Heinrich Rückert (14 February 1823, in

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...

– 11 September 1875, in Breslau) was a German historian and

Germanist German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

. He was the son of orientalist and poet

Friedrich Rückert Friedrich Rückert (16 May 1788 – 31 January 1866) was a German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages. Biography Rückert was born in Schweinfurt and was the eldest son of a lawyer. He was educated at the local '' Gymnasium'' ...

(1788–1866). From 1840 to 1844 he studied classical and German philology at the universities of

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

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 ...

. In 1845 he obtained 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 ...

for German history and archaeology 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 ...

, and later on, relocated to Breslau, where in 1852 he became an associate professor (full professor 1867). In 1852 he was a founding member of the ''Verein für Thüringische Geschichte und Alterthumskunde'' (Society of Thuringian History and Antiquities).

Published works

* ''Annalen der deutschen Geschichte : Abriß der deutschen Entwickelungsgeschichte in chronologischer Darstellung'' (3 volumes, 1850) – Annals of German history: Outline of German developmental history in chronological presentation. * ''Culturgeschichte des deutschen Volkes in der Zeit des Uebergangs aus dem Heidenthum in das Christenthum'' (2 volumes 1853/54) – Cultural history of the German people in the time of transition from paganism to Christianity. * ''Geschichte des Mittelalters'', 1853 – History of the

Middle Ages 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 ...

. * ''Aus Friedrich Rückert's Nachlass'', 1867 – From Friedrich Rückert's

Nachlass ''Nachlass'' (, older spelling ''Nachlaß'') is a German word, used in academia to describe the collection of manuscripts, notes, correspondence, and so on left behind when a scholar dies. The word is a compound in German: ''nach'' means "after" ...

, edited by Heinrich Rückert. * ''Deutsche Geschichte'', 1873 – German history. * ''Geschichte der Neuhochdeutschen Schriftsprache'', 1875 – History of modern

High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

written language. * ''Entwurf einer systematischen Darstellung der schlesischen Mundart im Mittelalter'', 1878 – Systematic presentation of the Silesian dialect in the Middle Ages. He was also editor of medieval texts, such as: '' Bruder Philipps des Carthäusers Marienleben'' (1853), ''

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in Germany, German Arthurian literature. The son of Percival, Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which fi ...

'' (1858), ''

König Rother ''King Rother'' or ''König Rother'' is the earliest ''Spielmannsdichtung'' known to historians.''The Columbia Encyclopedia'': "könˈĭk rōtˈər, earliest heroic minstrel epic from the precourtly period of Middle High German literature."Luscombe ...

'' (1872) and ''

Heliand The ''Heliand'' () is an epic poem in Old Saxon, written in the first half of the 9th century. The title means ''saviour'' in Old Saxon (cf. German and Dutch ''Heiland'' meaning "saviour"), and the poem is a Biblical paraphrase that recounts the ...

'' (1876).HathiTrust Digital Library
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rückert, Heinrich 1823 births 1875 deaths People from Coburg Academic staff of the University of Breslau Germanists 19th-century German historians