In the years from 1561 to 1606 he traveled the world as a soldier, later as a mercenary leader, a war reporter and travel writer. In 1566 he took part in the campaign against the Turks in Hungary. He also fought on the side of the Protestants in 1575 and 1591 in the Huguenot Wars in France, the Cologne War 1583-1584 and the Strasbourg Bishops' War 1592-1593. He traveled to the Holy Land, to Egypt (1578-1579), Italy, Spain and Portugal (1580-1581) and from August 1584 to May 1585 to England and Scotland. His notes about his stays in Franconia (1593) and Karlsbad are also historically valuable.