Heinrich Friedrich Otto Abel (22 January 1824 – 28 October 1854) was a German historian.

Life

He was born at

Reichenbach Priory Reichenbach may refer to: Places Austria * Reichenbach (Litschau), a part of Litschau * Reichenbach (Rappottenstein), a part of Rappottenstein Germany * Reichenbach (Oberlausitz), in Niederschlesischer Oberlausitzkreis district, Saxony * Rei ...

in the Kingdom of Württemberg, a Protestant religious house, where his father was a clergyman. Beginning in 1824, Abel visited the universities of Tübingen, Jena, Heidelberg, Bonn and Berlin, studying history. Among his teachers was

Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann (13 May 1785, Wismar5 December 1860, Bonn) was a German historian and politician. Biography He came of an old Hanseatic family of Wismar, then controlled by Sweden. His father, who was burgomaster of the town ...

. Abel also showed political interest in the revolutions of 1848, and published a tract ''Das neue deutsche Reich und sein Kaiser'' ("The New German Empire and his Emperor") n which he enthused about the Kingdom of Prussia. As a result, the Prussian minister of external affairs,

Heinrich von Arnim Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...

, offered him a place in the Prussian embassy in Frankfurt. However, his high expectations were disappointed many times over. He quit the diplomatic service in 1850 and in the ensuing period devoted his energies to the ''

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...

''. In 1851, Abel inaugurated his formal academic career with his appointment as a lecturer (''"Privatdozent"'') at the University of Bonn. The best known of his scholars was Heinrich von Treitschke. While travelling in 1853, Abel was affected by pulmonary phthisis and died in 1854 in the care of his uncle in

Leonberg Leonberg (; swg, Leaberg) is a town in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg about to the west of Stuttgart, the state capital. About 45,000 people live in Leonberg, making it the third-largest borough in the rural district (''Landkr ...

Publications

* ''Makedonien vor König Philipp'', Leipzig, 1847 * ''Das neue deutsche Reich und sein Kaiser'', 1848 * ''König Philipp der Hohenstaufe'', 1852 * ''Die politische Bedeutung Kölns am Ende des 12. Jahrhunderts'', 1852 * ''Die deutschen Personennamen'', 1853 * ''Theodat, König der Ostgoten'',

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, 1855 * ''Kaiser Otto IV und König Friderich II'', Berlin, post mortem 1856

Sources

* ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' - online version at Wikisource 1824 births 1854 deaths People from Freudenstadt (district) People from the Kingdom of Württemberg University of Tübingen alumni University of Jena alumni Heidelberg University alumni University of Bonn alumni Academic staff of the University of Bonn Humboldt University of Berlin alumni 19th-century German historians 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Germany {{germany-historian-stub