Lucas (or Lukas) David (1503 - April 1583) 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 ...
, who from ca. 1550 on compiled extensive volumes on Prussian history.
Life
David was born in Allenstein (
Olsztyn
Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini''
* Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...
),
Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia ( pl, Prusy Królewskie; german: Königlich-Preußen or , csb, Królewsczé Prësë) or Polish PrussiaAnton Friedrich Büsching, Patrick Murdoch. ''A New System of Geography'', London 1762p. 588/ref> (Polish: ; German: ) was a ...
, Poland, to Gerhard Dönhoff. He studied 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 ...
, where he also received a ''Magister'' degree. Despite having converted to
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
, he served as the chancellor of Bishop
Tiedemann Giese
Tiedemann Giese (1 June 1480 – 23 October 1550), was Bishop of Kulm (Chełmno) first canon, later Prince-Bishop of Warmia (Ermland). His interest in mathematics, astronomy, and theology led him to mentor a number of important young scholars, in ...
between 1540 and 1549. After Giese received the
Diocese of Warmia, David joined the
ducal court of
Albert, Duke of Prussia
Albert of Prussia (german: Albrecht von Preussen; 17 May 149020 March 1568) was a German prince who was the 37th Grand Masters of the Teutonic Knights, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, who after converting to Lutheranism, became the first r ...
, in
Königsberg (Królewiec) (today Kaliningrad) in 1549, taking his oath on 26 March 1550.
Albert commissioned a work on the history of Prussia, mainly to counter the - in his view - biased Polish and
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
works. However, he was only able to produce a recent history of Prussia before he died. His son,
Albert Frederick
Albert Frederick (german: Albrecht Friedrich; pl, Albrecht Fryderyk; 7 May 1553 – 27 August 1618) was the Duke of Prussia, from 1568 until his death. He was a son of Albert of Prussia and Anna Marie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He was the secon ...
, however, continued the efforts, and instructed David to compile a history of Prussia. This was also supported by various social classes, which believed that the Polish histories belittled Prussian achievements. Hence David researched documents of Prussian history, and started to write his ''Prussian Chronicles'' ("Preußische Chronik") from ca. 1575. While David utilized large parts of the work of
Simon Grunau Simon Grunau (c. 1470 – c. 1530) was the author of ''Preussische Chronik'',Full title: ''Cronika und beschreibung allerlüstlichenn, nützlichsten und waaren historien des namkundigenn landes zu Prewssen'' or ''Chronicle and description of the mos ...
, he also frequently corrected errors by Grunau.
David married a wealthy widow in
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 ...
. He instituted scholarships 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 ...
, mainly for poor students from his hometown.
Before David was able to complete his chronicles, he died at
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
in 1583 at the age of 80. The chronicle ends with the events preceding the
Battle of Grunwald
The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris or First Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respec ...
(or Tannenberg) in 1410; other sources state that his works extend till 1475. His works were largely unknown to his contemporaries, and were re-discovered only around 1720, with another 100 years before their first publication in the years between 1812–17 in eight volumes. Since then he has become well known past the borders of his homeland for these ''Prussian Chronicles''. He is ranked as a 'modern' historian, as he based his studies on historical sources.
The ''Prussica-Sammlung Trunz'' started by another Allenstein native, Dr.
August Trunz The Prussica-Sammlung Trunz (the formal title can be informally translated as the "Prussianica Collection elonging to or assembled byTrunz") is a collection of over 40,000 books about former German territories in Eastern and Central Europe, mainly ...
(1875-1963), contains works by David. It is housed in th
libraryof the
University of Münster
The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
With more than 43,000 students and over ...
.
Works
*Hennig, Ernst (ed): ''Preussische Chronik''. - Königsberg : Haberland, 1.1812 - 6. 1814
Literature
* Udo Arnold: ''Studien zur preussischen Historiographie des 16. Jahrhunderts''. Bonn 1967 (Diss.)
* W. Hubatsch: ''Lucas David, der Geschichtsschreiber seiner Zeit''. In: Erwin Nadolny: ''Südostpreußen und das Ruhrgebiet''. Rautenberg & Möckel, Leer (Ostfriesland) 1954
* A. Mentzel-Reuters: ''Von der Ordenschronik zur Landesgeschichte. Die Herausbildung der altpreußischen Landeshistoriographie im 16. Jahrhunderts''. In: Klaus Garber und Manfred Komorowski (Hrsg.): ''Kulturgeschichte Ostpreußens in der Frühen Neuzeit'' (Frühe Neuzeit, Band 56). Tübingen 2001, S. 581–637,
* E. Maschke, E.: ''Die ältere Geschichtsschreibung des Preußenlandes''. In:
Erich Maschke
Erich Maschke (March 2, 1900 – February 11, 1982) was a Nazi and a German historian and history professor. He taught most recently at the Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg. During the Nazi era he promoted racist and nationalist ideology ...
(Einl.), Walther Hubatsch (Hrsg.) und Udo Arnold (Bearb.): ''Scriptores rerum Prussicarum''. Band 6, 1968, S. 1–21
* H. Schmauch: ''Über die Arbeitsmethoden und Quellen des Lucas David''. In: ''Prussia''. Band 29, 1931
* Max Toeppen: ''Geschichte der Preussischen Historiographie von P. v. Dusburg bis auf K. Schütz, oder: Nachweisung und Kritik der gedruckten und ungedruckten Chroniken zur Geschichte Preußens unter der Herrschaft des deutschen Ordens''. Berlin 1853, Nachdruck: Walluf bei Wiesbaden 1973.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Lucas
1503 births
1583 deaths
Leipzig University alumni
Converts to Protestantism from Roman Catholicism
16th-century German historians
People from Olsztyn
People from Royal Prussia
German male non-fiction writers