Introduction

Biography

Martin was the son of Hans Behm, town ov­er­seer of Lau­ban.

In 1574, dur­ing a pro­tract­ed fam­ine, Dr. Paul Fa­bri­ci­us, roy­al phy­si­cian in Vi­en­na and a dis­tant re­la­tive, took Mar­tin to Vi­en­na, where he worked as a pri­vate tu­tor for two years.

He then went to Straß­burg, where he was be­friend­ed by Jo­hann Sturm, rec­tor of the new­ly found­ed uni­ver­si­ty there.

Returning home at his mo­ther’s re­quest af­ter his fa­ther’s death in 1580, he be­came as­sist­ant in the town school, and on Sep­tem­ber 20, was or­dained dia­co­nus of the Ho­ly Tri­ni­ty Church.

After the sen­ior pas­tor was pro­mo­ted to Bre­slau, the Town Coun­cil kept the post no­mi­nal­ly va­cant for two years, then made Behm sen­ior pas­tor in June 1586.

He held the po­si­tion 36 years, re­nowned as a preach­er and faith­ful pas­tor in trou­bled times: fa­mine in 1590, plague in 1613, war in 1619.

A pro­li­fic au­thor, Behm wrote about 480 hymns.

Works

• Centuri Pre­ca­tio­num Rhy­thm­ica­rum (Wit­ten­berg, Ger­ma­ny: 1606, se­cond ed­it­ion 1611)
• Centuria Se­cun­da Pre­ca­tio­num Rhy­thm­ica­rum (Wit­ten­berg, Ger­ma­ny: 1608, se­cond ed­it­ion 1611)
• Centuria Pre­ca­tio­num Rhy­thm­ica­rum (Wit­ten­berg, Ger­ma­ny: 1615) (complete ed­it­ion of the Three Cen­tu­ries, Je­na & Bres­lau: 1658)