Christian Ernst Hanßelmann

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Christian Ernst Hanßelmann
Representation of the Upper Germanic-Raetian and the Odenwald Limes in Hanßelmann's continuation of the evidence ... (1773)

Christian Ernst Hanßelmann (also Hanselmann , born July 8, 1699 in Weikersheim ; † August 26, 1776 in Öhringen ) was an archivist in the service of the Counts of Hohenlohe , who, after viewing the Roman finds in Öhringen, devoted himself to provincial Roman research and archeology .

Life

After attending the Öhringen grammar school , Hanßelmann studied law at the University of Jena . After studying and working in the Netherlands, he returned to Öhringen in 1730 to organize the Hohenlohe archives , which had existed since the 15th century.

The scientific work of Hanßelmann can be divided into three working areas: the actual archive work, the research on the sovereignty of the House of Hohenlohe and archeology. In the Hohenlohe archive, Hanßelmann created structured units with finding aids that are still in use today. His work in the archive was supplemented by work on the problem of state sovereignty from a constitutional point of view.

His first investigations were based on prize assignments: in 1748 he wrote on the subject of the expansion of the Roman occupation in south-west Germany, inspired by the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences , in 1765, following a prize question from the Mannheim Academy, he dealt with the pre-Roman peoples in the area of ​​the Electoral Palatinate .

In addition, Hanßelmann also dealt scientifically with archeology. This interest was triggered by the finds of Roman fragments east of Öhringen. From 1766 he discovered two cohort forts in Öhringen . After researching the fort towns of Mainhardt and Jagsthausen , he recognized the straight lines of the Upper German Limes . Hanßelmann was the first to understand that the Limes is a homogeneous complex and was able to confirm the Roman origin of the complex. In addition, he was the first to try to bring the Limes into historical context.

Hanßelmann is known as one of the fathers of scientific Limes research and has received numerous awards and honors. Among other things, he was a member of the imperial academy of natural scientists (1773). He is also one of the first to speak out in favor of preserving and securing ancient sites:

“... so that such a valuable remnant of antiquity is not completely destroyed when digging up, as is usually the case, but rather everything that is found is preserved in its status, also from all attacks by ignorant people, by a special enclosure , ensured, and such a shape may be kept for the later descendants. "

Honors

In 1773 he was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

Works

  • Chr. E. Hanßelmann: Prove how far the Roman power penetrated in the wars waged with different German peoples, also in what is now East Franconia, especially Hohenlohe . Schwäbisch Hall 1768
  • Chr. E. Hanßelmann: Continuation of the evidence of how far the Romans' power penetrated in the wars waged with various German peoples, also in what is now the East Franconian, especially Hohenlohe, country . Schwaebisch Hall 1773

literature

  • H. Neumaier: Christian Ernst Hansselmann. To the beginnings of Limes research in southwest Germany . In: Material booklets on prehistory and early history in Baden-Württemberg 18 (1993)
  • Rainer Braun: Early research on the Upper German Limes in Baden-Württemberg. Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart 1991 ( Writings of the Limes Museum Aalen. Volume 45), pp. 18–21.
  • Franz Xaver von WegeleHanselmann, Christian Ernst . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 528 f.
  • Hans Dieter Haller: Christian Ernst Hanßelmann (1699 to 1775) . In: Pegasus in the country - writers in Hohenlohe . Baier-Verlag 2006, pp. 32–37.

Individual evidence

  1. Öhringen. City and pen . P. 536 f.
  2. ^ Dieter Planck: Restoration and reconstruction of Roman buildings in Baden-Württemberg . In: Günter Ulbert , Gerhard Weber (ed.): Conserved history? Ancient buildings and their preservation . Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-8062-0450-0 , p. 130.
  3. ^ Member entry by Christian Ernst Hanselmann at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on December 1, 2015.