Eugen forever

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Eugen Ewig (born May 18, 1913 in Bonn ; † March 1, 2006 ibid) was a German historian who researched the history of the early Middle Ages . He taught as a professor of history at the Universities of Mainz and Bonn and in the second half of the 20th century was regarded by experts as the best expert on the Merovingian era .

Since he was regarded as one of the few German Medievalists after the Second World War who was not influenced by National Socialist ideas, he was able to take on an important mediator function in the reconciliation process between Germany and France. The German Historical Research Center in Paris was founded forever in 1958, from which the German Historical Institute Paris emerged in 1964 .

Life

Origin and youth

Eugen Ewig grew up in a Catholic family. He was the son of the businessman Fritz Ewig, who died in 1924, and his wife Eugenie. From 1919 to 1931 he attended the humanistic Beethoven high school in Bonn; Events such as the occupation of the Rhineland , hyperinflation and the economic crisis occurred during his school days . His teachers included the Romance philosopher and cultural philosopher Hermann Platz , who taught him French. It was assumed that Ewig's later interest in the Lotharingian area and for the Rhineland was due to the influence of Platz. In 1931 Ewig graduated from university. After a vacation course in Dijon , a stay in Paris changed his attitude towards France significantly: "My view of the world, which was shaped by the youth movement , was not completely suppressed, but was considerably corrected and relativized by the experience of the French metropolis". Since then, Etern has been a lover of France and French culture.

Studied in Bonn (1931-1937 or 1938)

Ewig studied history, German, Romance studies (French) and philosophy in Bonn from 1931 to 1937. Paul Egon Hübinger and Theodor Schieffer were among his college friends . I was always active at the KDStV Langemarck Bonn and thus a member of the Cartel Association of Catholic German Student Associations and the Catholic Young Men Association . In the first half of his studies he focused on the main subjects history and German studies. Initially, Wilhelm Levison became his main academic teacher, later Ernst Robert Curtius . Curtius shaped Ewig's image of France and strengthened its burgeoning interest in France. From his Jewish teacher Levison, who was removed from office as a result of the Nuremberg Laws , he was the last student in Germany to receive the dissertation topic.

Eifel received his doctorate in 1936 with a work on the history of ideas on the Carthusian Dionysius , a late medieval theologian and mystic. The work of Dionysius, which in modern print form comprises 41 volumes, has been systematized and classified in terms of intellectual history. The dissertation was against the prevailing zeitgeist; the question eluded the fashions of German medieval studies of the years after 1933. The sentence in the dissertation “The present is lightless and cloudy if you measure it against the standards of the past” illustrates a pessimistic conservatism and is in contradiction to contemporary power and The ideology of the National Socialists. After Levison was ousted from office by the National Socialists in 1935 because of his Jewish origins, the modern historian Max Braubach took over the examination formalities in 1936 . The 80-page dissertation was published in 1936. Like Schieffer and Hübinger, Ewig kept in touch with his teacher Levison, who had emigrated to England.

After completing his doctorate, Dutch friends made it possible for him to spend three months in Paris, after which Ewig was an assistant at the historical seminar in Bonn for two years. In January 1938 he passed the state examination for teaching at secondary schools in history, German and French. Due to the political situation, however, he did not want to become a teacher. For a short time he took over the post of bookkeeper at the Department of History as successor to Paul Egon Hübinger.

Worked as archivist in Berlin, Breslau, Metz

In the time of National Socialism , political attitudes played a major role in the career opportunities of young scientists. As a student of Levison, as a politically liberal and as a staunch Catholic without any ties to the NSDAP, he never had a chance of an academic career. Schieffer and Hübinger, Levison's other students, decided to complete a three-semester archival training course at the Institute for Archival Studies. Forever wanted to follow their example. For a year he applied in vain for admission to the Institute for Archival Studies and Historical Studies in Berlin-Dahlem. He himself suspected that his activities in the Catholic Youth Association appeared suspicious to the National Socialists. In the end he was accepted at the Dahlem Institute and from April 1939 he completed his archive training. In the same year he wrote his first major scientific essay with “The election of Elector Josef Clemens of Cologne as Prince-Bishop of Liège, 1694”. It appeared in the annals of the Historical Association for the Lower Rhine , which the National Socialists called a "clerical organ" and which were banned in 1944. In 1940, Ewig graduated from archives with the state examination.

Apparently he was thinking of joining the NSDAP at this time in order to accelerate his civil service after his archival training. He signed the admission papers, but there was no consequence. There is no evidence of Ewig's membership in the NSDAP in the holdings. The legal clerkship brought him to Breslau in 1941 . In March 1941 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht as a state archivist; a heart defect released him from military service.

Through the mediation of the Reich Archives Council Wilhelm Kisky , Ewig was transferred to the Lorraine State Archives in Metz that same year . There he became deputy to the archive director Aloys Ruppel . During his activity in Metz in 1943 he wrote the article about the "Deutschordenskommende Saarburg" (1943). For the two works created during his time in Metz, Ewig used the holdings of the Erkelenz City Archives , the Vienna State Archives and the Metz Archives.

After problems with the Lorraine civil administration , Ruppel returned to Mainz in November 1942. Since 1943 Heinrich Büttner was Ewig's superior in the Metz archive. After Büttner was drafted into the Wehrmacht, Ewig took over the provisional management. His administration brought him valuable French connections such as those to Robert Schuman . In 1943, Ewig evaluated the land description of the Duchy of Lorraine from 1585/86 in the Nancy State Archives . His work did not correspond to the political loyalty expected by the Gauleitung and was therefore either rewritten or not even published. In 1943, Ewig wrote the essay “Metz and the Empire in the Middle Ages” for the local supplement to the NSZ Westmark. The editors removed everything “that contradicted National Socialist historiography and the Germanization policy in Lorraine [...]. Lorraine's independence and love of freedom, Metz's autonomy and special status should fall into oblivion ”. During this time, Ewig was entrusted with researching the Romance-Germanic language border. The "Gauleitung Westmark" wanted to use this to legitimize German claims to Lorraine and other areas in the west. In the treatise published in early 1944 on “The Shifting of the Language Boundary in Lorraine in the 17th Century”, Ewig was able to prove that the depopulated country had been repopulated from France since around 1663. However, he turned against the thesis advocated by the National Socialists that Louis XIV had pursued an ethnic policy “from a national point of view” with the result that the German-French language border was shifted to the north; Motives of this kind were "generally far removed from the statesmen of the time".

During the war, Ewig was a member of the Archive Protection Commission, whose task it was to return archival material of German provenance from France to Germany. He succeeded in preventing the archive holdings from being transported by pretending to be sick and then hiding in the archive's cellar. Westmark was forever on the black list of the Gauleitung and was supposed to be killed after the reconquest of Lorraine. He was u. a. accused "that he caused the German occupation of the prefecture to extend arms". On November 19, 1944, Ewig witnessed the decisive battle of the American army in the cellar of the prefecture for the city of Metz, which Hitler had declared a fortress. After the end of the war, Ewig was interned as a German civilian for a short time, but he was released in February / March 1945 through the intercession of his Metz friends.

Lecturer at the University of Nancy (1946–1949)

Robert Minder got him a lecturer position at the University of Nancy in 1946, which he held until 1949. The first German historian to teach at a French university after the Second World War was eternal. The French historian Jean de Pange approached Ewig as early as autumn 1945 . He arranged the contact to Raymond Schmittlein , the head of the cultural department of the French military government. Thanks to his commitment, Ewig was received by Robert Schuman in the Hôtel Matignon at the beginning of 1948 .

Mainz years (1946–1964)

As early as December 1945, Ewig von Schmittlein promised a chair for regional history at a university in the Rhenish region that was yet to be founded. A few weeks later, the choice of location fell in favor of Mainz, which was also to become the new state capital. Ewig was the first historian there to be offered a position by the French. In 1946 he became the first senior assistant at the University of Mainz, which was newly founded by the French occupying forces . In the denazification process carried out at the new university from 1947 to 1949 , Ewig was the only historian to be classified as completely "unencumbered". The university, which was under French influence, also made it possible for Ewig to cultivate his relationships with friends from France. Through his good relations with the military government, he exerted significant influence on the filling of positions. In 1946 Theodor Schieffer and Heinrich Büttner were appointed adjunct professors, Schieffer became full professor in 1951. During this time, Mainz developed into a reservoir for Catholic historians who had mostly worked at the University of Bonn before 1945.

At the beginning of his teaching activity, Ewig led seminars on the regional history of the Lower Rhine and on auxiliary historical sciences . In 1948 he turned down a call to the Saarland University . In 1951 he married. From 1951 he worked as a lecturer and remained in this position until 1954. In 1952 Ewig also received a teaching position at the University of Bonn. He was motivated to do his habilitation by Büttner and Schieffer . In 1952 he completed his habilitation with the support of Leo Just with the thesis “Trier in the Merovingian Empire. Civitas, City and Diocese ”. It has become a classic in medieval research. In this work, Ewig examined the changes from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages using the oldest German episcopal city. His habilitation consisted in the analysis of the continuity problem using the example of the urban and church, social and cultural changes in the Moselle metropolis. His interdisciplinary way of working becomes clear in his habilitation. Forever processed the knowledge of diplomacy , genealogy , archeology , epigraphy , linguistics and patronage .

After completing his habilitation, he became a full professor in Mainz in 1954, succeeding Schieffers who went to Cologne . In Mainz, Ewig mainly dealt with the political structure of the Frankish Empire. The highlight of these studies was the “Descriptio Franciae” on the occasion of the Council of Europe exhibition in Aachen on Charlemagne . In this descriptive analysis he devoted himself to the core landscapes of the Merovingian Franconian Empire , which consisted of Paris with the Île-de-France , Picardy , Champagne and the areas around the Meuse , Moselle and Rhine . In 1953, Ewig wrote a coherent account of the migration of peoples , the Merovingian and Carolingian times in Peter Rassow's handbook, “German History at a Glance”. In 1955 he succeeded Schieffer as President of the Society for Middle Rhine Church History . He held this office until 1965.

With Max Braubach and Gerd Tellenbach he founded the “Scientific Commission for Research into the History of Franco-German Relations” in Mainz in 1957 with the aim of “promoting scientific work in the field of middle and modern history in France and contacts between German and French Historians to establish or deepen ". Forever became the executive director of the commission. In 1960 he was dean of the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Mainz. In the same year he became a member of the Historical Commission for Hesse and a corresponding member of the Académie luxembourgeoise de Belgique and a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute . In 1960 he was one of the founding members of the Constance Working Group for Medieval History , which is still considered the most important forum for German-speaking Medieval Studies. In Mainz he supervised two doctorates and promoted Peter Classen's habilitation . His most important students at the university there were Josef Semmler and Hans Hubert Anton .

Foundation of the German Historical Institute in Paris and work there (1958–1983)

German Historical Institute in Paris

Even before Eugen Ewig, there had been attempts by Paul Kehr (1902–1904) and Theodor Mayer (1941–1943) to establish a German Historical Institute in Paris . Ewig, along with Paul Egon Hübinger and Gerd Tellenbach, was one of the participants in the Franco-German historians' meeting in Speyer , which took place between 1948 and 1949 on the initiative of the French military government. In Speyer, networks were created with French colleagues who were to be useful for setting up a historical institute in Paris. Since the late 1940s there was direct contact between Ewig and Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer . Ewig's future father-in-law was Paul Martini , professor of internal medicine at the University of Bonn and Adenauer's personal physician at the same time; he established contact with the Federal Chancellor forever. Ewig tried to act as a contact person between the French Foreign Minister Schuman and Adenauer. In 1950, Ewig made an effort in Paris to reduce possible “prejudices” against Adenauer. The special esteem in which he was held in the Chancellery earned him the offer to take over the post of cultural advisor in Paris for a limited period. However, Ewig refused out of consideration for his family and the University of Mainz. In 1950, Ewig outlined in a “confidential” letter to Adenauer a historical research project aimed at better “understanding the European past”. In 1953, Ewig specified its plans. He proposed a “two-way project” and “the formation of a team of medieval historians”. A German institute was to be founded in France and a French institute in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1954, Adenauer expressed his intention to support the projects initiated within the German historical sciences for the establishment of a Franco-German research center. From February 26 to March 17, 1956, Ewig was sent to Paris for explorations. There he met 30 leading French figures from universities and culture. There was no resistance to the establishment of a German research center. The foundation was to take place on a university basis ("sur base universitaire"), and the advice was given to concentrate first on the Middle Ages, and only later to advance to the early modern period or to the period after 1918. In 1958, with the support of Robert Schuman and Konrad Adenauer and with the energetic help of Hübinger, who at the time headed the cultural department of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the "Center allemand de recherches historiques" was opened in Paris' Rue du Havre. The floor in the Rue du Havre was financed by Ewig from private funds. The Center and later the Institute were a private association under French law that was only dissolved in 1994. The founding fathers included Ewig, Gerd Tellenbach, Herbert Grundmann , Theodor Schieffer and Max Braubach. For a short time, Ewig thought of naming this institution “Institut Center Wilhelm Levison”.

From 1958 to 1964, Ewig was involved in the design and implementation of Franco-German colloquia in Saarbrücken , Fulda , Münster , Bochum , Regensburg , Bamberg and Worms . The first Franco-German historians' meeting in Saarbrücken brought significant progress in relations between the two nations, as Ewig noted in the conference report. From 1959 to 1964 he organized annual lectures by German historians in Paris. In 1964, after several years of negotiations, the research center was converted into a dependent federal institute in the portfolio of the Federal Minister for Scientific Research . The research center became the German Historical Institute and a scientific advisory board was established. Ewig was its chairman from 1964 to 1983. In 1973 he contributed an extensive article to the new institute magazine Francia . Forever received numerous honors from the French side: in 1970 he became a corresponding member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres , which in 1975 also awarded him the rarely awarded rank of Associé étranger . In 1979 he became a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences, Arts et Belles Lettres in Dijon . With the Chevalier in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques , he received one of the highest awards in France. In addition, Ewig became an honorary member of the Institut Grand-Ducal de Luxembourg in 1961.

Teaching activity in Bonn (1964–1980)

In 1964, Ewig succeeded Helmut Beumann in Levison's former chair for medieval history at the University of Bonn. In his seminars, he focused on reading and interpreting sources. He remained unmolested by the student unrest in 1968 because he was considered apolitical. In Bonn he supervised 18 dissertations. His students in those years included Jörg Jarnut , Horst Ebling , Reinhold Kaiser , Ulrich Nonn , Manfred van Rey , Rudolf Schieffer , Hans Hubert Anton and Gerhard J. Kampers . In addition, Heinz Thomas and Ingrid Heidrich completed their habilitation . In Bonn, Ewig's research interest shifted to the history of Christianity and the Church in Franconian times. He dealt with the history of cult and patronage, with mission and with episcopal rule. He also devoted himself increasingly to the Rhenish and the political history of the Franconian Empire. The numerous individual researches ultimately resulted in contributions to the relevant manuals for the subject. From 1966 to 1975, Ewig wrote various sections in Hubert Jedin's “ Handbook of Church History ” over the 6th to 9th centuries . He wrote the section on “Fränkische Reichsbildung” (1976) in the first volume of the “Handbook of European History” published by Theodor Schieder and - based on his habilitation - the description “The Trier Land in the Merovingian and Carolingian Empire” in the first volume of the “History of the Trier Land” (1964). He contributed to the “Rhenish History” by Franz Petri and Georg Droege with the depiction “The Rhineland in Franconian Times 451–919 / 31” (1980).

The so-called "Bonn School" treasured the history of the country forever . He wrote articles for the festival publications in honor of the director of the Bonn Institute for Historical Regional Studies - Franz Steinbach , Franz Petri and Edith Ennen . During his teaching activity in Bonn he was accepted into a number of important scientific bodies: in 1975 he became a corresponding member of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica in Munich, in 1978 a full member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts ; from 1979 he was a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . For his achievements, he was also awarded honorary doctorates from the Université de Toulouse and the University of Friborg (Switzerland) . 1980 Ewig retired.

Last years

Ewig published in old age and continued to support the German Historical Institute in Paris. A scientific colloquium was held in his honor on his 75th birthday. After his 90th birthday, he took part in the preparations for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the GHI. For his efforts to find a compromise with the “hereditary enemy” France, he was named a “hereditary friend” by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on his 90th birthday . A few days before his sudden death, he was still completing the manuscript of a thesis on the relations between the Franks and the Roman Empire from the 3rd to the 5th century. The article appeared in the Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter .

plant

Ewig's extensive scientific oeuvre was created between 1936 and 2006 and comprises more than 100 titles. Numerous articles were published in French. The central topic of his research was the transformation process of the Franconian Empire from late antiquity through the Merovingian period to the Carolingians . Ewig has become known as a specialist in research into the Merovingian period; other works deal with the Christian foundations of kings and emperors, political and ecclesiastical doctrine as well as the prince mirror literature .

Ewig wrote his first research contributions to the late Middle Ages and early modern times. After the Second World War, however, he concentrated on the early Middle Ages and in particular on the Franconian Empire of the Merovingians. This was the result of efforts to deconstruct the myth of the Franco-German hereditary enmity with scientific means and to work out the common roots of German and French history. The efforts to achieve European unification in his presence served as a vanishing point . In retrospect, Ewig justified his reorientation with the words: “The choice was determined by the desire to work out the foundations of European unity, to help shape a new image of history and thereby also to help shape the future.” The focus of his research was repeatedly late antiquity and early medieval Gaul . A strictly empirical approach was fundamental to his work. After the source material was disseminated, it was critically discussed. From this, cautious conclusions were drawn step by step, which ultimately led to an overall result.

The German Historical Institute honored its founder by publishing his collected writings in two volumes, arranged by Hartmut Atsma . The first anthology published in 1976 on late antiquity and Franconian Gaul includes works mainly on political history, the aftermath of Roman institutions, the influence of Constantine the Great on posterity, the Christian idea of ​​kings, folklore and popular consciousness in the 7th century, and the political structure of Gaul and about the Franconian divisions and partial kingdoms from 511 to 714. The second volume from 1979 contains in particular studies on church history . A third volume of his writings from 1974 to 2007 was published in 2007 by Bonn historians Matthias Becher and Theo Kölzer and Ewig's student Ulrich Nonn . In addition to Franconian history, the contributions relate above all to the early days of the Rhenish region.

Merovingian research

Even before the publication of the habilitation thesis, Ewig had published two extensive studies on the divisions of the Merovingian Franconian Empire and the partial kingdoms of the 6th and 7th centuries that resulted from it. Together with some of the following works, they offer an analysis of the basic structures of the Franconian Empire and the conflicts of the kings and greats during this time. Ewig had thus provided both a structural-historical framework and an overview of the political events that can serve as a replacement for the missing yearbooks of the Frankish Empire under the Merovingians. As early as 1955 he was able to show that Roman institutions survived on a large scale during the Merovingian era. In numerous works he devoted himself to the nationality and the problem of popular consciousness in the Franconian Empire of the 7th century as well as the Christian idea of ​​kings in the early Middle Ages, in other studies he examined the Merovingian dynasty. On the basis of an analysis of the different versions of the Frankish Troy saga , he asked in particular about the origin of the royal family. His prosopographical work brought new insights into the genealogy of the Merovingians, the date of Clovis' baptism and the so-called coup d'état of Grimoald . In special studies he devoted himself to episcopal privileges, episcopal tombs and legends. In 1988, the numerous individual contributions resulted in the overview presentation "The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire". Although Patrick J. Geary and Waltraut Bleiber published similar representations in the same year , the book became the standard work on the Merovingian period. In 2006 it appeared in the fifth edition.

The Rhineland as a central region

The Rhineland was forever a political and cultural central region of Europe. The influence of his teachers Wilhelm Levison and Hermann Platz must have been decisive for his turn to the exploration of this space. The importance he ascribed to the Rhineland can be seen in the introductory chapter of his dissertation: "The great memories of their universal leadership position in Europe have never faded in the landscapes of the Rhine since they stepped into the shadow of the great powers from West and East." The focus of the habilitation thesis was on the role of the Moselle metropolis Trier and the problem of political, social, economic, ecclesiastical and cultural continuity from antiquity to the Middle Ages. Eternally investigated u. a. the position of the bishop in the city and in the diocese, the ownership structure of the episcopal church and the history of settlement and language. He wrote similar articles for Cologne and Ribuarien (Rhineland) as well as for Mainz and the Middle Rhine. He assigned particular importance to the “prenational phase” of the Frankish Empire. The German and French people emerged from the collapse of the Franconian Empire and thus emerged much later than earlier research assumed. The Rhineland and Moselle region (Moselle country) played an important role. Two aspects are characteristic of Ewig's work on the Rhineland and the Moselle region. On the one hand, he exceeded the time horizon of the Medievalist by looking at the time from late antiquity to the Carolingians as a whole. On the other hand, precise investigations into the particular features of the landscape, the scope and limits of large political areas enabled him to better and more precisely grasp.

Ewig's assessment of the historical importance of the Rhineland had consequences for his political views. After the Second World War he was one of the advocates of a Rhine state. He criticized the Center Party for having spoken out against the autonomy of the Rhineland after the First World War. In 1950, in the newly founded journal History in Science and Education , he gave an overview of German history from a Rhenish perspective with the essay "Landscape and trunk in German history". In this contribution he formulated a Rhenish “heartland theory”. Ewig saw Germany's center in the Rhineland and pleaded for a historiographical westward shift of the Prussian-heavy image of Germany from Berlin to Bonn. “It is no coincidence that the focus of our lives has moved back to the Rhine at a time that is striving for European unity. This is an important prerequisite for the broadcast of Rhenish Germany ". Ewig's aversion to Prussia was not only due to the Kulturkampf , but was also fundamentally directed against a German nation-state ruled from Berlin. The Rhine state he was striving for was to serve as a bastion against a Germany dominated by Prussian Protestantism. As a result, Ewig, a staunch Rhinelander, returned the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class in 1991, when Berlin became the federal capital and Bonn became a federal city.

effect

Estate and Commemoration

Ewig's personal file as an academic teacher at the University of Bonn offers little information. It contains nothing more than the obligatory applications for research semesters and notifications to the dean about new honors and awards. Biographical approximations mainly offer the life pictures and appreciations of his students, who can report on Etern as contemporary witnesses. Ewig's private papers are an important source for the founding history of the German Historical Institute in Paris . In 2007 some of these documents were issued by the Paris Institute.

In 2006, the year of his death, the specialist journal Francia , published by the German Historical Institute in Paris, dedicated medieval volume 33/1 to him. It contains necrologists from his pupil Reinhold Kaiser and from Werner Paravicini , the then director of the German Historical Institute in Paris. On December 1, 2006, as part of the academic memorial service in Bonn, lectures were given by the then Dean of the Philosophical Faculty Jürgen Fohrmann , the Bonn historian Theo Kölzer and his students Rudolf Schieffer and Ulrich Nonn , who were part of the 2007 series “Alma Mater . Contributions to the History of the University of Bonn ”. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the German Historical Institute, a colloquium examined its origins with the help of a person-historical approach. The focus was on the biographies of the institute's founders and their relationship to National Socialism. For by Peter Schoettler expressed suspicion , German archivists were looted in occupied France, called Matthias Pape evidence. According to Pape, Ewig contributed to preserving the Metz holdings. In the anthology published in 2007, two articles were dedicated to Ewig. Reinhold Kaiser dealt with the scientific work and Ulrich Pfeil shed light on Ewig's work when the German Historical Institute was founded.

Scientific aftermath

Ewig's research had a lasting influence on Medieval Studies after 1945, as he made European cooperation the basis of his scientific work and thus opened up new perspectives. His pupil Rudolf Schieffer noted that he was one of those historians who "played a decisive role in shaping the new image that has prevailed since 1945 and allows the common roots of the European peoples to come to the fore".

In particular, research in the early Middle Ages was shaped by Ewig's work. Only Nancy Gauthier criticized the analysis of later sources for late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

The work of his student Hans Hubert Anton corrected Ewig's habilitation thesis on Trier in a few details. Anton continued Ewig's studies of the Christian foundations of royalty in investigations into the early medieval prince mirrors . The individual landscape investigations for Trier were continued for Reims , Soissons , Mainz and Laon . The work on the divisions and partial realms was deepened from a constitutional point of view and from the perspective of historical geography. Investigations of the wills of the Merovingian period are influenced by Ewig's source-critical analyzes of the bishops' privileges. The contributions to the Merovingian dynasty were used to specify the chronology of this time. The essay on Milo , the alleged bishop of Reims and Trier, who is said to have been a decisive support for Karl Martell , has stimulated research into the role of the bishop in late antiquity and in the early Middle Ages. The study "Descriptio Franciae" influenced the Palatinate research in France. Ewig's work on the royal family is in the larger context of personal history research, which was carried out in particular by Gerd Tellenbach , Karl Schmid , Karl Ferdinand Werner and Karl Friedrich Stroheker .

Etern was no less important as an academic teacher and science organizer. Nine of his students received a professorship from the Middle Ages. In 1980 Rudolf Schieffer followed his teacher to the mediaeval professorship in Bonn, which he held until 1994.

Fonts

A complete list of publications Eugen Ewigs found in: Theo Kölzer , Ulrich Nonn: Schriftenverzeichnis Eugen Ewig . In: Francia , Volume 34/1 (2007), pp. 237-244 ( online ).

  • Trier in the Merovingian Empire. Civitas, city, diocese. Paulinus-Verlag, Trier 1954. (Reprint: Scientia-Verlag, Aalen 1987, ISBN 3-511-00875-1 .)
  • The Rhineland in the Frankish period (451–919 / 31) . Düsseldorf 1980, ISBN 3-590-34201-3 ( Rhenish history in three volumes , edited by Franz Petri, Georg Droege, 1/2: Early Middle Ages ).
  • The Merovingians and the Franconian Empire [first in 1988]. 5th updated edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-170-19473-1 .
  • Late antique and Frankish Gaul. Volumes 1-2: Collected Writings (1952-1973). Edited by Hartmut Atsma. Artemis, Munich 1976 and 1979 (= supplements of Francia , volumes 3.1 and 3.2); Volume 3: Collected Writings (1974–2007.) Edited by Matthias Becher, Theo Kölzer and Ulrich Nonn. Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2009 (= supplement of Francia , Volume 3.3).

literature

Necrologist

  • Volker Bierbrauer : Eugen Ewig May 18, 1913 - March 1, 2006. In: Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Yearbook 2006 , Munich 2007, pp. 322–326 ( online ).
  • Reinhold Kaiser : Eugen Ewig (1913-2006). In: Francia , Volume 34/1 (2007), pp. 223-227 ( online ).
  • Martina Knichel: In memoriam Eugen Ewig * May 18, 1913 - † March 1, 2006. In: Archive for Middle Rhine Church History , Volume 58 (2006), pp. 431–433.
  • Theo Kölzer: Obituary for Eugen Ewig. In: Yearbook 2007 of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts , 2007, pp. 146–150.
  • Werner Paravicini : Eugen Ewig - the founder. In: Francia , Volume 34/1 (2007), pp. 228-236 ( online ).
  • Rudolf Schieffer : Concrete Late Antiquity. Mediator of his time: On the death of the historian Eugen Ewig. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 3, 2006, No. 53, p. 35.
  • University of Bonn: In memoriam Eugen Ewig: (May 18, 1913 - March 1, 2006). Speeches held at the academic commemoration on December 1, 2006 in the ballroom of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Bonn 2007, ISBN 978-3-416-03171-4 .
  • Herwig Wolfram : Eugen Ewig [obituary]. In: Almanach of the Austrian Academy of Sciences , Volume 156 (2005/2006), pp. 511–516.

Representations

  • Reinhold Kaiser: Eugen Ewig. From the Rhineland to the West. In: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-58519-3 , pp. 199-220 ( online ).
  • Martina Knichel: The Society for Middle Rhine Church History. Mainz 1998, pp. 95f., Note 254.
  • Ulrich Nonn :  Eugen Ewig. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 28, Bautz, Nordhausen 2007, ISBN 978-3-88309-413-7 , Sp. 617-624.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Ulrich Pfeil : Eugen Ewig. A Rhenish Catholic historian between Germany and France. In: François Beilecke, Katja Marmeschke (ed.): The intellectual and the mandarin. For Hans Manfred Bock. Kassel University Press, Kassel 2005, ISBN 3-89958-134-2 , pp. 527-552.
  • Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - »Créer un ordre transnational«. From a mediator between Germany and France. In: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-58519-3 , pp. 293-322 ( online ).
  • Ulrich Pfeil: Founding and development of the institute (1958–1968). In: Rainer Babel, Rolf Große (Eds.): The German Historical Institute Paris, 1958–2008. Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2008, ISBN 978-3-7995-7296-5 , pp. 1-84.
  • Ulrich Pfeil: Prehistory and foundation of the German Historical Institute Paris. Presentation and documentation (= Instrumenta. Volume 17). Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2007, ISBN 3-7995-7917-6 .
  • Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig. In: Michael Fahlbusch , Ingo Haar , Alexander Pinwinkler (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Völkischen Wissenschaften. Actors, networks, research programs. With the assistance of David Hamann. 2nd, fundamentally expanded and revised edition. Vol. 1, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-11-042989-3 , pp. 153–155.
  • Rudolf Schieffer: European History and Latin Middle Ages. Cheerful bridge builder on the Rhine: for the eightieth birthday of Bonn historian Eugen Ewig. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 18, 1993, No. 114, p. 34.
  • Theodor Schieffer : laudation for Prof. Dr. Eugen Ewig from Prof. Dr. Theodor Schieffer at the 235th meeting on December 20, 1978. In: Yearbook of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Arts , year 1978, pp. 61–64.
  • Heinz Thomas: The hereditary friend. For the ninetieth birthday of the historian Eugen Ewig. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 17, 2003, No. 114, p. 36.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 305 ( online ).
  2. ↑ Quoted from: Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France . In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 296 ( online ).
  3. ^ Yearbook of the Cartel Association of Catholic Student Associations in Germany (KV). 29th year, 1931, p. 315.
  4. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The views of the Carthusian Dionysius of Roermond on the Christian Ordo in state and church . Bonn 1936.
  5. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The views of the Carthusian Dionysius of Roermond on the Christian Ordo in state and church . Bonn 1936, p. 5.
  6. ↑ Reinhold Kaiser: Eugen Ewig. From the Rhineland to the West. In: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 199–220, here: p. 201 ( online ).
  7. ↑ Katja Wojtynowski: The subject History at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz 1946-1961. Foundation and expansion of the historical seminar, the Institute for Ancient History and the Department of Eastern European History at the Institute for Eastern European Studies. Stuttgart 2006, p. 83.
  8. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The election of Elector Joseph Clemens von Cöln as Prince-Bishop of Lüttich 1694. In: Annalen des Historisches Verein für den Niederrhein , Volume 135 (1939), pp. 41-79. The quote from: Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 305 ( online ).
  9. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France . In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 298 ( online ).
  10. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The German Order Coming Saarburg. In: Elsaß-Lothringisches Jahrbuch , Volume 21 (1943), pp. 81–126.
  11. ↑ Wolfgang Freund: People, Empire and Western Frontier. German studies and politics in the Palatinate, Saarland and annexed Lorraine 1925–1945. Saarbrücken 2006, p. 373.
  12. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The shift of the language border in Lorraine during the 17th century (Ms.), February 23, 1944. Compare: Rudolf Schieffer: The Medievalist and his Oeuvre. In: In memoriam Eugen Ewig: (May 18, 1913 - March 1, 2006). Speeches held at the academic commemoration on December 1, 2006 in the ballroom of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Bonn 2007, pp. 32–39, here: p. 34.
  13. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 302 ( online ).
  14. ↑ Quoted from: Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 302 ( online ).
  15. ↑ Rudolf Schieffer: Concrete Late Antique Mediators of His Time: To the death of the historian Eugen Ewig. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 3, 2006, No. 53, p. 35.
  16. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 311 ( online ).
  17. ↑ Katja Wojtynowski: The subject History at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz 1946-1961. Foundation and expansion of the historical seminar, the Institute for Ancient History and the Department of Eastern European History at the Institute for Eastern European Studies. Stuttgart 2006, p. 83.
  18. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 312 ( online ).
  19. ↑ Reinhold Kaiser: Eugen Ewig. From the Rhineland to the West. In: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 199–220, here: p. 214 ( online ).
  20. ↑ Eugen Ewig: Descriptio Franciae. In: Helmut Beumann (ed.): Charlemagne - life's work and afterlife. Volume 1: Personality and History. Düsseldorf 1965, pp. 143-177. ND in: Spätantikes und Frankish Gallien , Volume 1, 1976, pp. 274-322.
  21. ^ Undated report by Prof. Dr. Eugen Ewig [late 1958]. In: Ulrich Pfeil: Prehistory and foundation of the German Historical Institute Paris. Presentation and documentation. Ostfildern 2007, p. 447.
  22. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 315 ( online ).
  23. ^ Rolf Große: The history of the origins of the DHI Paris. In: Jürgen Elvert (Ed.): History beyond the university. Networks and Organizations of the Early Federal Republic. Stuttgart 2016, pp. 141-153, here: p. 142.
  24. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Prehistory and founding of the German Historical Institute Paris. Presentation and documentation. Ostfildern 2007, p. 96.
  25. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Foundation and structure of the institute (1958–1968). In: Rainer Babel, Rolf Große (Eds.): The German Historical Institute Paris, 1958–2008. Ostfildern 2008, pp. 1–84, here: p. 3.
  26. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Foundation and structure of the institute (1958–1968). In: Rainer Babel, Rolf Große (Eds.): The German Historical Institute Paris, 1958–2008. Ostfildern 2008, pp. 1–84, here: p. 4.
  27. ^ Document 158: Purchase contract for 5, rue du Havre from October 21, 1957. In: Ulrich Pfeil: Prehistory and founding of the German Historical Institute in Paris. Presentation and documentation. Ostfildern 2007, p. 405.
  28. ^ Werner Paravicini: Eugen Ewig and the German Historical Institute in Paris. In: University of Bonn: In memoriam Eugen Ewig: (May 18, 1913 - March 1, 2006). Speeches held at the academic commemoration on December 1, 2006 in the ballroom of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Bonn 2007, pp. 19–31, here: p. 21.
  29. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 297 ( online ).
  30. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: The German Historical Institute Paris. A new foundation "sur base universitaire" . In the S. (Ed.): German-French cultural and scientific relations in the 20th century. An institutional history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 281-308, here: pp. 305f.
  31. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The privilege of Bishop Berthefrid of Amiens for Corbie from 664 and the monastery policy of Queen Balthild. In: Francia , Volume 1 (1973), pp. 62-114 [ND in: Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien , Volume 2, 1979, pp. 538-583].
  32. ^ Theo Kölzer: Eugen Ewig and the historical seminar. In: University of Bonn: In memoriam Eugen Ewig: (May 18, 1913 - March 1, 2006). Speeches held at the academic commemoration on December 1, 2006 in the ballroom of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Bonn 2007, pp. 9–13, here: p. 12.
  33. ↑ Reinhold Kaiser: Eugen Ewig. From the Rhineland to the West. In: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 199–220, here: p. 214 ( online ).
  34. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The Franks and Rome (3rd-5th centuries). An attempt at an overview. In: Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter , Volume 71 (2007), pp. 1–42.
  35. ↑ Rudolf Schieffer: The Mediävist and his oeuvre. In: In memoriam Eugen Ewig: (May 18, 1913 - March 1, 2006). Speeches held at the academic commemoration on December 1, 2006 in the ballroom of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Bonn 2007, pp. 32–39, here: p. 35.
  36. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The Franconian divisions and partial realms (511–613). Wiesbaden 1952 (published 1953), pp. 651–715 [reprint in: Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien , Volume 1, 1976, pp. 114–171]. Eugen Ewig: The Franconian partial empires in the 7th century (613–714). In: Trierer Zeitschrift , Volume 22 (1953), pp. 85-144 [Reprinted in: Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien , Volume 1, 1976, pp. 172-230].
  37. ↑ Reinhold Kaiser: Eugen Ewig. From the Rhineland to the West. In: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 199–220, here: pp. 206f ( online ).
  38. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The survival of Roman institutions in Gaul and Germania. In: Comitato Internationale di Scienze Storiche. Relazini , Volume 6, Firenze 1955, pp. 561-598, reprinted in: Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien , Volume 1, 1976, pp. 409-434.
  39. ^ Eugen Ewig: Studies on the Merovingian dynasty. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien , Volume 8 (1974), pp. 15-59.
  40. ↑ Eugen Ewig: Once again on Grimoald's coup . In: Festschrift Johannes Spoerl on the occasion of his 60th birthday, offered by comrades, friends and students. Freiburg u. a. 1965, pp. 454-457; Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien , Volume 1, 1976, pp. 573-577.
  41. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 305 ( online ).
  42. ↑ Eugen Ewig: The views of the Carthusian Dionysius of Roermond on the Christian Ordo in state and church. Bonn 1936, p. 5.
  43. ↑ Reinhold Kaiser: Eugen Ewig. From the Rhineland to the West. In: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 199–220, here: p. 205 ( online ).
  44. ↑ Eugen Ewig: L'avenir rhénan . In: Jean Dumont (Ed.): Le Rhin. Nile de l'Occident. Paris 1947, pp. 315-324, here: p. 318.
  45. ↑ Sebastian Conrad: In Search of the Lost Nation. Historiography in West Germany and Japan, 1945–1990. Göttingen 1999, p. 355.
  46. ^ Eugen Ewig: Landscape and trunk in German history. In: History in Science and Education , Volume 1 (1950), pp. 154–168.
  47. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 307 ( online ).
  48. ^ Ulrich Pfeil: Eugen Ewig - "Créer un ordre transnational". From a mediator between Germany and France. In the S. (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 293–322, here: p. 309 ( online ).
  49. ^ Werner Paravicini: Eugen Ewig - the founder. In: Francia , Volume 34/1 (2007), pp. 228-236, here: p. 231.
  50. ^ Theo Kölzer: Eugen Ewig and the historical seminar. In: In memoriam Eugen Ewig: (May 18, 1913 - March 1, 2006). Speeches held at the academic commemoration on December 1, 2006 in the ballroom of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Bonn 2007, pp. 9–13, here: p. 12.
  51. ^ Ralf Forsbach: Remote controlled from Bonn. Self-exploration at the German Historical Institute in Paris. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. December 27, 2006, No. 300, p. 3.
  52. ↑ Rudolf Schieffer (Ed.): Contributions to the history of the Regnum Francorum: Papers at the scientific colloquium for the 75th birthday of Eugen Ewig on May 28, 1988. Sigmaringen 1990, p. 5.
  53. ↑ Fundamental: Reinhold Kaiser: Eugen Ewig. From the Rhineland to the West. In: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 199–220, here: pp. 217–220.
  54. ^ Nancy Gauthier: L'évangélisation des pays de la Moselle. La province romaine de Première Belgique entre Antiquité et Moyen-Age (IIIe-VIIIe siècles). Paris 1980, p. 5. See Reinhold Kaiser: Eugen Ewig. From the Rhineland to the West. In: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): The German Historical Institute Paris and its founding fathers. A personal history approach. Munich 2007, pp. 199–220, here: p. 216 ( online ).
  55. ^ Hans Hubert Anton: Fürstenspiegel and ruling ethos in the Carolingian era , Bonn 1968; Ders .: Prince's mirror of the early and high Middle Ages. Darmstadt 2006.
  56. ↑ Reinhold Kaiser: Studies on the history of the civitas and diocese of Soissons in Roman and Merovingian times . Bonn 1973.
  57. ^ Franz-Reiner Erkens: Divisio legitima and unitas imperii. Division practice and striving for unity in the succession to the throne in the Franconian Empire. In: German Archive for Research into the Middle Ages , Volume 52 (1996), pp. 423–485; Brigitte Kasten: Royal sons and royal rule. Studies on participation in the empire in the Merovingian and Carolingian times. Hanover 1997.
  58. ↑ Ulrich Nonn: Merovingian Testaments. Studies on the survival of a Roman document form in the Franconian Empire. In: Archives for Diplomatics , Volume 18 (1972), pp. 1–29.
  59. ↑ Margarete Weidemann: On the chronology of the Merovingians in the 7th and 8th centuries. In: Francia , Vol. 10 (1982), pp. 471-513.
  60. ↑ Eugen Ewig: Milo et eiusmodi similes . In: Saint Boniface. Commemorative gift for the twelve hundredth anniversary of death. Fulda 1954, pp. 412-440. Cf. on this: Hans Hubert Anton: "Bishop's rule" and "Bishop's states" in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Reflections on their genesis, structure and typology. In: Friedhelm Burgard, Christoph Cluse, Alfred Haverkamp (eds.): Liber amicorum necnon et amicarum for Alfred Heit. Contributions to medieval history and regional history. Trier 1996, pp. 461-473.
  61. ↑ Josiane Barbier: Les biens fiscaux et les palais des Merovingiens aux Premiers Capetiens, dans les vallees de l'Oise et de l'Aisne, these de l'Ecole des cahrtes 1982 . This: Domaines royaux et palais de la region de Compiègne (Ve-Xe siècles). In: Bulletin de la Société Historique de Compiègne , Volume 29 (1985), pp. 9-31.
  62. ^ Theo Kölzer: Eugen Ewig and the historical seminar. In: In memoriam Eugen Ewig: (May 18, 1913 - March 1, 2006). Speeches held at the academic commemoration on December 1, 2006 in the ballroom of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Bonn 2007, pp. 9-13, here: pp. 12f.
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on October 5, 2011 in this version .
personal data
SURNAME Forever, Eugene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonn
DATE OF DEATH March 1, 2006
Place of death Bonn