Johann Daniel Ritter (October 16, 1709 in Schlanz – May 15, 1775 in

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

) 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 stu ...

. In 1732 he received his

magister degree A magister degree (also magistar, female form: magistra; from la, magister, "teacher") is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education. The magister degree arose in medieval universities in Europe and was originally equal to the ...

from 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 ...

, where in 1735 he became an associate professor of philosophy. In 1742 he was appointed professor of history at the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

. From 1736 to 1745 he edited the

Codex Theodosianus The ''Codex Theodosianus'' (Eng. Theodosian Code) was a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429 a ...

Selected works

* De Fetialibus Populi Romani,

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 wel ...

1732 (dissertation). * De Marcio primo Pontifice M. & Familia Marcia, Leipzig 1733 * Observationes Criticas complectens, Leipzig 1735 * Observationes historicae praemissae orationi aditiali, 1742. * Historia praefecturae praetorianae ab origine dignitatis ad Constantinum M., 1745. In 1780

Johann Matthias Schröckh Johann Matthias Schröckh (July 26, 1733 – August 1, 1808) was an Austrian-German historian and literary scholar born in Vienna. He was a grandson to Pietist preacher Matthias Bel (1684-1749). In 1751 he began his studies at the University ...

published Ritter's "''Aelteste Meisnische Geschichte bis auf Heinrich den Erlauchten''" (The history of

Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrecht ...

up to the time of Henry III).Most widely held works by Johann Daniel Ritter
WorldCat Identities

References

1709 births 1775 deaths People from Wrocław County Leipzig University alumni Academic staff of Leipzig University Academic staff of the University of Wittenberg 18th-century German historians German male non-fiction writers {{Germany-historian-stub