Kristian Sophus August Erslev (December 28, 1852 – June 20, 1930) was a Danish

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 ...

and professor.

Biography

Kristian Erslev was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark. In 1870, Erslev graduated from Mariboes School in Copenhagen, and began studying at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

, graduating with a magister degree in 1876. After a study trip to Germany, Italy, Greece and France, he return in 1879 to graduate as Dr.Phil. From 1881, Erslev became a research fellow at the Gehejme Archives and in 1883 he became professor of history at the

. His work involved a variety of subjects, including

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

. Erslev's influence on the Danish academic community was great and he was considered "the master" Danish historian. As editor of the Danish '' Historisk Tidsskrift'' he also set the standards for solid, factual historical writing. He looked to other European scientists for inspiration, but never fully solved the problems of objectivity and the influence of "the person behind the pen". He was openly attacked by later generations of Danish historians for his strong belief in "the truth". Erslev was inspired in his early days by the idea that historians should strive to create "true science". However, in his older days he became disillusioned by his previous ideas.Jan N.H. Jensen - Kr. Erslev og objektivitetsproblemet i begyndelsen af det 20. århundrede He died at

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

during 1930 was buried at Frederiksberg Ældre Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erslev, Kristian 1852 births 1930 deaths 18th-century Danish historians 20th-century Danish historians People from Copenhagen University of Copenhagen alumni Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Rectors of the University of Copenhagen