Abstract

Thomas Platter’s (1499-1582) account of his life is one of the most famous autobiographical documents composed in German during the sixteenth century. Drafted late in Platter’s life at the request of his son, Felix, it chronicles Platter’s boyhood as a goatherd in Valais (today southwest Switzerland) and his incredible wanderings as an itinerant scholar.

Thomas Platter (1581)

Source

Source: Hans Bock the Elder, Portrait of Thomas Platter, oil on canvas, 1581. Kunstmuseum Basel
https://sammlungonline.kunstmuseumbasel.ch/eMP/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&module=collection&objectId=2830&viewType=detailView

Kunstmuseum Basel

Recommended Citation

Thomas Platter (1581), published in: German History in Documents and Images, <https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/from-the-reformations-to-the-thirty-years-war-1500-1648/ghdi:image-3258> [March 27, 2025].