His father, was actively engaged in the Thirty Years' War and was executed at Salzwedel in 1642 for his dealings with the Imperialists of the Holy Roman Empire.

He devoted himself to history and jurisprudence, and at the end of his university years Duke Ernest gave him a position as hofjunker in his court at Gotha, where Seckendorf laid the foundation of his great collection of historical materials and mastered the principal modern languages.

Having survived the horrors of the Thirty Years' War and the resulting economic, political and moral breakdown of society, Seckendorff conceived of a holistic science of public administration fit to reconstruct the more than 300 independent German principalities recognized by the Peace of Westphalia.

[2] In it, he described the situation of the country, the government institutions, and Seckendorff's recommended way to manage the prince's holdings, including his demesne and monopolies, so as to maximize state revenues.

Seckendorff held a paternalistic view of the economy, advocating state involvement in population growth, education, usury prevention, trade regulation, contract law, and resource allocation.

[3] According to Seckendorff, subjects are not slaves of the ruler or the state; rather, they are under the government of (divinely-appointed) authorities so that their welfare and souls are protected according to both natural and imperial law.