Friedrich Wilken

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Friedrich Wilken (1777-1840)

Friedrich Wilken (born May 23, 1777 in Ratzeburg , † December 24, 1840 in Berlin ) was a German historian ( orientalist ), university professor and librarian .

Life

Friedrich Wilken was born in Ratzeburg as the eldest child of Christian Erich and Sophie Wilken. His father had come to Ratzeburg as the valet of the Hanoverian Landdrost Friedrich von Kielmannsegg and had got a job there as a peddler for the firm. The Landdrost became Friedrich's godfather.

Since his family was very poor, Wilken was only able to attend the cathedral school in his hometown as a free student thanks to a scholarship. At Easter 1795 Wilken began studying theology and history at the University of Göttingen . He was fortunate to meet a number of outstanding university professors there who also supported him financially. He attended the philological seminar of the classical scholar Christian Gottlob Heyne , the lectures of the historian and constitutional lawyer August Ludwig von Schlözer and the historian Ludwig Timotheus Spittler , and he was introduced to the study of oriental languages by the orientalist Johann Gottfried Eichhorn . He financed the continuation of his studies by taking on posts and activities in the university sector. In a competition for a question about the time of the Crusades, he submitted the treatise Commentatio de bellorum cruciatorum ex Abulfedae historia in 1798 , which was awarded and which even impressed the French orientalist Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy . Already at this time he developed the plan to write a comprehensive history of the Crusades based on Oriental and Occidental reports , a courageous undertaking, since it was only recently that the languages ​​and literature of the Orient had begun to be dealt with. In 1800 he took over the position of theological repeater ; he also helped out in library administration, an activity that would later benefit him. In 1803 he was the personal study supervisor of the Hereditary Count Georg zu Schaumburg-Lippe , whom he accompanied during a study visit to Leipzig and on educational trips to southern Germany. In the same year he received his doctorate.

In 1805 he was first associate professor, then from 1807 full professor of history in Heidelberg , where he worked until 1817. From 1807 to 1817 he also worked for the Heidelberg University Library , in 1808 he became its director. In this role he undertook a restructuring of the library, whose book holdings had been severely decimated by the Tilly robbery. He made sure that the library holdings of the monasteries in Gengenbach , Schwarzach , Ettenheimmünster and Allerheiligen, which were outsourced in the course of secularization , were taken over by the university library . As library director, he successfully endeavored to have some of the books in the Bibliotheca Palatina given to the Pope by Elector Maximilian von Bayern in 1623 . These books were dragged from Rome to Paris in the course of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1816 he brought 38 manuscripts from Paris and 852 mostly German manuscripts from the palace library back to Heidelberg from Rome, including the Gospel Harmony , a work by the monk and Old High German poet Otfrid von Weißenburg .

From 1817 Wilken was professor of history and oriental studies at the Berlin Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität , where, alongside Christian Friedrich Rühs, he was one of the first historians to establish exercises and seminars as a form of teaching. As a rule, the students learned methods of source criticism and were actively involved in the design of the lesson through their own lectures and the like. At the same time Wilken worked as senior librarian of the Royal Library , today's State Library . In 1812 he was elected a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences , from 1819 he was a full member. He was rector of the University of Berlin in 1821/22. From 1831 he headed the newly founded university library, which had become urgently needed for the university after 20 years. Most recently, his creativity was impaired by a nervous ailment, which was accompanied by phases of mental derangement and which ultimately led to his death. His handwritten estate was handed over to the Berlin State Library in 1892. Since 1837 he was a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg .

Wilken wrote, among other things, writings on Arabic and Persian history. In 1805 his grammar and chrestomathy of the Persian language appeared . His most important work is the seven-part, 4,885 pages and two folding maps comprehensive history of the crusades according to morning and occidental reports (1807-1832). Among the German historians, Wilken was the first to use documents and reports in Arabic in the historiography of the Crusades and who translated, interpreted and had them reprinted in whole or in part in his works. Because of the rich source material, his work has remained a useful pillar in research on the Crusades to this day, although it has largely been interpreted by modern historiography. His Handbook of German History , the first part of which appeared in 1810, remained unfinished. Wilken was also an avid member of the Prussian senior censorship board.

Friedrich Wilken died on Christmas Eve at the age of 63 in Berlin. He was buried in the cemetery of the Dorotheenstädtische and Friedrichswerder parishes on Chausseestrasse . The grave has not been preserved.

family

Friedrich Wilken was married to the illustrator Caroline geb. Tischbein (1783–1843), a daughter of the painter Johann Friedrich August Tischbein (1750–1812). There were four children from the marriage:

  • Sophie Maria Elisabeth Julie Frederike Pinder b. Wilken (1807–1882), married to Moritz Pinder
  • Friedrich Wilken (1811–1883), garden inspector in Sanssouci , Potsdam
  • Sulpiz Wilken (1815–1878), court gardener in Paretz
  • Elisabeth von Pochhammer, b. Wilken (1818–1899), married to Edmund von Pochhammer, son of Wilhelm von Pochhammer (Lieutenant General)

Works

  • Commentatio de bellorum cruciatorum ex Abulfedae historia , 1798.
  • Grammar and Chrestomathy of the Persian Language , 1805.
  • Handbook of German History . First department. Mohr and Zimmermann, Heidelberg 1810, 236 pages, online .
  • History of the formation, robbery and destruction of the old Heidelberg book collections - A contribution to the history of literature, primarily of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries . Heidelberg 1817.
  • History of the Royal Library of Berlin . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1828, 242 pages, online .
  • The three periods of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences and King Friedrich II as a historian (1835)
  • History of the Crusades according to Eastern and Western accounts . 7 parts (8 books), Leipzig 1807–1832.
    • Part One: Establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem . Crusius, Leipzig 1807, online .
    • Second part: The kingdom of Jerusalem and the struggles of the Christians against the infidels up to the loss of the county of Edessa and the crusade of the kings Konrad III. and Louis VII in 1146 . Vogel, Leipzig 1813, online .
    • Third part. First department. Third book: The crusade of the Germans and French under Conrad III. and Louis VII . Vogel, Leipzig 1817, online .
    • Third part. Second division. Fourth book: The struggles of the Christians against Nureddin and Saladin up to the loss of Jerusalem in 1187 . Vogel, Leipzig 1819, online .
    • Fourth part: The crusade of the Emperor Frederick I and the Kings Philip Augustus of France and Richard of England , online .
    • Fifth part: The crusade of Emperor Henry VI. and the conquest of Constantinople . Vogel, Leipzig 1929, online .
    • Sixth part: History of cruises to the promised land during the first half of the thirteenth century . Vogel, Leipzig 1830, online .
    • Seventh part. First department. The crusades of King Louis the Saint and the loss of the holy land . Vogel, Leipzig 1832, online .
    • Seventh part. Second division. The crusades of King Louis the Saint and the loss of the holy land . Vogel, Leipzig 1832, 496 pages, online .
  • About the constitution, the origin and the history of the Afghans. Treatises of the historical-philological class of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences 1818-19 . Berlin 1820.
  • Institutiones ad fundamenta linguae persicae cum chrestomathia maximam partem ex auctoribus ineditis collecta et glossario locupleti . Leipzig 1805.
  • History of the sultans from the Bhjeh family to Mirchond . Academy of Sciences Berlin 1835, Berlin 1837.
  • Andronikus Komnenus, in: Historisches Taschenbuch, 4 Bde., Ed. v. Friedrich Raumer, Leipzig 1830–1833.
  • (Mohammedis filii Chavendschahi vulgo Mirchondi) Historia Gasnevidarum. Persice. Ex codicibus Berolinensibus aliisque nunc primum edidit lectionis varietate instruxit Latine vertit annotationibusque historicis . Berlin 1832.
  • (Mohammedis filii Chavendschahi vulgo Mirchondi) Historia Samanidarum. Persice. E codice bibliothecae Gottingensis nunc primum edidit, interpretatione Latina, annotationibus historicis et indicibus illustravit . Göttingen 1808.
  • On the history of Berlin and its inhabitants up to the beginning of the seventeenth century . In: Historical-genealogical calendar on the common year 1820, Berlin 1819.
  • On the history of Berlin and its residents under the government of King Friedrich Wilhelm I. In: Historisch-genealogischer Kalender auf das Gemein-Jahr 1822, Berlin 1821.
  • On the history of Berlin and its inhabitants under the government of King Friedrich Wilhelm I. In: Historisch-genealogischer Kalender auf das Gemein-Jahr 1823, Berlin 1822.
  • History of the royal library in Berlin . Leipzig 1828
  • About the parties of the racetrack, primarily in the Byzantine Empire . In: Historisches Taschenbuch, Leipzig 1830.
  • Paul Ludwig Courier . In: Historisches Taschenbuch, Leipzig 1830.
  • The three periods of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and Frederick II as a historian. Two academic speeches . Leipzig 1835.

literature

  • Friedrich Wilken . In: Allgemeine Zeitung No. 12 of January 12, 1841, supplement, pp. 89-96.
  • Directory of Dr. Friedrich Wilken, Royal. Go Government councilor, senior librarian and professor at the University of Berlin bequeathed library, which in Berlin in mid-May d. J. are to be auctioned . Unger, Berlin 1841
  • A. Thorbecke: Friedrich Wilken . In: Baden biographies . Second part, Bassermann, Heidelberg 1875, pp. 488-491 digitized
  • Adolf Stoll: The historian Friedrich Wilken . Cassel 1894–1896 (annual report. Königliches Friedrichs-Gymnasium zu Cassel) Digitized
  • Adolf Stoll: The historian Friedrich Wilken. With an appendix containing notes by Karoline Wilken, geb. Tischbein, about her father Johann Friedrich August Tischbein and her own youth, as well as 5 portraits . S. Fischer, Cassel 1896
  • A. Stoll:  Wilcken, Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 236-241.
  • Reaching into the history of the Prussian State Library - Friedrich Wilken 1777–1840 . In: Mitteilungen Volume 22, 1990, Heft 2, S.?.
  • Werner Schochow: Friedrich Wilken (1777-1840) . In: Messages. State Library of Prussian Cultural Heritage . Volume 22, 2, 1990, pp. 165-168 ISSN  0038-8866
  • Friedhilde Krause: On the 150th anniversary of Friedrich Wilken's death . In: House journal of the Berlin State Library, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation ISSN  0233-2477 vol. 34, 1990, issue 4, p. 54

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Markus Huttner : Historical societies and the emergence of historical seminars - on the beginnings of institutionalized history studies at the German universities of the 19th century , in: Matthias Middel / Gabriele Lingelbach / Frank Hadler (eds.): Historical institutes in international comparison (history science und Geschichtskultur im 20. Jahrhundert, Vol. 3), Leipzig 2001, pp. 39–82, here especially p. 47.
  2. ^ Members of the previous academies. Friedrich Wilken. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences , accessed on June 28, 2015 .
  3. ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. Friedrich Wilken. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed August 11, 2015 .
  4. ^ Heinrich Hubert Houben : Forbidden literature from the classical period to the present. A critical-historical encyclopedia about banned books, magazines and plays, writers and publishers . Volume 2, E. Rowohlt, Berlin 1924
  5. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 . P. 106.
personal data
SURNAME Wilken, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German librarian, historian and orientalist
DATE OF BIRTH May 23, 1777
PLACE OF BIRTH Ratzeburg
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 1840
Place of death Berlin