Sachs, as was the custom of craftsmen in those days, made a tour through Germany, practising his calling in various cities, and frequenting assiduously the schools or corporations organised by the meistersinger, who, since the disappearance of the older minnesinger, or minstrels of chivalry, had become the chief representatives of German poetry. On his return to Nuremberg Sachs commenced business as a shoemaker, and prospered in his calling; and, after a long, cheerful, and happy life, died on 19th (or 25th) January 1576, and was buried in St John's churchyard, Nuremberg.
Sachs's career as an author is divided into two periods. In the first he shows an interest mainly in the occurrences that were then agitating Germany. It was the epoch of the Reformation of Luther, whose praises he celebrated (1523) in an allegorical tale entitled Die Wittenbergisch Naechtigal, while his poetical fly-sheets (of which about 200 are known) furthered in no small measure the Protestant cause. In the second period his poetical activity was turned more to the delineation of common life and manners. His poetry is distinguished by its heartiness, good sense, homely morality, and fresh humour. It is, however, deficient in high imagination and brilliant fancy, and contains much prosaic and insipid verse. It was his chief pride to be an honourable citizen of Nuremberg, and his mind and his interest seldom travel beyond the narrow limits of its encircling walls. There is not one of his productions but what was meant to serve some didactic purpose. His best works are Schwänke, or Merry Tales, the humour of which is sometimes unsurpassable, serious tales, allegorical and spiritual songs, and Lenten dramas. His meistergesänge, the pieces he wrote according to the precepts of the verse-makers' guild, are now of little or no value, though in his own day they raised him to the first place amongst all his contemporaries. By the 52d year of his career (1567) as a poet he had written 34 vols., containing upwards of 6300 pieces, among which were more than 4000 meistergesänge, 200 comedies and tragedies, about 1700 merry tales, secular and religious dialogues, proverbs, and fables, 7 prose dialogues, and 70 songs, secular and devotional. The first edition of his works was published at Augsburg in 1558-61, but that of Willer (5 vols. 1570-79) is better. After the middle of the 17th century Hans Sachs fell into neglect and was forgotten; and he remained so until his memory was revived by Goethe in 1776. His Complete Works were published by Götz and Von Keller (Stuttg. 15 vols. 1886). The selections of Merry Tales and Proverbs in Verse by Goedeke and Tittmann (3 vols. 1883-85) and by Engelbrecht (1879) can be recommended, as well as Tittmann's edition of the Lenten Dramas.
Besides Drescher's Studien zu Hans Sachs (Marburg, 1891), there are biographies by Ranisch (1765), Genée (1887), Stein (Halle, 1889), Kawerau (Halle, 1889), and Schweitzer (in French; Nancy, 1889). English readers may consult MacCallum, Studies in German Literature (1884).