Christian Kruse (historian)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christian Kruse (also Karsten Kruse ; Christian Karsten Hinrich Kruse ; born August 9, 1753 in Hiddigwarden (now part of Berne , Lower Saxony ); † January 4, 1827 in Leipzig ) was a German historian and educator .

Life

Christian Kruse was the son of an impoverished craftsman and came as a ten-year-old child to the orphanage founded by August Hermann Francke in Halle in 1692 , where he received thorough instruction in all subjects until 1772. Kruse's education was paid for by the Bernese pastor Menzel. At the University of Halle , where Kruse studied theology and history from 1773 to 1775 , he had stimulating interaction with the theologian Georg Christian Knapp and August Hermann Niemeyer, who later became known as a pedagogue . After completing his studies, he returned to Oldenburg , where he first took the position of sub-cantor (fifth teacher), then that of sub-director at the Latin school. With great sympathy he joined the literary endeavors that began here and quickly earned the respect and affection of his fellow citizens by setting up an evening school for girls. Thanks to his wife's fortune, his marriage, which he entered into in 1781, put him in the favorable position of gaining more leisure for his scientific endeavors than was previously possible for him.

In 1779, Kruse founded the Oldenburg Literary Society with Gerhard Anton von Halem , Gerhard Anton Gramberg and KA contradicting . His first work, the acclaimed satire Vom Zweck des Sokrates und seine Jünger, for friends of Wolfenbüttel's fragments and similar writings (Leipzig and Dessau 1785) defended the positive teachings of Christianity against the fragments of an unknown person edited by Lessing , even before the famous one Theologian Johann Christoph Döderlein had set himself the same task in his fragments and anti-fragments from Lessing's contributions to literature . From 1787 to 1794 Kruse and Halem and Gramberg published the Oldenburgische Blätter mixed content , in which he published several smaller works. He met the needs of the school with his practical instruction on orthography (Bremen 1787), which was very popular and appeared in four editions by 1819, through practical instruction on the German language for native Germans, especially for the unlearned (Hamburg 1796; 2nd edition Oldenburg 1807), and through the writing Mir und Mich, or complete instructions for the correct use of the dative and accusative (Bremen 1800).

While he was active at the grammar school in Oldenburg, Kruse drafted the plan for his most important work, the creation of which he devoted himself for decades, a historical-geographical atlas covering all of Europe, which was to represent the state of Europe at the end of each century in a map explained by chronological tables . This undertaking, made very difficult by the high costs involved, found external support when Kruse gained the trust of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Oldenburg and, in 1788, became the teacher of his two sons, the Hereditary Prince, later Grand Duke Paul Friedrich August, and Prince Peter Friedrich Georg , was chosen. Thanks to the support given by the Duke, in 1802 he was able to publish the first delivery of his atlas covering the geography and history of European states , which lasted up to 700 .

In 1803 Kruse, who was appointed consistorial councilor by the duke, accompanied his two pupils to the University of Leipzig and published the second delivery of his work, which ran until 1100, and which he defended against Bredow's accusation that it was only an extract from Gatterer's similar work. When he returned to Oldenburg with the two princes in May 1805 from Leipzig, where he had also obtained his doctorate from the university's philosophical faculty on February 28 of the same year, he joined the consistory as a member. As a scholarch, he took over the upper management of the grammar school and at the same time headed the school teacher seminar that he set up in 1807.

Contrary to Pestalozzi's modern educational concept at the time , Kruse advocated traditional teaching methods and pointed out the need for the development of the human mind from early childhood. He represented his pedagogical point of view in his lectures, in which he lectured on the effects of the early development of children on their later intellectual development. In his children's book, The Story of Little Hans Dumbar, he dealt with the general, but especially the moral education of boys.

The 1811 occupation of the Duchy of Oldenburg by French troops from Napoleon shattered Kruse's official and economic situation. After he had been dismissed from service by the duke at his request with the title of court counselor, he left his home and moved to Leipzig in order to be able to devote himself entirely to completing his atlas , the third volume of which he had already published in 1810. He turned down an offer from Prince George, who was then residing in Tver and holding out the prospect of a job in Russia. On the other hand, he gladly took over the professorship in historical auxiliary sciences in Leipzig on September 10, 1811. When he took office, he defended the dissertation De fide Livii recte aestimanda , in which he was one of the first to object to Niebuhr's skepticism , who had published the first two volumes of his Roman history in 1811/12 , and to raise Livy 's credibility against Niebuhr's harsh criticism sought to defend. His historical, geographic, and pedagogical lectures met with approval; In 1813 he also took over the supervision of the Wendler Free School, whose efficient scientific and educational management received great recognition. He completed his atlas in 1818 with the fourth issue, after which he organized a new edition of the entire work in 1822.

After a brief illness, Kruse died on January 4th, 1827 at the age of 73 in Leipzig, where he had earned general respect for his solid scientific education and his staid character. A new edition of the first and fourth volumes of his atlas was obtained in 1828 by his younger son Friedrich Karl Hermann Kruse , who published the sixth edition of the entire work in 1841.

family

Kruse married Susanne Sophie born on May 7, 1781. Premsel (* 1762), the daughter of the Oldenburg chancellery Friedrich Johann Premsel and Catharina Elisabeth born. Smart. The couple's youngest son, Friedrich Karl Hermann (1790–1866), became a professor in Halle and Dorpat .

Works

  • Practical instruction on orthography, initially for women, unstudied students and children with hidden errors. Bremen. 1787.
  • Complete and practical instruction on the spelling of the German language with the epitome of words borrowed from foreign languages, set up for use in schools as well as for self-teaching and reference, and provided with many examples for your own practice. Oldenburg. 1819.
  • Atlas for an overview of the geography and history of the European states from their origins to the year 1800 AD. Oldenburg / Halle. 1st edition: 1802. 2nd edition: 1818. 3rd edition: 1822. 4th edition (Issues 1 and 4): 1828.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Kruse, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kruse, Karsten; Kruse, Christian Karsten Hinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian and educator
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1753
PLACE OF BIRTH Hiddigwarden
DATE OF DEATH January 4, 1827
Place of death Leipzig