Karl Peter Wilhelm Maurenbrecher (21 December 18386 November 1892,

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 ...

) was a German historian. He was born in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

and studied in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

under

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 ...

and

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 ...

, being especially influenced by the latter historian. After conducting research work at

Simancas Simancas is a town and municipality of central Spain, located in the province of Valladolid, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is situated approximately 10 km southwest of the provincial capital Valladolid, on the ro ...

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 ...

, he successively became an associate and full professor of history at the

University of Dorpat The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

(1867). Afterwards, he attained professorships in history at

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 ...

(1869),

(1877) and

(1884), where he was successor to his late friend Carl von Noorden. As a Protestant historian, Maurenbrecher felt an obligation to treat Catholic history objectively. He shared Ranke's views in regards to the common origin of the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

and

Catholic 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 ...

s. He chose the term "Catholic Reformation" as an indication of it being a positive tendency of reform rather than a defensive reaction to the Protestant Reformation. Maurenbrecher depicted the Dutch scholar

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

as a pioneer and proponent of Catholic reform.Google Books
Man on His Own: Interpretations of Erasmus, C1750-1920, Volume 2 by Bruce Mansfield

Literary works

Many of Maurenbrecher's works are concerned with the Reformation, among them being: * ''England im Reformationszeitalter'' (

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

, 1866) - England and the Age of Reformation. * ''Karl V. und die deutschen Protestanten'' (Düsseldorf, 1865) -

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

and the German Protestants. * ''Studien und Skizzen zur Geschichte der Reformationszeit'' (Leipzig, 1874) - Studies and sketches on the history of the Reformation. * ''Geschichte der Katholischen Reformation'' (

Nördlingen Nördlingen (; Swabian: ''Nearle'' or ''Nearleng'') is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, with a population of approximately 20,674. It is located approximately east of Stuttgart, and northwest of Munich. It was b ...

, 1880, incomplete) - History of the Catholic Reformation. Other writings by Maurenbrecher include: * ''Gründung des deutschen Reiches 1859-1871'' (Leipzig, 1892; 1902) - Founding of the German Empire 1859–1871. * ''Geschichte der deutschen Königswahlen'' (Leipzig, 1889) - History of the German royal elections.

Bibliography

* Wilhelm Busch (Historian): Zur Erinnerung an Wilhelm Maurenbrecher. Neue Bonner Zeitung, Bonn 1893. * Gustav Wolf (Historian): Wilhelm Maurenbrecher. Ein Lebens- und Schaffensbild. Berlin 1893. *

Hubert Jedin Hubert Jedin (17 June 1900, in Groß Briesen, Friedewalde, Silesia – 16 July 1980, in Bonn) was a Catholic Church historian from Germany, whose publications specialized on the history of ecumenical councils in general and the Council of Trent in ...

: Katholische Reformation oder Gegenreformation Luzern 1946. *

Walther Hubatsch Walther Hubatsch (17 May 1915 – 29 December 1984) was a German military historian. He was born in Königsberg in East Prussia. During World War II he served in the German Army. He was appointed professor in Göttingen from 1949, and from 1 ...

: Wilhelm Maurenbrecher. In: Bonner Gelehrte. Geschichtswissenschaften. Bonn 1968, S. 155–161. * Gangolf Hübinger: Maurenbrecher. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie Bd.16. Berlin 1990, S. 433 f. * John C. G. Röhl: Wilhelm II. Die Jugend des Kaisers 1859–1888. München 1993, S. 312–319. * Mario Todte: Wilhelm Maurenbrecher und die Lutherische Reformation. Leipzig 2001. * Mario Todte: Wilhelm Maurenbrecher als Reformationshistoriker. Leipzig 2002. * Mario Todte: Wilhelm Maurenbrecher - Neue Forschungsergebnisse und Einsichten, München-Ravensbrück 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maurenbrecher, Wilhelm 1838 births 1892 deaths 19th-century German historians Writers from Bonn People from the Rhine Province Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Academic staff of the University of Tartu Academic staff of the University of Königsberg Academic staff of the University of Bonn Academic staff of Leipzig University German male non-fiction writers