Johann Karl Heinrich Wuttke (12 February 1818 – 14 June 1876,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

) 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 ...

and politician.

Life

He was born in Brieg in the

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

Province of Silesia The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...

(present-day Brzeg,

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 ...

), where his father was a mayor. From 1829 he attended the '' Gymnasium'' in Breslau and. Having obtained his '' Abitur'' degree in 1836, he went on to study history, philosophy and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

at the city's

university 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 ...

, where he befriended professor

Hoffmann von Fallersleben August Heinrich Hoffmann (, calling himself von Fallersleben, after his hometown; 2 April 179819 January 1874) was a German poet. He is best known for writing "Das Lied der Deutschen", whose third stanza is now the national anthem of Germany, an ...

. He did his doctorate in 1839 with a dissertation on

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...

. In 1841 he became lecturer '' Privatdozent'' of history at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, having received his habilitation from Wilhelm Wachsmuth, again with a treatise on Thucydides. In 1848 he succeeded Friedrich Christian August Hasse as full professor at the

auxiliary sciences of history Auxiliary (or ancillary) sciences of history are scholarly disciplines which help evaluate and use historical sources and are seen as auxiliary for historical research. Many of these areas of study, classification and analysis were originally deve ...

department in Leipzig. Wuttke maintained good relations with the Saxon education minister Karl Ludwig von der Pfordten. From May 1848, he was a member of the revolutionary

Frankfurt Parliament The Frankfurt Parliament (german: Frankfurter Nationalversammlung, literally ''Frankfurt National Assembly'') was the first freely elected parliament for all German states, including the German-populated areas of Austria-Hungary, elected on 1 Ma ...

. A close ally of the progressive politician

Robert Blum Robert Blum (10 November 1807 – 9 November 1848) was a German democratic politician, publicist, poet, publisher, revolutionist and member of the National Assembly of 1848. In his fight for a strong, unified Germany he opposed ethnocentrism a ...

, he joined the left-wing ''Württemberger Hof'' faction. In parliament, he advocated a " Greater German" solution and refused to offer King Frederick William IV of Prussia the German Imperial crown. Later he approached the policies of Ferdinand Lassalle. Wuttke's "Greater German" conception also led to conflicts with academics promoting a Prussian-led unification of Germany, such as Georg Voigt,

Anton Heinrich Springer Anton Heinrich Springer (13 July 182531 May 1891) was a German art historian and writer. Early life Springer was born in Prague, where he studied philosophy and history at Charles University, earning a Ph.D. Taking an interest in art, he made se ...

, and especially young

Heinrich von Treitschke Heinrich Gotthard Freiherr von Treitschke (; 15 September 1834 – 28 April 1896) was a German historian, political writer and National Liberal member of the Reichstag during the time of the German Empire. He was an extreme nationalist, who favo ...

, who diligently attended his lectures but developed a deep loathing against him. Even at Leipzig University, Wuttke tried to implement several academic reforms which later were also backed by the Saxon court. After the death of cultural historian

Gustav Klemm Gustav Friedrich Klemm (12 November 1802, in Chemnitz – 26 August 1867, in Dresden) was a German anthropologist and librarian. He spent much of his career as the Director of the Royal Library in Dresden. The British Museum The British ...

in 1867 he demanded the acquisition of his comprehensive collections which created the basis for the

Leipzig Museum of Ethnography The Leipzig Museum of Ethnography (german: Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig) is a large ethnographic museum in Leipzig, Germany, also known as the Grassi Museum of Ethnology. Today it is part of the Grassi Museum, an institution which also in ...

. He held his post at Leipzig University until his death in 1876, when the chair was renamed Auxiliary sciences of Medieval and Modern History led by Carl von Noorden.

Work

Among his numerous published works was a History of Scripture, covering a wide range of non-alphabetical writing from

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing ...

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...

and

hieroglyph A hieroglyph ( Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatoni ...

s to

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

, as well as an 1854 edition of

Aethicus Ister Aethicus Ister (Aethicus Donares, Aethicus of Istria or Aethicus Ister) was the protagonist of the 7th/8th-century ''Cosmographia'', purportedly written by a man of church Hieronymus (Jerome, but not the Church Father Jerome), who purportedly censo ...

titled ''Aethici Istrici Cosmographia ab Hieronymo ex Graeco Latinum breviarium redacta''. Other significant works by Wuttke include: * ''König Friedrich's des Großen Besitzergreifung von Schlesien und die Entwicklung der öffentlichen Verhältnisse in diesem Lande bis zum Jahre 1740'', 1841-1843 (two volumes). -

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...

's seizure of

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, etc. * ''Polen und Deutsche Politische betrachtungen'', 1846 -

and German political considerations. * ''Ueber Erdkunde und Karten des Mittelalters'', 1853 - On geography and maps of the Middle Ages. * ''Die Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig'', 1863 - The Battle of Leipzig. * ''Städtebuch des Landes Posen. Codex diplomaticus: Allgemeine Geschichte der Städte im Lande Posen. Geschichtliche Nachrichten von 149 einzelnen Städten''. Leipzig 1864
E-Copy
– Historical descriptions of 149 towns of the land of Posen (former German Provinz Posen). * ''Zur Geschichte der Erdkunde im letzten Drittel des Mittelalters : die Karten der Seefahrenden Völker Südeuropas bis zum ersten Druck der Erdbeschreibung des Ptolemäus'', 1871 - On the history of

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

in the last third 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 ...

, etc.WorldCat Titles
(publications) * ''Die deutschen Zeitschriften und die Entstehung der öffentlichen Meinung. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Zeitungswesens'', 1875 - German magazines and the formation of

public opinion Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...

. A contribution to the history of the

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

business.

References

Professorenkatalog der Universität Leipzig
(biographical and bibliographical information) {{DEFAULTSORT:Wuttke, Heinrich 1818 births 1876 deaths People from Brzeg People from the Province of Silesia Members of the Frankfurt Parliament 19th-century German historians 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers University of Breslau alumni Academic staff of Leipzig University