Rudolf Köpke (23 August 1813 – 10 June 1870) was a German historian born in

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 name ...

Biography

From 1832 he studied

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 ...

in Berlin, where his interest changed to history under the influence of

Leopold von Ranke Leopold von Ranke (; 21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) was a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis of ...

(1795-1886). With Georg Waitz (1813-1886),

Wilhelm von Giesebrecht Friedrich Wilhelm von Giesebrecht (5 March 1814 – 17 December 1889) was a German historian. He was born in Berlin, the son of Karl Giesebrecht (died 1832), and a nephew of the poet Ludwig Giesebrecht (1792–1873). He studied under Leopold v ...

(1814-1889) and

Siegfried Hirsch Siegfried Hirsch (5 November 1816 – 11 September 1860) was a German historian who was a native of Berlin. He was a cousin to historian Theodor Hirsch (1806-1881). From 1833 to 1836 he was a student at the Universities of Berlin and Königsberg. ...

(1816-1860), he was an early member of the so-called "Ranke school" of historians. From 1838 to 1842, he taught classes at the

Joachimsthal Gymnasium The Joachimsthal Gymnasium ( German ''Joachimsthalsches'' or ''Joachimsthaler Gymnasium''), was a princely high school (German ''Fürstenschule'') for gifted boys, founded in 1607 in Joachimsthal, Brandenburg. In 1636, during the Thirty Years' Wa ...

in Berlin and eventually became associated with the '' Monumenta Germaniae Historica''. From 1850 to 1867, he taught history classes at the '' Kriegsakademie'' (War Academy of Berlin). He received the title of associate professor in 1856. During the March Revolution of 1848, he was an advocate for German unity, publishing a series of articles calling for the end of German Kleinstaaterei.

Literary works

Among Köpke's written works was a highly regarded two-volume biography of poet

Ludwig Tieck Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck was born in B ...

(1773-1853), published in 1855 with the title of "''Ludwig Tieck. Erinnerungen aus dem Leben des Dichters nach dessen mündlichen und schriftlichen Mittheilungen''". Other noted works by Köpke include: * ''Die Anfänge des Königtums bei den Goten'' (The beginnings of the kingdom during the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

), (1859). * ''Widukind von Korvei'' (

Widukind of Corvey Widukind of Corvey (c. 925after 973) was a medieval Saxon chronicler. His three-volume '' Res gestae Saxonicae sive annalium libri tres'' is an important chronicle of 10th-century Germany during the rule of the Ottonian dynasty. Life In view of ...

), (1867). * ''Hrotsuit von Gandersheim'' (

Hrotsvitha Hrotsvitha (c. 935–973) was a secular canoness who wrote drama and Christian poetry under the Ottonian dynasty. She was born in Bad Gandersheim to Saxon nobles and entered Gandersheim Abbey as a canoness. She is considered the first female wri ...

of Gandersheim, (1869). * ''Die Gründung der Friedrich Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin'' (The founding of Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin), (1860). * ''Kaiser Otto der Große'' (Emperor Otto the Great); with

Ernst Dümmler Ernst Ludwig Dümmler (2 January 183011 September 1902) was a German historian. Biography Ernst Ludwig was born in Berlin, the son of (1777–1846), a Berlin bookseller. He studied law, classical philology and history, among other things, at ...

(1876).

References

''Rudolf Köpke''
translated biography @

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon ' or ' was a major encyclopedia in the German language that existed in various editions, and by several titles, from 1839 to 1984, when it merged with the '. Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), who had founded the publishing house in 1826, intended t ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopke, Rudolf Writers from Königsberg 1813 births 1870 deaths 19th-century German historians German male non-fiction writers