Theodor von Sickel (18 December 1826 – 21 April 1908) was a German-Austrian

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 ...

born in

Aken Aken may refer to: *Aken (god), in Ancient Egyptian religion *Aken (Elbe), a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany *Aachen, a city in Germany *Aken (novel), a 1996 novel by Madis Kõiv {{disambiguation ...

Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (german: link=no, Provinz Sachsen), also known as Prussian Saxony () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merge ...

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

. He specialized in early European

medieval history 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 ...

, and is considered to be the founder of modern

diplomatics Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents: especially, historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, p ...

(critical document research). In 1850 he obtained his doctorate from the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

, then furthered his studies at the

École Nationale des Chartes The École Nationale des Chartes (, literally National School of Charters) is a French ''grande école'' and a constituent college of Université PSL, specialising in the historical sciences. It was founded in 1821, and was located initially at ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1857 he was appointed professor at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, and from 1869 to 1891, he was director of the ''Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung'' (Institute of Austrian Historical Research), specializing in ancillary branches of historical study, that included

paleography Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

chronology Chronology (from Latin ''chronologia'', from Ancient Greek , ''chrónos'', "time"; and , '' -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. I ...

and

. From 1875 he was a member of the

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...

, of which, he subsequently became head of its '' diplomata'' section. In this capacity, he performed meticulous and expert edition of medieval documents, including over 1300 royal documents of the 10th century (''Diplomata regum et imperatorum Germaniae''). In 1881 he established the ''Österreichisches Historisches Institut'' (Austrian Historical Institute) 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 ...

, serving as its director until 1901. From 1897 to 1908, he was president of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

Selected works

* ''Beiträge zur Diplomatik'' (8 volumes, 1861–1882). * ''Acta regum et imperatorum Karolinorum digesta et ennarata''. Volume 1: ''Urkundenlehre'' (1867), Volume 2: ''Urkundenregesten''. *

. ''Diplomata regum et imperatorum Germaniae'' 1 (Conradi I., Heinrici I. et Ottonis I. Diplomata), Hannover 1879-1884 – Conrad I,

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Francia, East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the olde ...

. * Monumenta Germaniae Historica, ''Diplomata regum et imperatorum Germaniae'' 2,1 (Ottonis II. Diplomata), Hannover 1888 –

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (''der Rote''), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy. ...

. * Monumenta Germaniae Historica, ''Diplomata regum et imperatorum Germaniae'' 2,2 (Ottonis III. Diplomata), Hannover 1893 –

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

.HUF - Datenbank zur Stadtgeschichte - Literatur
/ref> * ''Kaiserurkunden in Abbildungen'', 11 parts 1890/91 (with

Heinrich von Sybel Heinrich Karl Ludolf von Sybel (2 December 1817 – 1 August 1895), German historian, came from a Protestant family which had long been established at Soest, in Westphalia. Life He was born in Düsseldorf, where his father held important pos ...

, 1817-1895) * ''Römische Berichte'' (5 volumes, 1895–1901).

References

* ''This article is based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

'', whose sources include: *
Sickel, Friedrich Adolf Theodor Ritter von
In:

Neue Deutsche Biographie ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (''NDB''; literally ''New German Biography'') is a biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 26 volumes published thus far cover ...

(NDB). Band 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, , S. 309–311. *
BLKÖ:Sickel, Theodor
in Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sickel, Theodor von 1826 births 1908 deaths People from Aken (Elbe) People from the Province of Saxony 19th-century Austrian historians Austrian archivists Academic staff of the University of Vienna Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) École Nationale des Chartes alumni