Jakob Wegelin (historian)

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Jakob Daniel Wegelin (born June 19, 1721 in St. Gallen ; † September 7, 1791 in Berlin ) was a Swiss historian , Protestant theologian and philosopher . From 1765 he worked as a professor of history at the Knight Academy in Berlin.

Life

Wegelin was born in St. Gallen in 1721 as the son of the local hospital clerk Daniel Wegelin. The father died shortly after the birth and Wegelin was raised by his mother and stepfather Laurenz von Zollikofer. He attended the Latin school in St. Gallen and was appointed court master in Bern in 1741 after completing his studies . In 1743 he returned to his hometown, passed a theology exam and was accepted as a candidate for the ministry. The board of directors of the merchants appointed him a future preacher of the French church. He then lived in Vevey from 1744 to 1746 to learn the French language . From 1747 he worked as the second preacher at the French community in St. Gallen and continued his studies alongside this activity. A year later, he was also given the office of registrar of the city library. After working as an assistant to a professor of philosophy and the Latin language at the grammar school in St. Gallen from 1757 , he became his successor in 1759.

The Swiss philosopher Johann Georg Sulzer met Wegelin on a trip to Winterthur and, on his return to Berlin , suggested him to King Friedrich II as a professor of history at the Knight Academy. Wegelin accepted the offer and moved to Berlin with his family in April 1765. In his first year as a professor in Berlin, he was also appointed archivist at the Academy of Sciences . In 1766 he was elected a full member of the Academy.

From 1750 Wegelin was married to Sabina Elisabetha Täschler, the daughter of a St. Gallen preacher, with whom he had six children. After contracting a fever in the summer of 1791, he died of a stroke in September of the same year .

plant

Wegelin initially wrote primarily religious and moral writings. During his time in Berlin he concentrated on historical research and worked, among other things, on a large-scale “ Histoire universelle et diplomatique ” for eight years , of which only the first six volumes were published due to a lack of readership. His “speculation, which at times ventures too far” and “too generously communicated [r] wealth [...] of political and moral maxims” was criticized. On the other hand, his “ Letters on the Value of History ” from 1783 and his historical-philosophical studies influenced by Isaak Iselin , “ Mémoires sur la philosophie de l'histoire ”, were more important.

Selection of his works:

  • The last conversations between Socratis and his friends . Zurich 1760.
  • Religious conversations of the dead . Lindau 1763.
  • Political and Moral Considerations on the Spartan Legislation of the Lycurgus . Lindau 1763.
  • Considérations sur les principes moraux et caractéristiques des Gouvernements . Berlin 1766.
  • Caractères historiques des Empereurs depuis Auguste jusqu'au Maximin . 2 vols. Berlin 1768.
  • Histoire universelle et diplomatique . Vol. 1 and 2, Berlin 1776, Vol. 3 and 4, Berlin 1777, Vol. 5 and 6, Berlin 1780.
  • Letters on the worth of history . Berlin 1783.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Swiss Lexicon . Vol. 6, 1993.
  2. ↑ Johannes Dierauer:  Wegelin, Jakob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 41, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, p. 423 f.
  3. ↑ Swiss Lexicon . Vol. 6, 1993.
  4. ↑ Walter Killy (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia . Vol. 10, 1999; Swiss Lexicon . Vol. 6, 1993.
personal data
SURNAME Wegelin, Jakob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wegelin, Jakob Daniel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss historian, Protestant theologian and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1721
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Gallen
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1791
Place of death Berlin