His elder sister Caritas (1467–1532) was Abbess of St Clare's Franciscan convent in Nuremberg (also in effect a girls' school for the city's upper class) and was also a gifted classical scholar; Dürer's life of the Virgin woodcut series was dedicated to her.

In 1499 Pirckheimer was chosen by the City Council to command their contingent of troops in the Imperial army during the Swabian War against the Swiss.

Some of Pirckheimer's books therefore remain there (85 have been identified), but many more were sold out of the Royal Society, firstly to Bernard Quaritch in 1873, and secondly via Sotheby's in 1925.

Werner relied on the support from Pirckheimer, Sebald Schreyer and others to develop his instruments and make systematic experiments and observances in measuring distances and locations, study the earth's magnetism and meteorology.

A portrait of Pirckheimer appears on the 100 Billion Mark note issued during Germany's Weimar Republic.