Harald Zimmermann (historian)

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Harald Zimmermann at the conference "The Teutonic Order in Burzenland (1211–1225)" in Bad Kissingen in October 2010 .

Harald Volkmar Zimmermann (born September 12, 1926 in Budapest , Hungary ; † March 19, 2020 in Tübingen ) was a German historian of Transylvanian-Saxon origin.

Zimmermann held chairs for medieval history at the Saarland University in Saarbrücken (1968–1978) and at the University of Tübingen (1978–1994). Through numerous fundamental works, he became one of the best experts on medieval papal history, such as the history of the popes. For the Monumenta Germaniae Historica he earned lasting services as editor of the works of the late medieval theologian and historian Thomas Ebendorfer .

Life

The family can be traced back to the year 1563. His grandfather was a furrier in Kronstadt . His parents were the civil servant Rudolf Oskar Zimmermann and Alina Emilie, née Teutsch. Harald Zimmermann attended elementary school and grammar school in Vienna and in 1944 passed the high school diploma at Vienna III grammar school. From 1946 to 1949 he studied Protestant theology at the University of Vienna . In 1949 he passed the theological exam in Vienna. From 1950 to 1953 he completed the 46th training course at the Institute for Austrian Historical Research in Vienna. There he was promoted to Dr. theol. PhD. From 1949 to 1954 he studied history and art history in Vienna. In 1952 he was awarded a Dr. phil. PhD. In 1953/1954 he received a grant from the German Research Foundation and worked on the commission for the processing of the Regesta Imperii at the Austrian Academy of Sciences . From 1967 to 1968 he was a substitute professor at Saarbrücken University . In 1961 he received his habilitation for medieval history at the University of Vienna. In January 1962 he was appointed university lecturer. From 1962 to 1967 he was a scientific official at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.

Zimmermann was a full professor for medieval history in Saarbrücken from 1968 to 1978 . From 1978 he taught Medieval and Modern History in Tübingen as a full professor until his retirement in 1994 . In his inaugural lecture in Tübingen on January 29, 1980, he devoted himself to the reasons why the Protestant church historian Johann Friedrich Gaab was concerned with the person of Pope Gregory VII. Important academic students of Zimmermann are Klaus Herbers , Knut Görich , Achim Thomas Hack and Hans-Henning Kortüm . From 1980 to 1982 he was Dean of the History Faculty of the University of Tübingen.

Zimmermann was accepted into numerous important scientific committees, so in 1949 he became a member of the Society for the History of Protestantism in Austria and was a member of the board from 1959 to 1965. He was a corresponding member of the philosophical-historical class abroad in the Austrian Academy of Sciences (1971), from 1977 a full (since 1979 corresponding) member of the commission for Saarland national history and folk research in Saarbrücken , corresponding member of the Istituto Superiore di Studi Matildici (1978 ), corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and full member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz (1972). For the Mainz Academy he was chairman of the Inscriptions Commission from 1977 to 2001, of the Regesten Commission from 1995 to 2004 and of the Historical Commission from 1999 to 2004.

Zimmermann had been a long-time participant in the conferences since 1957 and in October 1978 became a member of the Constance working group for medieval history . From 1991 to 1994 he was chairman of the working group. In 1986, Zimmermann and Reinhard Schneider initiated a conference of the Constance working group on Reichenau on elections in the Middle Ages . With Alexander Patschovsky he held a conference of the Constance working group on “Tolerance in the Middle Ages” in the autumn of 1994. In 1962 he became a founding member of the working group for Transylvanian cultural studies and was a member of the board from 1962 to 1991. From 1973 to 2008 he was a member of the central management of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH). After Horst Fuhrmann, Zimmermann founded a "new form of cooperation" between the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz and the MGH. It was agreed that a workstation for the publication of the Concilia of the 10th and 11th centuries would be set up at the Mainz Academy, but that the edition project would remain included in the overall planning of the MGH. In the 1970s, more academy jobs were set up based on the Mainz model. In 1987 he became the founding director of the Institute for Danube Swabian History and Regional Studies in Tübingen and headed it until 1992.

Zimmermann had been married since 1958. The marriage produced three daughters.

Research priorities

His main focus was on medieval history, especially the history of the Church and the Pope, the history of Southeast Europe, especially Hungary and Transylvania, and the history of Austrian Protestantism. His main scientific work are Die Papstregesten 911 to 1024 and the three-volume source edition Papal Documents 896 to 1046 . In later years his work focused on the edition of the historiographical work of the Austrian theologian and historian Thomas Ebendorfer , to whom his second dissertation on the ski treaty was dedicated. Zimmermann brought a project that had already been started by his academic teacher Alfons Lhotsky to a close. Lhotsky had edited Ebendorfers Chronica Austriae for MGH in 1967 . In 1994 Zimmermann published the Chronica pontificum Romanorum edition, which had over 760 pages, and the Chronica regum Romanorum nine years later, which had 1,360 pages . The Tractatus des schismatibus was edited in 2004, the Historia Jerusalemitana in 2006 and the Catalogus praesulum Laureacensium et Pataviensium in 2008. In 2010 he presented an edition of Ebendorf's Diarium sive Tractatus cum Boemis . This means that Ebendorf's most important historiographical works are available in critical editions of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica.

His numerous work on Canossa made Zimmermann a specialist in the Canusiner and its history. In 1975 he published a description of the walk to Canossa that became a standard work. In it he tried to determine the events concretely and followed the effects and evaluations of the processes up to the present. The Istituto Superiore di Studi Matildici was founded between 1977 and 1979 to mark the 900th anniversary of going to Canossa. During the festive founding act, Zimmermann examined the question of whether there was a Mathildic era in his lecture. After sketching the historical personality and role of the Margravine of Mathilde von Canossa, he answered the question in the affirmative.

Zimmermann was known for his many works as a proven expert on Transylvanian history. In 1991 Zimmermann gave the lecture in Frankfurt's Paulskirche on the occasion of the 850th anniversary of the settlement of the Transylvanian Saxons. He published a work on the Teutonic Order in Burzenland . In 2013 Zimmermann presented an edition on the archivist and editor of the Transylvanian document book Franz Zimmermann , who came from an old Transylvanian family . There was even a distant relationship with Franz Zimmermann.

Zimmermann wrote numerous articles for the Theological Real Encyclopedia , the Lexicon of the Middle Ages and in the Biographical-Bibliographical Church Lexicon .

Honors

Zimmermann has received numerous honors for his academic achievements, his commitment to German-Romanian relations and the culture and history of Germans in south-east Europe. In 1979 he became an honorary member of the Accademia Villa d'Este. The Universities of Klausenburg ( Cluj-Napoca ) (1991), Fünfkirchen (1999), Bucharest (2003) awarded him honorary doctorates . In 1994 he received the Transylvania-Saxon Culture Prize and in 1996 the Georg Dehio Prize of the Esslingen Artists' Guild . Also in 1996 he became an honorary member of the Society for the History of Protestantism in Austria. In 1998 he received the Baden-Württemberg Medal of Merit . In 2006 he was awarded the Golden Honorary Coat of Arms of the Transylvanian Landsmannschaft. In 2007 he became an honorary citizen ( cittadino onorario ) of Canossa ( della comune di Canossa ). On the occasion of his 80th birthday, a colloquium was held in Tübingen that dealt with recent research on the medieval papacy. The contributions were published in an anthology in 2008 together with other research on papal history from the 8th to 12th centuries. In 2018 he received the Constantin Brancoveanu Award from the Romanian Alexandrion Foundation.

Fonts (selection)

List of publications published in:

  • Harald Zimmermann: Under the spell of the Middle Ages. Selected contributions to church and legal history. Celebration for his 60th birthday. Published by Immo Eberl and Hans-Henning Kortüm . Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1986, ISBN 3-7995-7052-7 , pp. 217-222.
  • Klaus Herbers , Hans Henning Kortüm, Carlo Servatius (eds.): Ex ipsis rerum documentis. Contributions to Medieval Studies. Festschrift for Harald Zimmermann on his 65th birthday. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1991, ISBN 3-7995-7072-1 , pp. 631-635.
  • Harald Zimmermann: Transylvania and its Hospites Theutonici. Lectures and research on southeast German history. Ceremony for the 70th birthday ( writings on the regional studies of Transylvania. Vol. 20). Edited by Konrad Gündisch. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 1996, ISBN 3-412-12795-7 , pp. 313–322.

Monographs

  • The Teutonic Order in Burzenland. A diplomatic investigation (= Studia Transylvanica. Vol. 26). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2000, ISBN 3-412-10100-1 (2nd, revised edition as: The German Order in Transylvania. A diplomatic investigation. Ibid 2011, ISBN 978-3-412-20653-6 ).
  • The papacy in the Middle Ages. A papal story as reflected in historiography (= UTB 1151). Ulmer, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-8001-2501-3 .
  • The Canossagang of 1077. Effects and Reality (= Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz. Treatises of the humanities and social science class. Born 1975, No. 5). Academy of Sciences and Literature ao, Mainz et al. 1975, ISBN 3-515-01998-7 .
  • The dark century. A historical portrait. Styria, Graz 1971, (In Romanian: Veacul întunecat. Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, Bucharest 1983).
  • Papal appointments in the Middle Ages. Böhlau, Graz et al. 1968.
  • Ecclesia as an object of historiography. Studies on church historiography in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period (= Austrian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Class. Meeting reports. Bd. 235, Abh. 4, ISSN  0029-8832 ). Böhlau, Graz et al. 1960.

Editorships and editions

  • Franz Zimmermann: Zeitbuch. Autobiographical notes by an archivist from Sibiu (1875–1925) ( Writings on the regional studies of Transylvania. Vol. 34). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2013, ISBN 978-3-412-21025-0 .
  • Thomas Ebendorfer: Diarium sive Tractatus cum Boemis (1433-1436) (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores. 6: Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum. NS 25). Hahn, Hannover 2010, ISBN 978-3-7752-0225-1 .
  • Thomas Ebendorfer: Catalogus praesulum Laureacensium et Pataviensium (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores. 6: Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum. NS 22). After preliminary work by Paul Uiblein. Hahn, Hanover 2008, ISBN 978-3-7752-0222-0 .
  • Thomas Ebendorfer: Historia Jerusalemitana (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores. 6: Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum. NS 21). After preliminary work by Hildegard Schweigl, b. Bartelmäs. Hahn, Hannover 2006, ISBN 3-7752-0221-8 .
  • Thomas Ebendorfer: Tractatus de schismatibus (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores. 6: Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum. NS 20). Hahn, Hannover 2004, ISBN 3-7752-0220-X .
  • Thomas Ebendorfer: Chronica regum Romanorum (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores. 6: Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum. NS 18). 2 volumes. Hahn, Hannover 2003, ISBN 3-7752-0218-8 .
  • with Reinhard Schneider: Elections and voting in the Middle Ages (= lectures and research. Vol. 37). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1990, ISBN 3-7995-6637-6 ( online ).
  • Papal charter 896-1046. 3 volumes. Publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1984–1989;
    • Volume 1: 896–996 (= Austrian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Class. Memoranda. Volume 174 = Austrian Academy of Sciences. Publications of the Historical Commission. Volume 3). 1984, ISBN 3-7001-0655-6 (2nd, revised edition. 1988);
    • Volume 2: 996-1046 (= Austrian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Class. Memoranda. Volume 177 = Austrian Academy of Sciences. Publications of the Historical Commission. Volume 4). 1985, ISBN 3-7001-0718-8 (2nd, revised edition. 1989, ISBN 3-7001-0717-X );
    • Volume 3: Register (= Austrian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Class. Memoranda. Volume 198 = Austrian Academy of Sciences. Publications of the Historical Commission. Volume 5). 1989, ISBN 3-7001-1529-6 .
  • Otto the Great (= ways of research . Vol. 450). Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1976, ISBN 3-534-06749-5 .

literature

  • Fritz Fellner , Doris A. Corradini (Ed.): Austrian History in the 20th Century. A biographical-bibliographical lexicon (= publications of the Commission for Modern History of Austria. Vol. 99). Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2006, ISBN 3-205-77476-0 , p. 472 f.
  • Konrad Gündisch: Harald Zimmermann 70 years. In: Southeast German Archive. Vol. 38/39, 1995/1996, ISSN  0081-9085 , pp. 155-157.
  • Klaus Herbers, Hans Henning Kortüm, Carlo Servatius (eds.): Ex ipsis rerum documentis. Contributions to Medieval Studies. Festschrift for Harald Zimmermann on his 65th birthday. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1991, ISBN 3-7995-7072-1 .
  • Klaus Herbers: Certificate and customer. On the death of Harald Zimmermann. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 30, 2020, p. 13 ( online )
  • Walter König: Harald Zimmermann 60 years. In: Southeast German Archive. Vol. 28/29, 1985/1986, pp. 178-180.
  • Harald Zimmermann. In: Jörg Schwarz: The Constance Working Group for Medieval History 1951-2001. The members and their work. A bio-bibliographical documentation (= publications of the Constance Working Group for Medieval History on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary 1951–2001. Vol. 2). Edited by Jürgen Petersohn . Thorbecke, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-7995-6906-5 , pp. 443-451 ( digitized version ).
  • Zimmermann, Harald. In: Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar. Bio-bibliographical directory of contemporary German-speaking scientists. Volume 4: SE - Z. 26th edition. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-030257-8 , p. 4197.
  • Zimmermann, Harald. Who is who? The German Who's Who. LI. Edition 2013/14, p. 1268f.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Konrad Gündisch: A Transylvanian-Saxon friend: For the 90th birthday of Harald Zimmermann. In: Siebenbürgische Zeitung , September 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ Harald Zimmermann: On the fascination of papal history, especially among Protestants or Gregory VII and JF Gaab. In: Yearbook for the History of Protestantism in Austria 96 (1980), pp. 53–73.
  3. ↑ Member entry of Harald Zimmermann at the Academy of Sciences and Literature
  4. ↑ Traute Endemann : History of the Constance Working Group. Development and structures 1951–2001. Stuttgart 2001, p. 177 ( full text online ).
  5. ↑ Horst Fuhrmann: Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Report for 1973/74. In: German Archive for Research into the Middle Ages 30, 1974, pp. I – VIII, here: p. II ( online )
  6. ↑ Harald Zimmermann: The Canossagang of 1077. Effects and reality. Mainz et al. 1975. See the review by Friedrich Kempf in: Archivum Historiae Pontificiae 14, 1976, pp. 423-425.
  7. ↑ Harald Zimmermann: Is there a Mathildic epoch? In: Annali Canossani 1 (1981), pp. 4-8.
  8. ↑ Cf. the review by Ulrich Köpf in: Zeitschrift für bayerische Kirchengeschichte 82, 2013, 332–333.
  9. ^ Franz Zimmermann: Zeitbuch. Autobiographical notes by a Sibiu archivist (1875–1925). Cologne et al. 2013, p. 9, note 10.
  10. ↑ Wilfried Hartmann , Klaus Herbers (ed.): The fascination of the papal history. New approaches to the early and high Middle Ages. Cologne et al. 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-20220-0 .
personal data
SURNAME Zimmermann, Harald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zimmermann, Harald Volkmar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest , Hungary
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 2020
Place of death Tübingen