Johann Christoph Gatterer (13 July 1727 – 5 April 1799) 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 was a native of Lichtenau. He was the father of

cameralist Cameralism (German: ''Kameralismus'') was a German science of public administration in the 18th and early 19th centuries that aimed at strong management of a centralized economy for the benefit mainly of the state. The discipline in its most na ...

Christoph Wilhelm Jacob Gatterer Christoph Wilhelm Jacob Gatterer (December 2, 1759 – September 11, 1838) was a German cameralist and natural historian born in Göttingen. He was the son of historian Johann Christoph Gatterer (1727–1799). He studied natural sciences and m ...

(1759–1838) and poet Magdalena

Philippine Engelhard Philippine Engelhard (21 October 1756 – 28 September 1831), was a German poet. She was one of the so-called '' Universitätsmamsellen'', a group of five academically active women during the 18th-and 19th century, daughters of academics on Gött ...

(1756–1831). He was a member of the

Göttingen School of History Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The or ...

. From 1747 he studied

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

at Altdorf, where his interest later changed to history. In 1752 he became a school teacher of history and

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 ...

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, and in 1756 gained his professorship in natural history. In 1759 he was appointed professor of history at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, where he remained for the next forty years. Gatterer was a pioneer of "

universal history A universal history is a work aiming at the presentation of a history of all of mankind as a whole, coherent unit. A universal chronicle or world chronicle typically traces history from the beginning of written information about the past up to t ...

", and with fellow

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

historian

August Ludwig von Schlözer August Ludwig von Schlözer (5 July 1735, in Gaggstatt – 9 September 1809, in Göttingen) was a German historian and pedagogist who laid foundations for the critical study of Russian medieval history. He was a member of the Göttingen Scho ...

(1735–1809) he was instrumental in developing a modern,

hermeneutical Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...

approach to history. He believed that historical events needed to be systematically arranged by describing their causal relationships, rather than simply providing a chronology of events. Gatterer used the phrase ''nexus rerum universalis'' to represent "a universal connection of things in the world". His focus dealt largely with ancillary disciplines such as

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

, heraldry,

diplomatics Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents: especially, historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, p ...

, and

physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, ...

, and he treated these subjects from a modern scientific viewpoint. Gatterer promoted his ideas on these subjects in the journals ''Allgemeine historische Bibliothek'' (1767–1771) and ''Historisches Journal'' (1772–1781). Since 1954 the "Johann Christoph-Gatterer Medal" is awarded by the ''Genealogisch-Heraldische Gesellschaft Göttingen'' (GHGG) for scientific achievements in the field of genealogy and heraldry. In 1785 Gatterer estimated that the time span from Creation to the

birth of Christ The nativity of Jesus, nativity of Christ, birth of Jesus or birth of Christ is described in the biblical gospels of Luke and Matthew. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judaea, his mother Mary was engaged to a man n ...

to be 4181 years.

Selected works

* ''Handbuch der neuesten Genealogie und Heraldik'', 1750 – Handbook on the latest genealogy and heraldry. * ''Johann Christoph Gatterers ... Abriss der Heraldik'', 1766 – Outline on heraldry. * ''Johann Christoph Gatterers Abriss der Chronologie'', 1777 – Outline on

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , ''-logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. I ...

. * ''Abriss der Genealogie'', 1788 – Outline on genealogy. * ''Johann Christoph Gatterer's Abriss der Diplomatik'', 1798 – Outline on diplomatics. * ''Johann Christoph Gatterer's Praktische Diplomatik'', 1799 – Practical diplomatics.Most widely held works by Johann Christoph Gatterer
WorldCat Identities

References

(biography of Johann Christoph Gatterer) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gatterer, Johann Christoph 18th-century German historians Academic staff of the University of Göttingen 1727 births 1799 deaths People from Ansbach (district) German male non-fiction writers