Erich Caspar (historian)

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Erich Caspar (born November 14, 1879 in Potsdam , † January 22, 1935 in Berlin ) was a German historian and diplomat .

Erich Caspar graduated from high school in 1898. First he studied law and history for one semester in Heidelberg , and from 1899 onwards, at the suggestion of Max Lenz, he studied history in Bonn under Karl Hampe, among others . In 1900 he returned to Berlin . There he received his doctorate in 1902 under Paul Scheffer-Boichorst with a thesis on the foundation of dioceses and church policy of Rogers I of Sicily. After the death of Scheffer-Boichorst, the work was supervised by Michael Tangl . His book about Roger II , which today is still one of the standard works because of its regesta appendix, was published in 1904. For Paul Fridolin Kehr and his Italia Pontificia he toured southern Italian archives and went to Göttingen for the papal document company. The last two volumes of the Italia Pontificia were edited in Göttingen . In 1907 he completed his habilitation in Berlin . From 1908 he was a private lecturer at the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin. From 1909 to 1920 Caspar worked for the Monumenta Germaniae Historica in the Epistolae department , for which Michael Tangl had proposed him. From 1914 he was an associate professor in Berlin. In 1920 he was appointed professor for medieval history at the University of Königsberg . In 1928/29 Caspar was elected rector of the University of Königsberg. From 1929 he taught in Freiburg as the successor to Georg von Below, who retired in 1924, and from 1930 in Berlin.

His research focused on the history of southern Italy under the Normans and the papacy of the Middle Ages . Particularly noteworthy are his edition of the register of Gregory VII and his main work History of the Papacy , which extends to the middle of the 8th century. In 1904 he presented a fundamental monograph on Roger II . During his time in Königsberg he published on the Teutonic Order State . In 1928 he dedicated his inaugural address as rector to this topic.

Caspar was a supporting member of the Historical Commission for East and West Prussian State Research . In 1935, however, he committed suicide as he had to reckon with his dismissal from civil service due to his partly Jewish origins (Caspar was a Protestant).

tomb

His grave in the old St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof Berlin was dedicated as a grave of honor of the city of Berlin until 2009 .

Fonts

  • The founding documents of the Sicilian dioceses and the church policy of Count Rogers I (1082-1098). Wagner, Innsbruck 1902 (Phil. Diss. Berlin 1902).
  • Roger II (1101–1154) and the establishment of the Norman-Sicilian monarchy. Wagner, Innsbruck 1904. (Reprinted 1963; Italian translation: Laterza, Bari 1999. Also contains the dissertation as an excursus). Digitized version of the 1904 edition in the Internet Archive .
  • Legacy of the Norman-Sicilian rulers in the 12th century. In: Sources and research from Italian archives and libraries 7 (1904), pp. 189–219.
  • The Chronicle of Tres Tabernae in Calabria. In: Sources and research from Italian archives and libraries 10 (1907), pp. 1–56.
  • Petrus Deacon and the Monte Cassinese forgeries. A contribution to the history of Italian intellectual life in the Middle Ages. Springer, Berlin 1909.
  • Studies on the register of Gregory VII. In: New archive of the society for older German history 38 (1913), pp. 143-226.
  • The register of Gregory VII. = Gregorii VII. Registrum. Weidmann, Berlin 1920–1923 (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Epistolae . 4, Epistolae selectae. 2).
  • Hermann von Salza and the establishment of the Teutonic Order State in Prussia. Mohr, Tübingen 1924.
  • The oldest Roman list of bishops. Critical studies on the form problem of the Eusebian canon and on the history of the oldest lists of bishops and their emergence from apostolic succession series. German publishing company for politics and history, Berlin 1926 (= writings of the Königsberg learned society. Geisteswissenschaftliche Klasse , J. 2,4).
  • History of the papacy. From the beginning to the height of world domination. 2 volumes. Mohr, Tübingen 1930–1933.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Bernhard Jähnig: Person index of the historical commission. In: Bernhard Jähnig (Ed.): 75 Years of the Historical Commission for East and West Prussian State Research. Research review and research requests. Lüneburg 1999, pp. 165-181, especially p. 167.
  2. ↑ Michael Grüttner , Sven Kinas: The expulsion of scientists from German universities from 1933 to 1945. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte , Vol. 55 (2007), pp. 123–186, here: p. 154 ( online ); Folker Reichert : learned life. Karl Hampe, the Middle Ages and the history of the Germans. Göttingen 2009, p. 258.
personal data
SURNAME Caspar, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Potsdam
DATE OF DEATH January 22, 1935
Place of death Berlin