Scheffel, JOSEPH VIKTOR VON, German poet, was born at Carlsruhe on 16th February 1826, and was educated, at Heidelberg, Munich, and Berlin, to follow the law. But he always had a dislike to this pursuit, and after five years' work at it he gave it up. His interest was fixed upon the life of early and mediæval Germany, and his inclination towards literature was irresistible. As soon as he had shaken off the trammels of routine work, he hurried away to Italy and began to write. His first book, which he never surpassed, was Der Trompeter von Säckingen, ein Sang vom Oberrhein (1854), a tale in verse of the time of the Thirty Years' War, steeped in the spirit of German romance, but as fresh in feeling as a May morning, and lightened with sly, genial humour; not the least charming features of the book are its many songs and the humorous reflections of Hiddigei the Tom-cat. Its popularity is attested by the fact that the 190th edition appeared in 1891, or at the rate of more than five editions a year since it was first published. Scheffel's second book, a prose story of the 10th century, Ekkehard (1857), telling how the young monk of St Gall fell in love with the Duchess of Swabia whilst teaching her to read Virgil, also enjoys extraordinary popularity: the 120th edition was published in 1891. Ten years after Ekkehard appeared Scheffel sent out Gaudeamus (1867; 54th ed. 1891), a collection of songs and ballads, which are known to all German students, and sung everywhere throughout the Fatherland. Yet, curiously enough, Scheffel himself had no ear for music, and is said never to have been present at a concert in his life. His remaining books include two romances—Hugideo (1884), a tale of the 5th century, and Juniperus (1868), placed in the end of the 12th century, the era of the crusades and the heyday of chivalry—three collections of poems—Frau Avventure, Lieder aus Heinrich von Ofterdingens Zeit (1863; 15th ed. 1883); Bergpsalmen (1870; 4th ed. 1883), the visions of St Wolfgang, bishop of Ratisbon, seen in the solitude of his hermit's hut on the Salzburg Alps; and Waldeinsamkeit (1880), a dozen pictures of landscape-painting in words—and three or four short collections of posthumous Gedichte (1887-91). After his return from Italy Scheffel settled down in his native town, and died there on 9th April 1886.
See Life by J. Pröss (1887), by Ruhemann (1886), and Pilz (1887); also the Erinnerungen by Zernin (1886).