Introduction

Biography

Nikolaus was the son of Ge­org Sel­neck­er, pro­to­nar­ius to the Nur­em­berg ma­gis­tra­cy.

In 1536, the fa­mi­ly moved to Nur­em­berg. At age 12, Ni­ko­laus be­came or­gan­ist at the Kai­ser­burg cha­pel in Nur­em­berg.

In 1550, he went to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wit­ten­berg, where he be­came a fa­vo­rite pu­pil of Phil­ipp Me­lanch­thon. He gra­du­at­ed MA in 1554, and sub­seq­uent­ly lec­tured as a pri­vat­do­cent, some­times to 200 stu­dents.

At the end of 1557, he was ap­point­ed se­cond court preach­er at Dres­den, and tu­tor to the heir ap­par­ent Prince Al­ex­an­der. He al­so su­per­vised the edu­ca­tion of the choir boys of the roy­al cha­pel.

He was or­dained at Wit­ten­berg on Jan­ua­ry 6, 1558.