Wilhelm Diekamp (13 May 1854 – 25 December 1885) was a German historian. Diekamp was born in

Geldern Geldern ( nl, Gelderen, archaic English: ''Guelder(s)'') is a city in the federal German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is part of the district of Kleve, which is part of the Düsseldorf administrative region. Geography Location Geldern l ...

. Soon after his birth, his parents moved to

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 ...

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 ...

, where he made his collegiate studies (1867–72). From 1872 to 1875 he studied theology at

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

and at Münster. Feeling uncertain, however, as to his ecclesiastical calling, he abandoned his desire of entering the priesthood, and took up the study of

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 ...

. In 1877 he graduated as doctor of philosophy with the dissertation: "Widukind, der Sachsenführer nach Geschichte und Sage" (Münster, 1877). Excessive study led to grave pulmonary disease. For some time he taught in the public schools of Münster, Arnsberg, and Aachen, developing in the meantime his historical training. Evidence of this was his ''Vitae S. Ludgeri'' (Geschichtsquellen des Bistums Münster, IV, Münster, 1881). In 1881 the Westfalischer Verein fur Geschichte und Altertumskunde confided to him the continuation of the ''Westfälisches Urkundenbuch''. He returned to Münster and in 1882 he became ''

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

'' for history there. Previously, however, he spent a year at Vienna for improvement in diplomatics at the "Institut fur oesterreichische Geschichtsforschung" under the direction of

Theodor von Sickel Theodor von Sickel (18 December 1826 – 21 April 1908) was a German-Austrian historian born in Aken, Province of Saxony, Kingdom of Prussia. He specialized in early European medieval history, and is considered to be the founder of modern dipl ...

. At Easter, 1883, he began his teaching at Münster, continuing at the same time his historical investigations, specially on Westphalian documents, the history of the

papal chancery The Apostolic ChanceryCanon 260, ''Code of Canon Law'' of 1917, translated by Edward N. Peters, Ignatius Press, 2001. ( la, Cancellaria Apostolica; also known as the "Papal" or "Roman Chanc(ell)ery") was a dicastery of the Roman Curia at the serv ...

, and

papal diplomatics Papal diplomatics is the scholarly and critical study (diplomatics) of the authentic documents of the papacy, largely to distinguish them from spurious documents. The study emerges in the Middle Ages and has been further refined in the centuries s ...

. In 1885 he published at Münster the first part of the supplement of the ''Westfälisches Urkundenbuch''. In the autumn of this year he went to Rome, chiefly to collect in the Vatican archives the material for the large works he had in mind. He died of

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

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 ...

while working there, and was buried in the German Campo Santo near St. Peter's. Diekamp also published between 1878 and 1885 several important studies in different reviews concerning the history of the Middle Ages and diplomatics or official style of the medieval papal documents.

References

*Hulskamp in Literarischer Handlweiser (1886), 1-10 *Schulte in Historisches Jahrbuch (1886), 266-277 *Dahlmann in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, Nachtrage bis /899 (Leipzig, 1903), XLVII, 679 sq.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diekamp, Wilhelm 1854 births 1885 deaths People from Geldern Deaths from typhoid fever 19th-century German historians 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers