Ludwig Keller (28 May 1849, in

Fritzlar Fritzlar () is a small town (pop. 15,000) in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. The town has a medieval center ringed by a wall with numerous watch towers. Thirty-eight meters (125& ...

– 9 March 1915, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) was a German

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

and historian, known for his writings on the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

Anabaptism Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

and

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. From 1868 he studied at the universities of

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 ...

and

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

, and in 1874 became an archivist at the state archives in

. Shortly afterwards, he relocated to the state archives in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

, where from 1881 to 1895 he served as director. From 1895 onward, he worked at the classified state archives in Berlin. He was the founder and chairman of the ''Comenius-Gesellschaft zur Pflege der Wissenschaft und der Volksbildung'' (

Comenius John Amos Comenius (; cs, Jan Amos Komenský; pl, Jan Amos Komeński; german: Johann Amos Comenius; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considere ...

Society for the Advancement of Science and Popular Education). He was the author of numerous biographies in the ''

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

''.

Selected works

* ''Geschichte der Wiedertäufer und ihres Reichs zu Münster'', 1880 – History of the Anabaptists and their empire in Münster. * ''Die Gegenreformation in Westfalen und am Niederrhein'', 1881 – The

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

and the

Lower Rhine The Lower Rhine (german: Niederrhein; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the river Rhine) flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hook of Holland, Netherlands (including the Nederrijn or "Nether Rhine" within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta); al ...

. * ''Ein Apostle der Wiedertäufer'', 1882 – An apostle of the Anabaptists. * ''Die Reformation und die älteren Reformparteien : in ihrem Zusammenhange dargestellt'', 1885 – The Reformation and the older reform parties. * ''Die Waldenser und die deutschen Bibelübersetzungen'', 1886 – The Waldensian and German translations of the Bible. * ''Zur Geschichte der altevangelischen Gemeinden : Vortrag'', 1887 – On the history of old Evangelical municipalities. * ''Johann von Staupitz und die Anfänge der Reformation'', 1888 –

Johann von Staupitz Johann von Staupitz, O.S.A. (c. 1460 – 28 December 1524) was a Catholic theologian, university preacher, and Vicar General of the Augustinian friars in Germany, who supervised Martin Luther during a critical period in his spiritual life. Martin ...

and the beginnings of the Reformation. * ''Die Idee der Humanität und die Comenius-Gesellschaft'', 1907 – The concept of humanity and the Comenius Society. * ''Die geistigen Grundlagen der Freimaurerei und das öffentliche Leben'', 1911 – The intellectual foundations of Freemasonry and public life. * ''Die freimaurerei : Eine Einführung in ihre Anschauungswelt und ihre Geschichte'', 1914 – Freemasonry: an introduction to its intuitive world and history.Most widely held works about Ludwig Keller
WorldCat Identities

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Ludwig 1849 births 1915 deaths People from Fritzlar University of Marburg alumni Leipzig University alumni German archivists 19th-century German historians 20th-century German historians