Johann Just Winckelmann was born in
Gießen in 1620, the youngest of the known sons of the theologian . His mother was his father's fourth wife, and by the time of his birth his father was nearly 70. After his father died, in 1626, his mother sent him away to live with relatives near
Butzbach, where he was provided with a classical schooling. He was moved in 1633 to
Marburg: here he attended the
Pädagogium (school) and then moved on to the
University. He also continued to work on his still unpublished chronicle of
Hessen. The first four of the eight volumes which, at this stage, he envisaged for the complete work were submitted to the Commission responsible for checking and censorship between 1654 and 1657 in both
Hessen-Darmstadt. However, for a range of emerging political considerations it became apparent that permission to have these volumes printed would not be granted any time soon. ==References==