Colmar Grünhagen (2 April 1828 - 27 July 1911) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

and

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 race; as well as the stu ...

. Almost all of his considerable published output concerns the

History of Silesia In the second half of the 2nd millennium B.C. (late Bronze Age), Silesia belonged to the Lusatian culture. About 500 BC Scyths arrived, and later Celts in the South and Southwest. During the 1st century BC Silingi and other Germanic people set ...

Life and works

Colmar Grünhagen was born in Trebnitz (as Trzebnica was then known) and grew up in Breslau (as Wrocław was known) before 1944/45. His father was an

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Ameri ...

. Between 1841 and 1847 he was a pupil initially at Breslau's St. Maria Magdalena Gymnasium (secondary school) and then at the Elizabeth Gymnasium (secondary school). On completing his schooling he moved on to study

Classical Philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

. He moved again to pursue his studies at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

where he was influenced by

Leopold von Ranke Leopold von Ranke (; 21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) was a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis of ...

. During 1850 he studied briefly at the

University of Breslau A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

before moving on again, this time to the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

. Between 1851 and 1853 he was able to combine his university studies with teaching work at secondary schools in Breslau. Meanwhile, it was from the

that on 21 December 1850 Grünhagen received his doctorate for a piece of work on the

pontiff A pontiff (from Latin ''pontifex'') was, in Roman antiquity, a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term "pontiff" was late ...

who famously (for historians) launched the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...

with a powerful sermon preached on a hillside just outside Clermont on 27 November 1095,

Pope Urban II Pope Urban II ( la, Urbanus II; – 29 July 1099), otherwise known as Odo of Châtillon or Otho de Lagery, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening th ...

. In March 1851 Grünhagen passed his secondary school teaching exams (''"Oberlehrerexamen"'') in Breslau. At Easter 1853 he began work as a teaching assistant at the Friedrichs-Gymnasium (secondary school) in the city, becoming a full teacher there a few months later. Following his

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

from the

in 1855, he took a university position as a

teacher (''" ...als Privatdozent"''). In 1860 he published "Henrucus Pauper", described as a book of accounts for the city of Breslau between 1299 and 1358, using city records and other historical sources: the work comprised the third volume in the "Codex diplomaticus Silesiae" series. It was not until after he had resigned from the city's schools service, however, that on 11 March 1862 he succeeded

Wilhelm Wattenbach Wilhelm Wattenbach (22 September 181920 September 1897), was a German historian. He was born at Rantzau in Holstein. He studied philology at the universities of Bonn, Göttingen and Berlin, and in 1843 he began to work upon the ''Monumenta Ge ...

as head of the Silesian Regional Archive (renamed "Silesian state/national archive" in 1867). For nearly forty years, until 1 April 1901, he remained in the post. During this period he received the titles of " Archivrat" in 1873 and "Geheim Archivrat" (''very loosely, "Privy Archives Secretary"'') in 1885. The prestigious titles dated back to the late medieval period, but the core responsibilities of the head of the archives department appear to have remained broadly constant. He combined this and other positions with the editorship of the journal of the Silesian Historical Association (''"Verein für Geschichte und Alterthum Schlesiens"'') between 1863 and 1905. Through his long tenure in these positions and as a result of the impressive quantity and detail of his output on Silesian history, Grünhagen became highly influential in his chosen specialist field, as well as with the Historical Association and the historian community more broadly. On 18 December 1866 he accepted an extraordinary professorship in

from the

, where he continued to teach until 1911. In 1871 Colmar Grünhagen was elected to the presidency of the Silesian Historical Association, retaining this position until 1905, following which he retained the title of honorary president. He also became an honorary member of the Silesian Society for Homeland Culture and, in 1868, a board member with the Silesian Museum for Arts and Antiquities, which he later chaired.

Works

As editor, Grünhagen contributed extensively to the journal of the Silesian Historical Association. He was also a regular contributor to the Feuilleton (arts and literature) section of the Breslaauer Zeitung, the Preußische Jahrbücher, the Zeitschrift für Preußische Geschichte und Landeskunde and other historical periodicals.

Published output (selection)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grünhagen, Colmar 19th-century German historians German archivists Academic staff of the University of Breslau 1828 births 1911 deaths