Leopold Von Ranke
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Leopold von Ranke (; 21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) 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 ...
and a founder of modern
source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...
-based
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis of historical documents. Building on the methods of the
Göttingen School of History 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 orig ...
, he was the first to establish a historical seminar. Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on
primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...
s (
empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...
), an emphasis on
narrative history Narrative history is the practice of writing history in a story-based form. It tends to entail history-writing based on reconstructing series of short-term events, and ever since the influential work of Leopold von Ranke on professionalising histo ...
and especially international politics ('' Außenpolitik''). He was ennobled in 1865, with the addition of a "von" to his name. Ranke also had a great influence on Western historiography and is considered a symbol of the quality of 19th century German historical studies. Ranke, influenced by
Barthold Georg Niebuhr Barthold Georg Niebuhr (27 August 1776 – 2 January 1831) was a Danish–German statesman, banker, and historian who became Germany's leading historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. By 1810 Niebuhr wa ...
, was very talented in constructing narratives without exceeding the limits of historical evidence. His critics have noted the influence of
Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
in guiding his work, especially his belief that God's actions were manifest in the lives of men and history, a viewpoint that shaped his ideas that the
German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
was a manifestation of God's intent.


Early life

Ranke was born in Wiehe,
Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
,
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
. Wiehe was then a part of the
Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles ...
. He came from a family of Lutheran pastors and lawyers. He was educated partly at home and partly in the
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
at
Schulpforta Pforta, or Schulpforta, is a school located in Pforta monastery, a former Cistercian monastery (1137–1540), near Naumburg on the Saale River in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The site has been a school since the 16th century. Notable past ...
. His early years engendered a lifelong love of
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
,
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
. In 1814, Ranke entered 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 his subjects were
Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
and Lutheran
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
. At
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 ...
, Ranke became an expert in
philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
and translation of the ancient authors into
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
. His teachers included
Johann Gottfried Jakob Hermann Johann Gottfried Jakob Hermann (28 November 1772 – 31 December 1848) was a German classical scholar and philologist. He published his works under the name Gottfried Hermann or its Latin equivalent . Biography He was born in Leipzig. Entering ...
. As a student, Ranke's favorite authors were
Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...
,
Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...
,
Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( grc, Διονύσιος Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary sty ...
,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...
,
Barthold Georg Niebuhr Barthold Georg Niebuhr (27 August 1776 – 2 January 1831) was a Danish–German statesman, banker, and historian who became Germany's leading historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. By 1810 Niebuhr wa ...
,
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
, Johann Gottlieb Fichte,
Friedrich Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him be ...
and
Friedrich Schlegel Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (after 1814: von) Schlegel (; ; 10 March 1772 – 12 January 1829) was a German poet, literary critic, philosopher, philologist, and Indologist. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figure ...
. Ranke showed little interest in the work of modern history because of his dissatisfaction with what he regarded as history books that were merely a collection of facts lumped together by modern historians. Between 1817 and 1825, Ranke worked as a schoolmaster teaching classics at the Friedrichs Gymnasium in
Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
. During this time, he became interested in
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
in part because of his desire to be involved in the developing field of a more professionalized history and in part because of his desire to find the hand of
God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
in the workings of history.


Career

In 1824, Ranke launched his career with the book ''Geschichten der romanischen und germanischen Völker von 1494 bis 1514'' (''Histories of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples from 1494 to 1514'') in which he used an unusually wide variety of sources for a historian of the age, including "memoirs, diaries, personal and formal missives, government documents, diplomatic dispatches and first-hand accounts of eye-witnesses". In that sense, he leaned on the traditions of philology but emphasized mundane documents instead of old and exotic literature. After the minister of education was impressed with the work of a historian who did not have access to the nation's great public libraries, Ranke was given a position in the
University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
, where he was a professor for nearly fifty years, starting in 1825. At the university, he used the seminar system and taught how to check the value of sources. Ranke became deeply involved in the dispute between the followers of the legal professor
Friedrich Carl von Savigny Friedrich Carl von Savigny (21 February 1779 – 25 October 1861) was a German jurist and historian. Early life and education Savigny was born at Frankfurt am Main, of a family recorded in the history of Lorraine, deriving its name from the cast ...
, who emphasized the varieties of different periods of history, and the followers of the philosopher
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
, who saw history as the unfolding of a universal story. Ranke supported Savigny and criticized the Hegelian view of history as being a one-size-fits-all approach. Also during his time 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 ...
, Ranke became the first historian to use the forty-seven volumes that comprised the diplomatic archives of
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
from the 16th and 17th centuries. Since many archives opened up during this time, he sent out his students to these places to recruit information. In his classrooms, he would discuss the sources that his students would find and would emphasize that history should be told "the way it happened". Therefore, he is often seen as "the pioneer of a critical historical science". Meanwhile, Ranke came to prefer dealing with primary sources as opposed to secondary sources. It was in Vienna where the friendship of
Friedrich von Gentz Friedrich von Gentz (2 May 1764 – 9 June 1832) was an Austrian diplomat and a writer. With Austrian chancellor Von Metternich he was one of the main forces behind the organisation, management and protocol of the Congress of Vienna. Early ...
and the protection of Klemens von Metternich opened to him the Venetian Archives, a fresh source, the value of which he first discovered; it is still not exhausted. He found time to write a short book entitled ''Die Serbische Revolution'' (1829) from material supplied to him by
Vuk Karadžić Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Стефановић Караџић, ; 6 November 1787 (26 October OS)7 February 1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the moder ...
, a Serb who had himself been witness to the scenes he related during the
First Serbian Uprising The First Serbian Uprising ( sr, Prvi srpski ustanak, italics=yes, sr-Cyrl, Први српски устанак; tr, Birinci Sırp Ayaklanması) was an uprising of Serbs in the Sanjak of Smederevo against the Ottoman Empire from 14 February 18 ...
in 1804. This was afterwards expanded into ''Serbien und die Turkei im 19 Jahrhundert'' (1879). At the behest of the Prussian government, Ranke founded and edited the ''Historische-Politische Zeitschrift'' journal from 1832 to 1836. Ranke, who was a
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
, used the journal to attack the ideas of
liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
. In his 1833 article "The Great Powers" and his 1836 article "Dialogue on Politics", Ranke claimed that every state is given a special moral character from God and individuals should strive to best fulfill the "idea" of their state. Thus, in this way, Ranke urged his readers to stay loyal to the Prussian state and to reject the ideas of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, which Ranke claimed were meant for France only. From 1834 to 1836, Ranke published ''Die römischen Päpste, ihre Kirche und ihr Staat im sechzehnten und siebzehnten Jahrhundert'' (''The Popes of Rome, Their Church and State in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries'') (3 vols.). As a Protestant, Ranke was barred from viewing the
Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
archives in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
, but on the basis of private papers in Rome and Venice he was able to explain the history of the
papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
in the 16th century. In this book, Ranke coined the term "
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 ...
" and offered colorful portrayals of
Pope Paul IV Pope Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa, C.R. ( la, Paulus IV; it, Paolo IV; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death in August 1559. While serving as pa ...
,
Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, Society of Jesus, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spain, Spanish Catholic ...
and
Pope Pius V Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is v ...
. He promoted research into primary sources: ''"I see the time approaching when we shall base modern history, no longer on the reports even of contemporary historians, except insofar as they were in the possession of personal and immediate knowledge of facts; and still less on work yet more remote from the source; but rather on the narratives of eyewitnesses, and on genuine and original documents". The papacy denounced Ranke's book as anti-Catholic while many Protestants denounced it as not anti-Catholic enough, but he has been generally praised by historians for placing the situation of the
Roman Catholic Church 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 ...
in the context of the 16th century and for his fair treatment of the complex interaction of the political and religious issues in that century. The British Roman Catholic historian
Lord Acton John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He is best remembered for the remark he w ...
defended Ranke's book as the most fair-minded, balanced and objective study ever written on the papacy of the 16th century. In 1841, his fame in its ascendancy, Ranke was appointed
Historiographer Royal Historiographer Royal is the title of an appointment as official chronicler or historian of a court or monarch. It was initially particularly associated with the French monarchy, where the post existed from at least 1550, but in the later 16th and 1 ...
to the Prussian court. In 1845, he became a member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
. In Paris, Ranke met the Irish woman Clarissa Helena Graves (born 1808) from Dublin in July 1843. She had been educated in England and the Continent. They were engaged on 1 October and married in Bowness, England in a ceremony officiated by her brother Robert Perceval Graves, an Anglican priest. From 1847 to 1848, Ranke published ''Neun Bücher preussicher Geschichte'' (translated as ''Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg and History of Prussia, during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'') in which he examined the fortunes of the Hohenzollern family and state from the Middle Ages to the reign of
Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
. Many Prussian nationalists were offended by Ranke's portrayal of Prussia as a typical medium-sized German state rather than as a great power. From 1852 to 1861, Ranke published ''French History Mainly in the 16th and 17th Centuries'' (5 vols.), covering
Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...
to
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...
and gaining him more praise for his impartiality despite being German. In a series of lectures given before future King
Maximilian II of Bavaria Maximilian II (28 November 1811 – 10 March 1864) reigned as King of Bavaria between 1848 and 1864. Unlike his father, King Ludwig I, "King Max" was very popular and took a greater interest in the business of Government than in personal extra ...
in 1854, Ranke argued that "every age is next to God", by which he meant that every period of history is unique and must be understood in its own context. He argued that God gazes over history in its totality and finds all periods equal. Ranke rejected the teleological approach to history, by which each period is considered inferior to the period which follows. Thus, the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
were not inferior to the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, simply different. In Ranke's view, the historian had to understand a period on its own terms and seek to find only the general ideas which animated every period of history. For Ranke, history was not to be an account of man's "progress" because " ter Plato, there can be no more Plato". Ultimately, " story is no criminal court". For Ranke, Christianity was morally most superior and could not be improved upon. When he wrote ''Zur orientalischen Frage. Gutachten'' at the behest of the kaiser he framed the conflict with the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
as primarily religious in nature; the civil rights of Christians against Muslims in the Ottoman Empire could only be secured by the intervention of the Christian European nations. From 1854 to 1857, Ranke published ''History of the Reformation in Germany'' (''Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation''), using the ninety-six volumes of correspondence from ambassadors to the Imperial Diet he found in
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 its na ...
to explain 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 ...
in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
as the result of both politics and religion. From 1859 to 1867, Ranke published the six-volume ''History of England Principally in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries'' (''Englische Geschichte vornehmlich im XVI and XVII Jahrhundert''), followed by an expanded nine-volume edition from 1870 to 1884, which extended his huge reach even farther. At this point, he was eighty years old, and devoted the rest of his career to shorter treatises on German history that supplement his earlier writings.


Later life

The honors poured in when Ranke was ennobled in 1865, appointed a Prussian Privy Councillor in 1882 and given an honorary citizenship of Berlin in 1885. In 1884, he was appointed the first honorary member of the
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...
. In 1885, he was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
. After his retirement in 1871, Ranke continued to write on a variety of subjects relating to
German history The Germani tribes i.e. Germanic tribes are now considered to be related to the Jastorf culture before expanding and interacting with the other peoples. The concept of a region for Germanic tribes is traced to time of Julius Caesar, a Roman gen ...
such as the
French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
,
Albrecht von Wallenstein Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein () (24 September 1583 – 25 February 1634), also von Waldstein ( cs, Albrecht Václav Eusebius z Valdštejna), was a Bohemian military leader and statesman who fought on the Catholic side during the Th ...
,
Karl August von Hardenberg Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg (31 May 1750, in Essenrode-Lehre – 26 November 1822, in Genoa) was a Prussian statesman and Prime Minister of Prussia. While during his late career he acquiesced to reactionary policies, earlier in his career ...
, and King
Frederick William IV of Prussia Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to ...
. In 1880, Ranke began a huge six-volume work on
world history World history may refer to: * Human history, the history of human beings * History of Earth, the history of planet Earth * World history (field), a field of historical study that takes a global perspective * ''World History'' (album), a 1998 albu ...
which began with ancient
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and the
Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
. By the time of his death in Berlin in 1886 at the age of 90, Ranke had reached only the 12th century, but his assistants later used his notes to take the series up to 1453. After his wife died in 1871, Ranke became half-blind, depending on assistants to read to him. A diary entry from January 1877 contains his mature thoughts about being a historian:
The proverb tells us that poets are born. Not only in the arts, but even in some scholarly fields, young men develop into full bloom, or at least display their originality. Musicians and mathematicians have the expectation of attaining eminence in early years. But a historian must be old, not only because of the immeasurable extent of his field of study, but because of the insight into the historical process which a long life confers, especially under changing conditions. It would hardly be bearable for him to have only a short span of experience. For his personal development requires that great events complete their course before his eyes, that others collapse, that new forms be attempted.
After Ranke's death,
Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
purchased his collection. The
Ranke Library The Ranke Library was Leopold von Ranke, Leopold von Ranke's collection of over 21,000 items. It was purchased by the Syracuse University, Syracuse University Library on April 22, 1887, which outbid the Prussia, Prussian government. The purchase ...
of 25,000 books and other materials was ten times as large as the university's own.


Methodology and criticism

At the core of his method, Ranke did not believe that general theories could cut across time and space. Instead, he made statements about the time using quotations from primary sources, saying: "My understanding of 'leading ideas' is simply that they are the dominant tendencies in each century. However, these tendencies can only be described; they can not, in the last resort, be summed up in a concept". Ranke objected to
philosophy of history Philosophy of history is the philosophical study of history and its discipline. The term was coined by French philosopher Voltaire. In contemporary philosophy a distinction has developed between ''speculative'' philosophy of history and ''crit ...
, particularly as practiced by Hegel, claiming that Hegel ignored the role of human agency in history which was too essential to be "characterized through only one idea or one word" or "circumscribed by a concept". This lack of emphasis on unifying theories or themes led
Rudolf Haym Rudolf Haym (5 October 1821 – 27 August 1901) was a German philosopher. He was born in Grünberg in Prussia (now Zielona Góra, Poland), and died in St. Anton (Arlberg). He studied philosophy and theology at Halle and Berlin. He was a ...
to denigrate his ideas as "the mindlessness of the empiricist". In the 19th century, Ranke's work was very popular and his ideas about historical practice gradually became dominant in western historiography. However, he had critics among his contemporaries, including
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
, a former Hegelian, who suggested that Ranke engaged in some of the practices he criticized in other historians. Ranke began his first book with the statement in the introduction that he would show the unity of the experiences of the "Teutonic" nations of
Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and the "Latin" nations of
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
and
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
through the great "respirations" of the ''Völkerwanderung'' (great migration), the
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
and colonization that in Ranke's view bound all of the nations together to produce modern European civilization. Despite his opening statement, Ranke largely treated all of the nations under examination separately until the outbreak of the wars for the control of Italy starting in 1494. However, the book is best remembered for Ranke's comment: "To history has been assigned the office of judging the past, of instructing the present for the benefit of future ages. To such high offices this work does not aspire: It wants only to show what actually happened (''wie es eigentlich gewesen ist'')". Ranke's statement that history should embrace the principle of ''wie es eigentlich gewesen ist'' (meaning "how things actually were") was subsequently taken by many historians as their guiding principle. There has been much debate over the precise meaning of this phrase. Some have argued that adhering to the principle of ''wie es eigentlich gewesen ist'' means that the historian should document facts, but not offer any interpretation of these facts. Following
Georg Iggers Georg Gerson Iggers (December 7, 1926 – November 26, 2017) was an American historian of modern Europe, historiography, and European intellectual history. Iggers was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1926. Being a German Jew he fled Germany with ...
,
Peter Novick Peter Novick (July 26, 1934, Jersey City – February 17, 2012, Chicago) was an American historian who was Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He was best known for writing ''That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and t ...
has argued that Ranke, who was more of a romantic and idealist than his American contemporaries understood, meant instead that the historian should discover the facts and find the essences behind them. Under this view, the word ''eigentlich'' should be translated as "essentially", the aim then being to "show what essentially happened". Ranke went on to write that the historian must seek the "Holy hieroglyph" that is God's hand in history, keeping an "eye for the universal" whilst taking "pleasure in the particular". While Ranke's methods remain influential in the practice of history, his broader ideas of
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 ...
and empiricism are now regarded by some as outdated and no longer credible. They held sway among historians until the mid-20th century, when they were challenged by
E. H. Carr Edward Hallett Carr (28 June 1892 – 3 November 1982) was a British historian, diplomat, journalist and international relations theorist, and an opponent of empiricism within historiography. Carr was best known for '' A History of Soviet Rus ...
and
Fernand Braudel Fernand Braudel (; 24 August 1902 – 27 November 1985) was a French historian and leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects: ''The Mediterranean'' (1923–49, then 1949–66), ''Civilization and Capitalism'' ...
. Carr opposed Ranke's ideas of empiricism as naive, boring and outmoded, saying that historians did not merely report facts; they choose which facts they use. Braudel's approach was based on the ''histoire problème''. Remarking on the legacy of Ranke's dictum that historians should represent the past ''wie es eigentlich gewesen ist'' ("as it actually happened"),
Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist. An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish mys ...
scathingly wrote that it represented "the strongest narcotic of the
9th 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...
century".


Honours and awards


Selected works

* ''Geschichten der romanischen und germanischen Völker von 1494 bis 1514'' ("Histories of the Romanic and Germanic Peoples from 1494 to 1514", 1824) * ''Serbische Revolution'' ("Serbian Revolution", 1829) * ''Fürsten und Völker von Süd-Europa im sechzehnten und siebzehnten Jahrhundert'' ("Princes and Peoples of Southern Europe in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries") * ''Die römischen Päpste in den letzten vier Jahrhunderten'' ("The Roman Popes in the Last Four Centuries", 1834–1836) * ''Neun Bücher preussischer Geschichte'' (''Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg and History of Prussia, during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'', 1847–1848) * ''Französische Geschichte, vornehmlich im sechzehnten und siebzehnten Jahrhundert'' (''Civil Wars and Monarchy in France, in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: A History of France Principally During That Period'', 1852–1861) * ''Die deutschen Mächte und der Fürstenbund'' ("The German Powers and the Princes' League", 1871–1872) * ''Ursprung und Beginn der Revolutionskriege 1791 und 1792'' (''Origin and Beginning of the Revolutionary Wars 1791 and 1792'', 1875) * ''Hardenberg und die Geschichte des preussischen Staates von 1793 bis 1813'' (''Hardenberg and the History of the Prussian State from 1793 to 1813'', 1877) * ''Weltgeschichte – Die Römische Republik und ihre Weltherrschaft'' (''World history: The Roman Republic and Its World Rule'', 2 volumes, 1886)


Works in English translation


''The Ottoman and the Spanish Empires, in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,''
Whittaker & Co., 1843.
''Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg and History of Prussia During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,''Vol. 2Vol. 3
John Murray, 1849.
''Civil Wars and Monarchy in France, in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,''
Richard Bentley, 1852.
''The History of Servia and the Servian Revolution,''
Henry G. Bohn, 1853.
''H
Volume_Five
Volume_Six
_Oxford:_At_the_Clarendon_Press,_1875.
''The_Quarterly_Review,''_Vol._CXXXIX,_July/October_1875.
*_[https://archive.org/stream/universalhistor00rank#page/n5/mode/2up_''Universal_History:_The_Oldest_Historical_Group_of_Nations_and_the_Greeks,''">"Von_Ranke,_Pattison,_Spedding,_Gardiner,"
''The_Quarterly_Review,''_Vol._CXXXIX,_July/October_1875.

''Universal_History:_The_Oldest_Historical_Group_of_Nations_and_the_Greeks,''
Charles_Scribner's_Sons,_1884.
''History_of_the_Popes:_Their_Church_and_State,''Vol._2''H
Volume FiveVolume Six
Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1875.
''The Quarterly Review,'' Vol. CXXXIX, July/October 1875.
* [https://archive.org/stream/universalhistor00rank#page/n5/mode/2up ''Universal History: The Oldest Historical Group of Nations and the Greeks,''">"Von Ranke, Pattison, Spedding, Gardiner,"
''The Quarterly Review,'' Vol. CXXXIX, July/October 1875.

''Universal History: The Oldest Historical Group of Nations and the Greeks,''
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1884.
''History of the Popes: Their Church and State,''Vol. 2Sarah Austin">Vol. 3
P. F. Collier & Son, 1901. (Translated by Sarah Austin (translator), Sarah Austin
); first translation by Eliza Foster in 1847-48.
''History of the Reformation in Germany,''
George Routledge & Sons, 1905.
''History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations, 1494–1514,''
George Bell & Sons, 1909. * ''The Secret of World History: Selected Writings on the Art and Science of History,'' Roger Wines, ed., Fordham University Press, 1981.


Notes


References and further reading

* Boldt, Andreas. "Ranke: objectivity and history." ''Rethinking History'' 18.4 (2014): 457–474. * Boldt, Andreas D. ''The Life and Work of the German Historian Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886): An Assessment of His Achievements'' (Edwin Mellen Press, 2015). 372pp * Boldt, Andreas D. ''Leopold Von Ranke: A Biography'' (2019) * Bourne, Edward Gaylord (1896)
"Leopold Von Ranke."
''The Sewanee Review,'' Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 385–401. * Bourne, Edward Gaylord (1901)
"Ranke and the Beginning of the Seminary Method in Teaching History."
In: ''Essays in Historical Criticism.'' New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 265–274. * Braw, J. D. "Vision as revision: Ranke and the Beginning of Modern History." ''History and Theory'' 46.4 (2007): 45–60. * Croke, Brian. "How to study the historian Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886)." ''Teaching History'' 50.1 (2016): 31–37. * Cunha, Marcelo Durão Rodrigues da. "The religious roots of modern German historical science: Wilhelm von Humboldt and Leopold von Ranke." ''Religião & Sociedade'' 38.2 (2018): 244–276
online
* John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, Dalberg-Acton, John Emerich Edward (1907)
"German Schools of History."
In: ''Historical Essays and Studies.'' London: Macmillan & Co. * Eskildsen, Kasper Risbjerg. "Leopold Von Ranke (1795–1886): Criticizing an Early Modern Historian." ''History of Humanities'' 4.2 (2019): 257–262
online
* Eskildsen, Kasper Risbjerg. "Leopold Ranke's archival turn: location and evidence in modern historiography." ''Modern Intellectual History'' 5.3 (2008): 425–453. * * Farrenkopf, John (1991). "The Challenge of Spenglerian Pessimism to Ranke and Political Realism," ''Review of International Studies,'' Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 267–284. * Fitzsimons, M. A. (1980). "Ranke: History as Worship," ''The Review of Politics,'' Vol. 42, No. 4, pp. 533–555. * * * Gilbert, Felix (1986). "Leopold von Ranke and the American Philosophical Society," ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,'' Vol. 130, No. 3, pp. 362–366. * Gilbert, Felix (1987). "Historiography: What Ranke Meant," ''The American Scholar,'' Vol. 56, No. 3, pp. 393–397. * * * Grafton, Anthony. ''The Footnote: A Curious History'' (Harvard UP. 1997) pp 34–93. * * Guilland, Antoine (1915)
"Leopold von Ranke."
In: ''Modern Germany and her Historians.'' New York: McBride, Nast & Company, pp. 68–119. * Iggers, Georg G. ''The German conception of history: The national tradition of historical thought from Herder to the present'' (Wesleyan University Press, 2014). * Iggers, Georg (1962). "The Image of Ranke in American and German Historical Thought," ''History and Theory,'' Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 17–40. * * Heying, Lü. "Equal emphasis on "research" and "representation": A new analysis of Ranke's debut work." ''Chinese Studies in History'' 53.2 (2020): 122–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/00094633.2020.1720491 * Kinzel, Katherina. "Method and meaning: Ranke and Droysen on the historian's disciplinary ethos." ''History and Theory'' 59.1 (2020): 22–41
online
* Krieger, Leonard (1975). "Elements of Early Historicism: Experience, Theory, and History in Ranke," ''History and Theory,'' Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 1–14. * * * Lincoln, John Larkin (1894)
"The Historian Leopold von Ranke,"
''In Memorian: John Larkin Lincoln.'' Boston & New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, pp. 568–584. * Maurer, Kathrin. "The rhetoric of literary realism in Leopold von Ranke's historiography." ''Clio'' 35.3 (2006): 309–328. * Müller, Christian Phillip. "Doing historical research in the early nineteenth century: Leopold Ranke, the archive policy, and the 'relazioni' of the Venetian Republic." ''Rivista internazionale di storia della storiografia'' 56 (2009): 81–103. * * Price, William (1897)
"A Contribution toward a Bibliography of Leopold von Ranke,"
''Annual Report of the American Historical Association,'' Vol. I, pp. 1265–1274. * * Rüsen, Jörn (1990). "Rhetoric and Aesthetics of History: Leopold von Ranke," ''History and Theory,'' Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 190–204. * Schevill, Ferdinand (1952). "Ranke: Rise, Decline, and Persistence of a Reputation," ''The Journal of Modern History,'' 24#3 pp. 219–234
online
* Su, Shih-Chieh. ''Modern Nationalism and the Making of a Professional Historian: The Life and Work of Leopold von Ranke'' (Academica Press, 2014). * *


Further reading

* Williams, H. S. (1907)
''The historians' history of the world''
Volume XV (ed., this volume covers Leopold von Ranke o
page 633
)


External links

* *
Works by Leopold von Ranke
at
Hathi Trust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...

Syracuse University
''The Leopold von Ranke manuscript collection of Syracuse University : the complete catalogue''

at
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* ttps://archive.org/details/geschichtenderro00rankuoft ''Geschichte der romanischen und germanischen Völker von 1494 bis 1514''by Leopold von Ranke at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Biography of Ranke, 1901
by
William Robinson Clark William Robinson Clark (26 March 1829 – 12 November 1912) was a Scottish-Canadian theologian. Biography Clark was born in Daviot, Aberdeenshire, son of Rev. James Clark. Originally educated for the Congregationalist ministry at New Co ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranke, Leopold von 1795 births 1886 deaths People from Wiehe People from the Electorate of Saxony 19th-century Lutherans German Lutherans Lutheran writers 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers 19th-century German historians German monarchists German untitled nobility Leipzig University alumni Humboldt University of Berlin faculty Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star