Ernst Wilhelm Cuhn
Ernst Wilhelm Cuhn (born December 7, 1756 in Kassel ; † March 13, 1809 there ) was a German librarian and historian .
Life
Ernst Wilhelm Cuhn was the son of Landgrave Wilhelm VIII's personal doctor.
He was hired on July 4, 1784 as a secretary at the landgrave's library (today: University Library Kassel - State Library and Murhard Library of the City of Kassel ). In 1784, 1788 and 1789 he held the position of second court archivist, but in 1791 resigned his position as councilor and librarian out of annoyance because one of his letters was opened without permission.
In 1792 he asked Friedrich Wilhelm II for a job as a historiographer at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Berlin . On January 8, 1792, he was employed with the task of historical elaborations and deductions ; his annual salary of 1,000 thalers was partly paid for by the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin , with 200 thalers . He prepared historical reports for discreet use in the Cabinet Ministry and so his first draft for the Cabinet Minister was an introduction to the history of the state negotiations of the Royal Prussian Cabinet in 1781 , in which he presented the negotiations in chronological order and with a description of the various characters , without having necessary, all read the Acts of itself .
In 1794, the minister Philipp Karl von Alvensleben commissioned him with his main work to present the history of the contract of 1700 . For this, Cuhn obtained all the necessary and available documents, which reached back to the time of the late 1650s with the Great Elector , in order to present pragmatically how the peace between Welau and Oliva came about . Even before finishing his work he was at the change of ruler by Friedrich Wilhelm III. , dismissed with a small pension as dispensable personnel, for whom a historiographer in the Foreign Office seemed completely superfluous . Despite his dismissal, in 1798 he was asked to make improvements to his work.
By handing over the files, he was able to begin a history of Prussian royal dignity , which he continued after his release in Berlin, but for financial reasons he could not stay there for long and returned to Kassel. In 1805 he asked for the publication of his work, which Karl August von Hardenberg supported, and presented it personally to the king. Publication was advocated, but only on the condition that the manuscript was reviewed beforehand by a council from the foreign department in order to be able to make any changes. The Prussian king decided that he had nothing against the publication of the work, but he considered it advisable to examine the details that are less appropriate for publicity . Due to the escalating political situation at the time, a decision was issued in December 1807 from Memel in East Prussia that this should not be considered before the offices returned to Berlin. After Cuhn died in 1809, publication was discontinued and the work was archived.
honors and awards
With his hiring as a historiographer Ernst Wilhelm Cuhn was appointed to the Royal Prussian War Council.
Memberships
Ernst Wilhelm Cuhn had been a member of the Academy of Sciences since January 12, 1792.
Fonts (selection)
- Charles de Peyssonnel; Ernst Wilhelm Cuhn: The constitution of the trade on the black sea . Leipzig 1788.
- Louis de Chénier; Ernst Wilhelm Cuhn: History and state constitution of the kingdoms of Marocko and Fetz . Leipzig: Weygand, 1788.
- Johann Joachim von Rusdorf; Ernst Wilhelm Cuhn: Secret negotiations and documents on the history of the Thirty Years War . Leipzig Weygand 1789.
- Memoires et negociations secretes de Mr. de Rusdorf, conseiller d'etat de SM Frederic V, roi de Boheme, electeur palatin pour servir a l'histoire de la Guerre de trente ans . Leipzig: Weygand, 1789.
- Collection of strange journeys into the interior of Africa . Leipzig 1790.
- Journey to Abyssinia . Leipzig 1791.
literature
- Ernst Wilhelm Cuhn . In: Georg Christoph Hamberger : The learned Teutschland or Lexicon of the now living German writers , Volume 1. Lemgo 1796. P. 658 f.
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Hopf: The Kassel Regional Library 1580 - 1930. 1930, accessed on October 18, 2019 .
- ^ Wolfgang Neugebauer: Prussian history as a social event: Historiography from the Middle Ages to the year 2000 . P. 125 f. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018, ISBN 978-3-657-78917-7 ( google.de [accessed on October 18, 2019]).
- ↑ Allgemeine Anzeiger and national newspaper of the Germans . P. 227, 1792 ( google.de [accessed October 18, 2019]).
- ↑ Leipzig literary newspaper . S. 332. Breitkopf, 1809 ( google.de [accessed October 18, 2019]).
- ^ Members of the Berlin Academies - alphabetically - Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. Retrieved October 18, 2019 (German).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cuhn, Ernst Wilhelm |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cuhn, Ernst W .; Kuhn, Ernst Wilhelm; Cuhn, Ernestus Guilelmus; Cuhn, Ernestus G .; Cuhn, EW |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German librarian and historian |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 7, 1756 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | kassel |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 13, 1809 |
| Place of death | kassel |