August Ludwig von Schlözer (5 July 1735, in Gaggstatt – 9 September 1809, in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

) was a German

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and pedagogist who laid foundations for the critical study of Russian medieval history. He was a member of the Göttingen school of history.

Early career

August Ludwig von Schlözer was born at Gaggstatt, Hohenlohe-Kirchberg (today Kirchberg an der Jagst),

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all were

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

clergymen. In 1751, he followed them and began his studies in

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

, moving in 1754 to the increasingly renowned

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

to study history. After his studies, in 1755 he went to work as a tutor in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, where he spent a year and a half as tutor in the family of the minister of the German congregation, and during 1756/1757 in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

, studying

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

and Gothic with the philologist Johan Ihre, then again in Stockholm as secretary of a German merchant. While in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

he wrote an ''Essay on the General History of Trade and of Seafaring in the Most Ancient Times'' (1758, in Swedish) on

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

ns, which together with a publication on Swedish history made him fairly well known. In 1759, he returned to

, where he began the study of

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

. In 1761, he went to St. Petersburg with Gerhardt Friedrich Müller, the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n historiographer, as Müller's literary assistant and as tutor in his family. Here Schlözer learned Russian and devoted himself to the study of Russian history. In 1762, a quarrel with Müller placed him in a position of some difficulty from which he was delivered by an introduction to Count Rasumovski, who procured his appointment as adjunct to the Academy. In 1765, he was appointed by the Empress Catherine an ordinary member of the Academy and professor of Russian history. In 1767, he was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

Return to Göttingen

In 1767, he left Russia on leave and did not return. He settled at Göttingen, where in 1764 he had been made ''professor extraordinarius'', and ''doctor honoris causa'' in 1766, and in 1769 he was promoted to an ordinary professorship. Schlözer was acknowledged a brilliant professor who drew crowds of students, among whom were Arnold Heeren, Karl Friedrich Eichhorn and Johannes von Müller. Schlözer had broad interests. He translated a pedagogical piece by the Frenchman La Chalotais in 1771, as well as a travel book about

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

for children and an introductory work on world history (''Vorbereitung zur Weltgeschichte für Kinder'', 1779). Schlözer criticised harshly Johann Bernhard Basedow, a then famous pedagogue, for his education approach using games and for his separation of girls and boys education. Schlözer's activity was enormous, and he exercised great influence by his lectures as well as by his books, bringing historical study into touch with

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

generally, and using his vast erudition in an attempt to solve practical questions in the state and in society. Schlözer was interested in politics and

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

. He was a proponent of

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...

and

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal so ...

. Statistics were also important to him for their informational value for government. His exchange of ideas about the study of people and society with Adam F. Kollár in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

helped Kollár to clarify his own approach, incorporate and broaden some of Schlözer's views and eventually coin the term ''ethnology'' and provide its first definition in 1783. Between 1776 and 1782, he had his own political periodical: ''A.L. Schlözer's Briefwechsel meist historischen und politischen Inhalts'' (10 vols.); continued between 1782 and 1793 with the name ''A.L. Schlözer's Staats-Anzeigen'' (18 vols.) by which he produced a strong impression. This periodical criticised the German government harshly, and was widely read with up to 4400 subscribers. It was first in German to publish the declaration of human rights in 1791. In 1793, the government prohibited the publication of the ''Staats-Anzeigen''. Schlözer was a versatile

giving lectures on a range of issues including

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

, the Dutch revolution,

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s, the French Revolution (already in 1790), luxury, and the history of Germans in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, while continuing publishing on

Russian history The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs. The traditional start date of specifically Russian history is the establishment of the Rus' people, Rus' state in the north in the year 862, ruled by Varangians. In 882, Prin ...

. His ''Allgemeine nordische Geschichte'' (General northern history), 2 vols. (Halle, 1772) was long considered a reference work on Russian history. He translated the famous Nestor Chronicle to the year 980, 5 vols. (Göttingen, 1802–1809). In 1769 he started lecturing on general world history, a topic reserved to the most educated in that time. The growing knowledge of other continents and the past posed a challenge to historians. How to compress all this information in history books in an understandable way? And what are the criteria for selecting and sorting information? In other words, scholars sought fundamental threads in history. Hundreds of articles and books addressed this question in the second half of the 18th century, drawing famous intellectuals including Herder and Schiller. Schlözer contributed to these discussions and published his ''Vorstellung einer Universalgeschichte'' in 1772. He continued to improve this piece in the following decades, until finalising the ''Weltgeschichte nach ihren Haupttheilen im Auszug und Zusammenhange'' (''Main elements of world history in excerpts and context''), 2 vols (2nd ed., Göttingen, 1792–1801).

World History

The ''Weltgeschichte'' (World History) provides guidance for education. Parts of this piece appear unfinished and it sometimes has a halting style. Some of its ideas are outdated. However, other ideas have more substance, one of which is globally applied until today as we will see in the following. The ''Weltgeschichte'' offers insight on the state of science at that time. Schlözer tackled three challenges: the scope, the topic and the structure of a global history. Since Schlözer opposed a strictly European perspective, the scope was the entire mankind. Moreover, he included all classes of society and social and cultural developments. The development of glass by the

ns and the introduction of potatoes in Europe were more important than the names of the Chinese or German emperors. The central topic was development and the influence of historical events on today. Schlözer identified five fundamental factors for development: "Die Lebensart bestimmt, Klima und Nahrungsart erschafft, der Herrscher zwingt, der Priester lehrt, und das Beispiel reisst fort". (Schlözer, ''Weltgeschichte I'', 66) – "The life-style determines, climate and nutrition creates, the sovereign forces, the priest teaches, and the example inspires." Schlözer also developed a structure for a

universal history Universal history may refer to: * Universal history (genre), a literary genre **''Jami' al-tawarikh'', 14th-century work of literature and history, produced by the Mongol Ilkhanate in Persia ** Universal History (Sale et al), ''Universal History'' ...

, separating it in six epochs: *''Urwelt'' (primeval world) – from the creation to the

Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

*''Dunkle Welt'' (dark world) – from the flood to

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

and the first written sources *''Vorwelt'' (preworld) – up to the

Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the larg ...

*''Alte Welt'' (old world) – up to the fall of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

in 476 AD *''Mittelalter'' (Middle Ages) – up to the discovery of

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

in 1492 *''Neue Welt'' (the new world) – up to the present This classification was not new, except for setting the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

between 476 and 1492, which he as well as his colleague and rival in Göttingen Johann Christoph Gatterer suggested roughly at the same time. These time borders for the Middle Ages are still accepted today. Schlözer's most important innovation, however, was his suggestion to count backwards from the birth of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. An incentive for this was the growing disbelief of the biblical Creation and the then generally acknowledged creation date of 3987 BC. First speculations that the Sun and the Earth were perhaps created tens of thousands of years ago emerged in the 18th century. Schlözer's suggestion offered room for further theories about the creation of the Earth. Schlözer mentioned in a footnote that he adopted this idea from foreign historians, but did not reveal them. Whoever they were, Schlözer was the one to introduce this novel chronology into the European history, an act of tremendous importance for it was the fundamental for all ancient history. According to the philosopher

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century. Her work ...

, this new method enabled man to look back "into an indefinite past to which one can add at will and into which we can inquire further as it stretches ahead". August Ludwig von Schlözer was instrumental in abandoning Creation beliefs of our collective consciousness, more than anybody else. In 1804, Schlözer was ennobled by the emperor

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (, ; – ), nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russian Empire, Russia during the chaotic perio ...

and made a privy councillor. He retired from active work in 1805. He was much admired by the new Russian historiographer Nikolai Karamzin, while the professors Mikhail Kachenovsky and Mikhail Pogodin proclaimed themselves Schlozer's followers.

Family life

Schlözer, who in 1769 married Caroline Friederike Roederer, daughter of Johann Georg Roederer (1726–1763), professor of medicine at Göttingen and body physician to the king of England, left five children. His daughter Dorothea, born on 10 August 1770, was one of the most beautiful and learned women of her time, and received in 1787 the degree of doctor. She was recognized as an authority on several subjects, especially on Russian

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

age. After her marriage with Rodde, a burgomaster of

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

, she devoted herself to domestic duties. She died on 12 July 1825 (see Reuter, ''Dorothea Schlözer'', Göttingen, 1887). Schlözer's son Christian (1774–1831) was a professor at Bonn, and published ''Anfangsgründe der Staatswirthschaft'' (1804–1806) and his father's ''Öffentliches und Privat-Leben aus Originalurkunden'' (1828). The youngest son, Karl von Schlözer, a merchant and Russian consul-general at

, was the father of Kurd von Schlözer (1822–1894), the historian and diplomatist, who in 1871 was appointed German ambassador to the United States and in 1882 to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

, when he was instrumental in healing the breach between Germany and the papacy caused by the May Laws.

Publications

* August Ludwig von Schlözer: ''Vorbereitung zur WeltGeschichte für Kinder. Ein Buch für Kinderlehrer.'' Hrsg. von Marko Demantowsky und Susanne Popp, Göttingen, 2011. . * August Ludwig von Schlözer: ''Hecтopъ. Russische Annalen in ihrer Slavonischen Grund–Sprache''. (Göttingen, 1802–1809).

On Schlözer

* Han F. Vermeulen: 'From the Field to the Study. A. L. Schlözer and the Invention of Ethnology'. In: Han F. Vermeulen: ''Before Boas. the genesis of ethnography and ethnology in the German Enlightenment''. Lincoln & London, University of Nebraska Press, 2016. * Martin Peters: ''Altes Reich und Europa. Der Historiker, Statistiker und Publizist August Ludwig (v.) Schlözer (1735–1809)''. Lit, Münster u. a. 2003, (zugl. Dissertation der Universität Marburg, 2000).

Notes

References

* This work in turn cites: ** Zermelo, ''August Ludwig Schlözer'' (Berlin, 1875) ** Wesendonck, ''Die Begründung der neuern deutschen Geschichtsschreibung durch Gatterer und Schlözer'' (Leipzig, 1876) ** *

External links

Scans of Schlözer's ''Stats-Anzeigen''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlozer, August Ludwig von 1735 births 1809 deaths People from Schwäbisch Hall (district) German Protestants 18th-century German historians 18th-century historians from the Russian Empire Uppsala University alumni People from the Duchy of Württemberg Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences German male non-fiction writers