Heinrich Fichtenau

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Heinrich Fichtenau (born December 10, 1912 in Linz , † June 15, 2000 in Vienna ) was an Austrian historian and diplomat . His two most important works were the document system in Austria from the 8th to the early 13th century and the life orders of the 10th century .

Live and act

Heinrich Fichtenau was the only child of the civil servant Heinrich von Fichtenau and Maria von Fichtenau, b. Schachermeyr, a sister of the ancient historian Fritz Schachermeyr . From 1931 he studied history and art history in Vienna and completed his three-year training at the Institute for Austrian Historical Research in 1935 . In 1936 he became Hans Hirsch's assistant in the edition of Konrad III's diplomas . for the Monumenta Germaniae Historica . In the state examination thesis he devoted himself to Gerhoch von Reichersberg . He received his doctorate in Vienna for a thesis on sovereignty in the Dauphiné and in Savoy . Drafted into the Wehrmacht in June 1940, he managed to complete his habilitation on man and writing in the Middle Ages under the most adverse conditions in 1942 . In May 1942 he completed his habilitation during a short vacation. After two more years of war in Ukraine, he was “indispensable” in 1944 and witnessed the collapse in Vienna in 1945.

At the instigation of Leo Santifaller , Fichtenau was appointed associate professor for medieval history at the University of Vienna in 1950. From 1962 until his retirement in 1983 he was full professor for medieval history and historical auxiliary sciences and at the same time head of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. In 1979 he received the Wilhelm Hartel Prize and in 1986 the Culture Prize of the Province of Upper Austria . In 1989 he was awarded the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art . In 1962 he became a corresponding member of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, in 1969 a member of the Medieval Academy of America and in 1970 he became a member of the British Academy . From 1962 to 1983 he was head of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research .

The Fichtenau grave at the cemetery in Baden near Vienna .

Fichtenau was the author of numerous fundamental monographs and essays both on history and on the historical auxiliary sciences. His account of the Carolingian Empire , published in 1949, has been translated into English (1957), Italian, and French (1958). It was characteristic of Fichtenau to exemplify history with anecdotes and always to understand it as historical anthropology , which says a lot about human ways of thinking and behavior.

Fonts

Monographs

  • Man and writing in the Middle Ages (= publications by the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Volume 5). Universum, Vienna 1946.
  • Basics of the history of the Middle Ages (= universe library of knowledge. Volume 23). Universum, Vienna 1947.
  • The Carolingian Empire. Social and spiritual problems of a great empire. Fretz & Wasmuth, Zurich and Geitner, Vienna 1949 (English under the title The Carolingian Empire: The Age of Charlemagne. Translated by Peter Munz . Toronto, London 1957).
  • with Erich Zöllner : Document book on the history of the Babenbergs in Austria. Part 1 and 2. Holzhausen, Vienna 1950 and 1955.
  • Arenga. Late antiquity and the Middle Ages as reflected in document formulas (= communications from the Institute for Austrian Historical Research . Supplementary volume 18). Böhlau, Graz et al. 1957.
  • The document system in Austria from the 8th to the early 13th century (= communications from the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Supplementary volume 23). Böhlau, Vienna et al. 1971.
  • Orders of life of the 10th century. Studies on the way of thinking and existence in the former Carolingian Empire. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1984, reprint: dtv. Science series. Volume 4577, Munich 1992 (English under the title Living in the Tenth Century: Mentalities and Social Orders. Translated by Patrick J. Geary . Chicago, London 1991).
  • Heretics and professors. Heresy and Faith in Reason in the High Middle Ages. Munich 1992 (English under the title Heretics and Scholars in the High Middle Ages, 1000–1200. Translated by Denise A. Kaiser. Philadelphia 1998).

literature

  • Fichtenau, Heinrich. In: Fritz Fellner , Doris A. Corradini: Austrian History in the 20th Century. A biographical-bibliographical lexicon (= publications of the Commission for Modern History of Austria. Volume 99). Böhlau, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-205-77476-0 , p. 121 f.
  • Winfried Stelzer : Heinrich Fichtenau †. In: Communications from the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. 109, 2001, pp. 272-284.
  • Othmar Hageneder : Heinrich Fichtenau. In: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Almanach 150 for 1999/2000, 2000, pp. 443–456.
  • Andreas Schwarcz, Katharina Kaska (eds.): Documents, writings, rules of life. New contributions to medieval studies. Lectures at the annual conference of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Heinrich Fichtenau (1912–2000). Vienna, 13. – 15. December 2012 (= publications of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. Volume 63). Böhlau, Vienna 2015, ISBN 3-205-79633-0 .
  • Herwig Wolfram : funeral speech on Heinrich Fichtenau. In: Communications from the Institute for Austrian Historical Research. 109, 2001, pp. 1–3 ( online ( memento of March 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )).
  • Alfred Hoffmann: Dr. Heinrich Fichtenau. In: Upper Austrian homeland sheets . Linz 1947 ( online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Thomas Winkelbauer: Heinrich Fichtenau as head of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research (1962–1983). In: Andreas Schwarcz, Katharina Kaska (eds.): Documents, writings, rules of life. New contributions to medieval studies. Lectures at the annual conference of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Heinrich Fichtenau (1912–2000). Vienna, 13. – 15. December 2012. Vienna 2015, pp. 311–336.
personal data
SURNAME Fichtenau, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian historian
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Linz
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 2000
Place of death Vienna