Lucas Bacmeister (Theologian)

Lucas Bacmeister (18 October 1530 - 9 July 1608) was a Lutheran Theologian and church music composer.

Alternative spellings of Bacmeister which may be encountered in sources include Backmeister and Bacmeisterus. Lucas Bacmeister (1530-1608) is sometimes identified as Lucas Bacmeister the elder in order to differentiate him from his younger son, Lucas Bacmeister the younger (1570-1638) who was also a Lutheran Theologian of note.

Lucas Bacmeister was born in Lüneburg, a short distance inland/upriver from Hamburg. Johannes Bacmeister, his father, was a master brewer. His mother, born Anna Lübbing, also came from a prominent family in the town. In 1548 he enrolled at the Leucorea University in Wittenberg. In order to avoid the plague which was lingering in Wittenberg he moved again in 1552, this time to the court of King Christian of Denmark where he was employed till 1555 as a tutor to the king's children, the princes Magnus and Johann. In 1555 he returned to Wittenberg and resumed his own studies, obtaining a Magister degree in 1557. In 1558 he was accepted as an Adjunct to the Philosophy faculty and switched to the study of Jurisprudence and then Theology.

In 1559 he relocated to Kolding where he was employed by the widowed Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg as court preacher. On the recommendation of Philip Melanchthon he then went on to where at Easter 1562 he took over the post of Superintendent, simultaneously also becoming a Teacher/Professor of Theology at . To validate his appointment as a professor he was required to achieve a doctorate, which he did in 1564. In 1574 he was in Lübeck on account of the .

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