Johann Octavian Salver (1732–1788) was a German diplomat, archivist, and engraver.

Biography

Born on 19 May 1732 at

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

as a son of the engraver

Johann Salver Johann Salver (ca. 1670–1738) was a German Engraving, engraver from the town of Forchheim, and the father of Johann Octavian Salver. Salver is the author of ''Die Gross und Landmeister des Deutschen Ordens'' containing 51 plates, published ...

(† 1738) from his third wife. He attended high school until 1749, then the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...

where he first studied the law, then history and heraldry. He showed talent for painting and practiced diligently in drawing. Because he lacked the means to further his art education and failed to secure support from wealthy benefactors, Salver returned to his legal studies although he also dealt in passing with the production of maps. Later he did historical research in

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

, etc. In 1762 Salver was appointed ''Episcopal Lehnamtsregistrator''. In addition, beginning in 1768, he worked as a diplomat for the

Bishopric of Würzburg In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

. In 1770 he was a ''Protocollist'' of the princely court chamber and head of the Jewish Office. In his spare time he made a description of the Erthal collection of coins and medallions. Due to the death of the princely archivist J. J. Dümler in 1773, he received Dümler’s office. After becoming archivist to the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg

Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim Adam Friedrich Graf von Seinsheim (1708–1779) was the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg from 1755 to 1779 and Prince-Bishop of Bamberg from 1757 to 1779. Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim was born in Regensburg on 16 February 1708, the son of Maximilian ...

, Salver completed the major work of his life, ''Proben des hohen Teütschen Reichs Adels oder Sammlungen alter Denkmäler, Grabsteine, Wappen, Inn- und Urschriften, u.d. Nach ihrem wahren Urbilde aufgenommen, unter offner Treü bewähret, und durch Ahnenbäume auch sonstige Nachrichten erkläret und erläutert'' (Samples of the high nobility Germans, a collection of all arms, tombstones and inscriptions, which refer to the Würzburg bishops and members of the cathedral chapter). It was released in 1775 with more than 300 folio engravings. Salver died on 23 April 1788. His posthumous collections of manuscripts were scattered after his death, a portion of them came into the hands of the learned ''Kuustforschers'' Jos. Heller in Bamberg.Rudolf Bergau: Salver, Johann Octavian. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Vol. 30. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, Page 285 f.
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Works

''Proben des hohen Teütschen Reichs Adels oder Sammlungen alter Denkmäler, Grabsteine, Wappen, Inn- und Urschriften, u.d. Nach ihrem wahren Urbilde aufgenommen, unter offner Treü bewähret, und durch Ahnenbäume auch sonstige Nachrichten erkläret und erläutert''
(Würzburg, 1775). * ''Matrikel und Wappenbuch der florierenden, erloschenen und hinweggezogenen hohen Rittergliedern einer unmittelbaren freyen Reichs Ritterschaft Landes zu Franken löbl. Orts an der Baunach'' (Würzburg, 1785).

Notes

* Johann H. Salver, referenced as engraver of 1750 Fulda print, may be Johann Octavian Salver.

References

External links

*

1732 births 1788 deaths Artists from Würzburg People from the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg Diplomats of former countries 18th-century German engravers 18th-century German male artists {{Authority control