Born: May 5, 1626, Wildstein (near Eger), Bohemia (now Skalná, Karlovy Vary, Czechia).
Died: June 12, 1681, Nuremberg, Germany.
Buried: Johannisfriedhof, Nuremberg, Germany.
Sigismund was the son of son of Daniel Betulius (or Birken), pastor of Wildstein.
In 1629, his father and other evangelical pastors fled Bohemia, and went to Nuremberg. After attending the Egidien-Gymnasium at Nuremberg, Sigismund entered the University of Jena in 1643, where he studied law and theology, the latter at his father’s dying request.
Before finishing either course of study, he returned to Nuremberg in 1645, and due to his poetical gifts was admitted to the Pegnitz Shepherd and Flower Order.
At the close of 1645, he was appointed tutor at Wolfenbüttel to the Princess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, but after a year (during which he was crowned as a poet), he resigned the post.
After a tour when he was admitted by Philipp von Zesen as a member of the German Society (or Patriotic Union), he returned to Nuremberg in 1648, and worked as a private tutor.
In 1654, Emperor Ferdinand III enobled him, on account of his poetic gifts. In 1658, he joined the Fruitbearing Society, and on the death of Harsdörffer in 1662, became Chief Shepherd of the Pegnitz Order.