Conrad Varrentrapp

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grave of Conrad Varrentrapp in the main cemetery in Marburg (2017)

Conrad Eduard Varrentrapp (born August 17, 1844 in Braunschweig , † April 28, 1911 in Marburg ) was a German historian and biographer . Varrentrapp was a professor of history at the universities in Bonn , Strasbourg and Marburg .

Life

Family and studies

Conrad came from a family from which numerous scientists, clergy and politicians emerged. His father was the chemist and entrepreneur Franz Varrentrapp (1815–1877) from Braunschweig. His paternal uncle was the physician Georg Varrentrapp (1809–1886), and his cousin Adolf Varrentrapp (1844–1916), the son of Georg Varrentrapp, became mayor of Frankfurt am Main .

He attended high school in his hometown and began studying history at the University of Göttingen in 1862 with Georg Waitz, among others . With the beginning of the summer semester of 1864, Varrentrapp moved to the University of Bonn in order to be able to continue his studies with Heinrich von Sybel . Here, as a fellow student, he met Gerold Meyer von Knonau , who was a year older than him , and from then on they had a long friendship. Meyer von Knonau later wrote a short biography about Varrentrapp, which was published in the Biographisches Jahrbuch und Deutschen Nekrolog in 1912.

In the winter semester of 1864 he went to the Berlin University in order to be able to attend lectures with Leopold von Ranke for another semester . He finished his studies at Bonn University and received his doctorate there in December 1865 under Heinrich von Sybel with the dissertation Commentationis de christiano archiepiscopo maguntino specimen prius for Dr. phil.

Professional background

In 1868 Varrentrapp completed his habilitation as a private lecturer at the philosophical faculty of Bonn University . He was now a close collaborator of Heinrich von Sybel, who in 1869 entrusted him with the preparation of a register for the first twenty volumes of the historical journal . Sybel himself founded the magazine, which still exists today, in 1859. Later he left Varrentrapp the sole editing . In 1873 Varrentrapp received an extraordinary professorship for history at the University of Bonn.

His academic work was interrupted by the Franco-German War from 1870 to 1871, when Varrentrapp was the leader of a column of ambulance carriers in the 2nd medical detachment of III. Army Corps participated. As such, he experienced the Battle of Vionville on August 16, 1870 , the siege of Metz from August to October 1870 and the fighting against the Loire Army at the end of 1870. He was awarded the Iron Cross for his services . He was only able to return in March 1871.

At the beginning of April 1874 he accepted the call as a full professor for middle and modern history at the University of Marburg. After the resignation of Ernst Herrmann , Varrentrapp took over the management of the historical seminar in the winter semester of 1877. In 1879 he became dean of the Philosophical Faculty of Marburg University. From April 1880 to April 1883 was also director of the scientific examination committee for candidates of the higher education authority in Marburg.

At Easter 1890, Varrentrapp was given a full professorship for history at the University of Strasbourg as the successor to Hermann Baumgarten . At the beginning of October 1901 he returned to Marburg University as a full professor of middle and modern history and as director of the history seminar. He urged his students to study the various historical subjects intensively with source and literature studies. The students preferred him as a doctoral supervisor. In December 1907 he was appointed a secret councilor for his services . Varrentrapp retired on September 29, 1909 . In the same year the University of Leipzig honored him with an honorary doctorate in theology .

After the outbreak of a serious illness, he traveled to the Swiss mineral springs of Baden in Aargau in 1907 , where he temporarily recovered and met his old student friend Gerold Meyer von Knonau again.

Conrad Varrentrapp died on April 28, 1911 at the age of 66 in Marburg. His written estate is in the Secret State Archive of Prussian Cultural Heritage in Berlin, in the Hessian State Archive in Marburg and in the Lower Saxony State Archive / State Archive Wolfenbüttel . He had been married to Lily Beneke, the daughter of the Marburg medical professor Friedrich Wilhelm Beneke , since 1877 . Their only son, Franz Varrentrapp, became a lawyer.

literature

Varrentrapp left an extensive body of literature . His work Archbishop Christian I of Mainz was published as early as 1867 , a biography of the Archbishop of Mainz Christian I von Buch, who had been neglected by historical research until then . A year later he was the author of the commemorative publication Contributions to the History of the Electoral Cologne University of Bonn , which was published by the Association of Friends of Antiquities in the Rhineland on the occasion of the 50th foundation ceremony of Bonn University.

In 1878 his monograph Hermann von Wied and his attempt at the Reformation in Cologne was published on Hermann V. von Wied , which he provided with extensive sources and discussions in the second part of the volume. Already in his dissertation from 1865 Varrentrapp referred to Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann , whom he honored in 1885 with an essay in memory of Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann in the Prussian yearbooks and a year later with a foreword to FC Dahlmann's small writings and speeches . Also in 1885 the treatise The Prince of Homburg in History and Poetry appeared in the Prussian Yearbooks, which prompted us to take a closer look at the poet Heinrich von Kleist .

By Johannes Schulze , a Prussian personality of the 19th century, the work acted Johannes Schulze and the higher Prussian education in his time , which was published 1889th He published the letters of Samuel von Pufendorf , whom he also admired , in 1893 and one year later Pufendorf's letters to Falaiseau, Friese, Weigel . After Heinrich von Sybel's death in 1895, Varrentrapp dedicated the work to Heinrich von Sybel to his former teacher . Biographical introduction to Sybel's lectures and treatises , which he published in 1897.

His speech Landgrave Philipp von Hessen and the University of Marburg , on the occasion of the 400th birthday of Landgrave Philipp von Hessen , which he gave at the Marburg university celebration in 1904, appeared in the same year. In 1907 he published Ranke's historical-political magazine and the Berlin political weekly paper in the historical magazine. Letters to Ranke were also published by him in the historical journal, the last group appeared in 1911. He had still edited them, but had not lived to see the publication. As an author for the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie , he made four contributions.

Publications (selection)

  • Commentationis de christiano archiepiscopo maguntino specimen prius. ( Dissertation ) Bonn 1865. ( digitized )
  • Archbishop Christian I of Mainz. Berlin 1867. ( digitized )
  • Contributions to the history of the Cologne University of Bonn. ( Festschrift ) Bonn 1868. ( digitized )
  • Historical magazine . Register for volumes 1 to 20. Munich 1869.
  • Hermann von Wied and his attempt at the Reformation in Cologne. A contribution to the history of the German Reformation. Leipzig 1878.
  • In memory of Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann. Berlin 1885.
  • Johannes Schulze and the higher Prussian education system in his time. Leipzig 1889.
  • Letters from Pufendorf. as editor , Munich 1893.
  • The Great Elector and the Universities. Speech to celebrate the birthday of Sr. Majesty the Emperor, on January 27, 1894, given in the auditorium of the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Universität Strasbourg. Strasbourg 1894. ( digitized )
  • Lectures and treatises by Heinrich von Sybel. With a biographical introduction. Munich 1897.
  • Landgrave Philipp von Hessen and the University of Marburg. Speech given at the Marburg university celebration of his 400th birthday. Marburg 1904. ( digitized )

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Conrad Varrentrapp  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg (HStAMR), Best. 915 No. 5700, p. 191 ( digitized version ).
personal data
SURNAME Varrentrapp, Conrad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Varrentrapp, Conrad Eduard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian and biographer
DATE OF BIRTH 17th August 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 1911
Place of death Marburg