Wilhelm von Giesebrecht

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WvGiesebrecht, engraving by Wilhelm Krauskopf
Wilhelm von Giesebrecht

Friedrich Wilhelm Benjamin Giesebrecht , from 1865 von Giesebrecht (born March 5, 1814 in Berlin , † December 18, 1889 in Munich ) was a German historian .

Life

Wilhelm Giesebrecht, a grandson of Pastor Benjamin Giesebrecht (1741–1827) from Mirow , was born as the son of high school professor Carl Giesebrecht (1782–1832). He attended the Joachimsthaler Gymnasium in Berlin and initially devoted himself to philological studies , later inspired by Leopold Ranke's historical lectures, to historical studies. He joined the Historical Society of Rankes and supplied the "History of Otto II. " To the "Yearbooks of the History of Germany under the Saxon Emperors" published by the latter under Ranke's direction .

As the first independent work restoring the lost, but in fragments present in a large number of positions of the remaining medieval historian "Yearbooks of appeared monastery Altaich " ( Annales Altahenses ). The retrieval of the Altaich annals in 1870 in the estate of Johannes Aventinus by Freiherr Edmund von Oefele ("Mon. Germ., Script.", XX, 772 ff .; translated by Weiland, Berlin 1871) confirmed Giesebrecht's reconstruction.

In the meantime he had been appointed head teacher at the Joachimsthal Gymnasium. As the fruits of a long stay in Italy , the treatise "De litterarum studio apud Italos medii aevi" (Berlin 1845) and several thorough essays on the authenticity and credibility of the medieval life descriptions of the popes appeared. He provided a translation of the Franconian history of Bishop Gregor von Tours in 1851. From 1855 Giesebrecht worked on the scholar committee of the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg for the subject: Imperial and imperial history from the 10th to 13th centuries.

After more than 20 years of preparatory work, he proceeded to the elaboration of his main work, the "History of the German Imperial Era" (Braunschweig 1855 ff), which had reached the year 1164 with the 5th volume published in 1880, while the first two volumes already had the 5th edition had experienced.

Above all, the first volume, published in 1855, was widely acclaimed for its popular narrative style and thorough research. The other volumes are also characterized by a conscientious analysis of the sources and ingenious characteristics, even if they sometimes go into too much detail and instead of taking their own standpoint simply reproduce the different views on issues.

Giesebrecht was appointed full professor of history in Königsberg in 1857 and received the prize donated for the celebration of the Verdun Treaty. In 1862, after Heinrich von Sybel's departure, he followed a call to Munich as a professor of history , where he was appointed permanent secretary of the Historical Commission and, in 1865, was promoted to the nobility by being awarded the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown . A collection of academic speeches was published under the title "Deutsche Reden" (Leipzig 1871). In 1874 he took over the management of the “European History of States”, which had previously been started by Arnold Heeren and Friedrich August Ukert , for the publishing house of F. A. Perthes in Gotha.

Honors

In 1859 he received the Verdun Prize and in 1865 the Bavarian Maximilian Order . Berlin's Giesebrechtstrasse has been named in honor of the historian since 1904 . In Charlottenburg, the street runs from Kurfürstendamm on Olivaer Platz to Wilmersdorfer Straße; Other streets in the area have been named after historians, such as Ranke, Sybel and Mommsen.

Fonts

Title page of the first edition of the “History of the German Imperial Era” (Volume 1, Braunschweig 1855) by Wilhelm Giesebrecht
  • Yearbooks of the German Empire under the rule of Emperor Otto II (3 volumes), Berlin 1840.
  • Annales Altahenses. Berlin 1841.
  • Roman communications on the history of the Wendenland. A letter. In: Baltic Studies. Volume 11, Issue 1, Stettin 1845, pp. 1–21 ( digitized version , Google); Addendum ( digitized version , Google).
  • History of the German Imperial Era.
    • Volume 1: History of the Tenth Century. Braunschweig 1855 ( digitized , Google); 2nd edition, 1st volume: Foundation of the Empire. Braunschweig 1860 ( digitized , Google).
    • Volume 2: Blossom of the Empire. Braunschweig 1857 ( digitized , Google).
    • Volume 3: The Empire in Struggle with the Papacy. ( Digitized version ),
      • 1st part: elevation of the papacy. Braunschweig 1862 ( digitized , Google).
      • Part 2: Heinrich V. Sources and Evidence. Braunschweig 1865; 3rd edition 1869 ( digitized , Google).
    • 4th volume: Staufer and Welfen. Braunschweig 1872–1874; 2. Ed. 1877 ( digitized ).
    • Volume 5: The time of Emperor Frederick the Redbeard. Braunschweig 1880 ( digitized version )
      • 1st department: New upswing in the empire under Friedrich I.
      • 2nd division: Frederick I fights against Alexander III, the Lombard League and Heinrich the Lion.
    • Volume 6: The Last Times of Emperor Frederick the Redbeard. Along with notes and registers for Volumes 5 and 6, ed. u. gone by B. von Simson. Leipzig 1895 ( digitized ).
  • Charlemagne. Leipzig 1885.

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Wilhelm von Giesebrecht  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Giesebrechtstrasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )
personal data
SURNAME Giesebrecht, Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Giesebrecht, Friedrich Wilhelm Benjamin von (full name); Giesebrecht, Friedrich Wilhelm Benjamin; Giesebrecht, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1814
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 1889
Place of death Munich