Weissel, Georg

Weissel, Georg a Lutheran theologian of Germany, was born in 1590 at Domnau, in Prussia. He was rector at Friedland for three years, and in 1623 became minister of the newly erected Rosengarten Church at Konigsberg. He is said to have quickened the poetic powers of others, and especially of Simon Dach, his junior contemporary. He died August 1, 1635. Weissel is the author of some very fine hymns, which are still used in the German Evangelical Church, e.g. Macht hoch die Thur, das Thor macht weit (Eng. transl. in Lyra Germ. 1:10: "Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates"). See Koch, Gesch. d. deutschen Kirchenliedes, 3:180 sq. (B.P.)