Johann Martin Lappenberg (July 30, 1794 – November 28, 1865) was a German diplomat and

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 ...

Biography

He was born at

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, where his father, Valentin Anton Lappenberg (1759–1819), held an official position. He attended the Johanneum and the Akademisches Gymnasium of Hamburg. Like his father he studied

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

, but afterwards

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. He continued to study history in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, at

Frederick William University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III o ...

and at

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 ...

, where he graduated as doctor of laws in 1816. In 1820 he was sent by the

Hamburg senate The government of Hamburg is divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches. Hamburg is a city-state and municipality, and thus its governance deals with several details of both state and local community politics. It takes place in two ...

Minister Resident A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indi ...

to the

Prussia 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 ...

n court in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In 1823 he became keeper of the Hamburg archives. In this office, he had the fullest opportunities for the laborious and critical research work upon which rests his reputation. He was in this office until 1863, when a serious eye problem compelled him to resign. In 1850 he represented Hamburg in the

German parliament The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, and he died at Hamburg.

Works

Lappenberg's most important work is his ''Geschichte von England'', which deals with the history of England from the earliest times to 1154. This work was published in two volumes at Hamburg in 1834–1837. It has been translated into English by

Benjamin Thorpe Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature. Biography In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated him for tuberculosis. A ...

as ''History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings'' (1845), and ''History of England under the Norman Kings'' (Oxford, 1857), and was continued in three additional volumes from 1154 to 1509 by R. Pauli. His other works deal mainly with the history of Hamburg, and include: *''Hamburgische Chroniken in niedersächsischer Sprache'' (Hamburg: Perthes & Mauke, 1852–1861; reprint Niederwalluf: Sändig, 1971, ) *''Geschichtsquellen des Erzstiftes und der Stadt Bremen'' (Bremen: Heyse, 1841; reprint Aalen: Scientia-Verlag, 1967) *''Hamburgisches Urkundenbuch'' (Hamburg: Perthes, Besser & Mauke, 1842) *''Urkundliche Geschichte des Hansischen Stahlhofes zu London'' (Hamburg: Langhoff, 1851; reprint Osnabrück: Zeller, 1967) *''Hamburgische Rechtsalterthümer'' (Hamburg: Meissner, 1845) *''Urkundliche Geschichte des Ursprunges der deutschen Hanse'' (Hamburg, 1830), as editor, continuation of the work of GF Sartorius. For the '' Monumenta Germaniae historica'' he edited the ''Chronicon'' of

Thietmar of Merseburg Thietmar (also Dietmar or Dithmar; 25 July 9751 December 1018), Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynasty. Two ...

, the ''Gesta Hammenburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' of

Adam of Bremen Adam of Bremen ( la, Adamus Bremensis; german: Adam von Bremen) (before 1050 – 12 October 1081/1085) was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. Adam is most famous for his chronicle ''Gesta ...

and the ''Chronica Slavorum'' of

Helmold Helmold of Bosau (ca. 1120 – after 1177) was a Saxon historian of the 12th century and a priest at Bosau near Plön. He was a friend of the two bishops of Oldenburg in Holstein, Vicelinus (died 1154) and Gerold (died 1163), who did much to ...

, with its continuation by

Arnold of Lübeck Arnold of Lübeck (died 1211–1214) was a Benedictine abbot, a chronicler, the author of the '' Chronica Slavorum'' and advocate of the papal cause in the Hohenstaufen conflict. He was a monk at St. Ägidien monastery in Braunschweig, then from 1 ...

. Lappenberg, who was a member of numerous learned societies in Europe, wrote many other historical works.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lappenberg, Johann Martin 1794 births 1865 deaths Writers from Hamburg 19th-century German historians Hanseatic diplomats Members of the Frankfurt Parliament German male non-fiction writers