Ferdinand Gregorovius (19 January 1821, Neidenburg,

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

– 1 May 1891,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

) 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 race; as well as the st ...

who specialized in the

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

history of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Biography

Gregorovius was the son of Neidenburg district justice council Ferdinand Timotheus Gregorovius and his wife Wilhelmine Charlotte Dorothea Kausch. An earlier ancestor named Grzegorzewski had come to Prussia from Poland. Members of the Gregorovius family lived in Prussia for over 300 years, and produced many jurists, preachers and artists. One famous ancestor of Ferdinand's was Johann Adam Gregorovius, born 1681 in Johannisburg, district of Gumbinnen. Ferdinand Gregorovius was born at Neidenburg,

(now

Nidzica Nidzica (former pl, Nibork; ) (Old Prussian: Nīdaspils) is a town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship of Poland, lying between Olsztyn and Mława, in Masuria. The capital of Nidzica County, it had a population in 2017 of 13,872. History The ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

), and studied theology and philosophy at the University of Königsberg. In 1838, he joined the student association, the Corps Masovia. After teaching for many years, Gregorovius took up residence in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 1852, where he remained for over twenty years. In 1876, he was made an honorary citizen of Rome, the first German to be awarded this honor. A street and a square are named after him. He eventually returned to Germany, where he died in

. He is best known for ''Wanderjahre in Italien'', his account of the travels on foot that he took through Italy in the 1850s, and the monumental ''Die Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter'' (''History of Rome in the Middle Ages''), a classic for Medieval and early Renaissance history. He also wrote biographies of

Pope Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Churc ...

and Lucrezia Borgia, as well as works on Byzantine history and medieval

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

, and translated Italian authors into German, among them Giovanni Melis. According to Jesuit Father John Hardon, S.J. Gregorovius was "a bitter enemy of the popes."

Works

* ''Der Ghetto und die Juden in Rom'', Mit Einem Geleitwort von Leo Baeck, Im Schocken Verlag/Berlin, 1935 (originally published, 1853) * ''Der Tod des Tiberius'' ("

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

' Death", 1851) * ''Geschichte des römischen Kaisers Hadrian und seiner Zeit'' ("History of the Roman Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...

and His Times", 1851) *
''The Emperor Hadrian''
(1898 translation by Mary E. Robinson) * ''Siciliana'' (1853) * ''Corsica'' (1854);''Corsica''
(1855 trans. by Edward Joy Morris) * ''Göthe’s Wilhelm Meister in seinen socialistischen Elementen entwickelt''. Schwäbisch Hall: E. Fischhaber, 1855. * ''Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter'' (1859–1872) Translated into English 'The History of Rome in the Middle Ages' (1894–1902). (reissued b
Italica Press
2000–2004.); (reissued by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

, 2010. ) *
Anne Hamilton's trans. of the 4th German edition

(1856–1877) * ''Die Insel Capri'' (1868)
''The island of Capri''
(1879 trans. by Lilian Clarke)
''Geschichte der Stadt Athen im Mittelalter. Von der Zeit Justinians bis zur türkischen Eroberung''
("History of Athens in the Middle Ages. From Justinian to the Turkish Conquest", 1889) * ''Lucretia Borgia und ihre Zeit'' (''Lucrezia Borgia: a chapter from the morals of the Italian Renaissance'', 1874) *
John Leslie Garner's trans. of the 3rd German edition
* ''Die Grabmäler der Römischen Päpste'' (''The Tombs of The Roman Popes''), first edition 1857 in German
Google books link
, later in 1881 as ''Die Grabdenkmäler der Päpste'' (''The Tombs of The Popes'')
Open Library link
and in English as ''The Tombs of the Popes'' (tr: Louisa W. Terry) Victoria Press, Rome 1904
Google books link
* ''Die Insel Capri. Idylle vom Mittelmeer'' (1897) *
M. Douglass Fairbairn's trans.

Notes

External links

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(1903 English translation of part of ''Wanderjahre in Italien'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregorovius, Ferdinand 1821 births 1891 deaths People from Nidzica People from East Prussia 20th-century German historians Historians of the Catholic Church German Protestants German male non-fiction writers 19th-century German male writers