He received his early schooling at home, later moving on to junior school in Magdeburg. In October 1630, by now aged 11, he switched to the secondary school in nearby Schleusingen: the school was at that time under the direction of the noted education reformer Andreas Reyher. Thanks to wartime disruption, he would not return to his parents' home again till the first part of 1636, by which time - initially - his family did not recognise him. After a brief stay in his father's house in Magdeburg, he moved south to Jena where he enrolled at the university on 11 June 1636. At Jena he was supported by , who was a kinsman from his mother's side of the family. Other lecturers and tutors who taught him in the Philosophy faculty, at which he commenced his university studies, included , , and Johann Michael Dilherr. By all accounts, he excelled academically, receiving a "cum laude" commendation for his dissertation supervised by Dilherr. He then switched his focus to the Jurisprudence faculty: here he was taught by Dominicus Arumaeus, Peter Theodericus, and Ortholph Timann.