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

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

Biography

From 1832 he studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

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 Georg Waitz (9 October 1813 – 24 May 1886) was a German medieval historian and politician. Waitz is often spoken of as the leading disciple of Leopold von Ranke, though perhaps he had more affinity with Georg Heinrich Pertz or Friedrich Chris ...

(1813–1886), Wilhelm von Giesebrecht (1814–1889) and Siegfried Hirsch (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 in Berlin and eventually became associated with the ''

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The (Latin for "Historical Monuments of Germany"), frequently abbreviated MGH, is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of parts of Northwestern, Central and Souther ...

''. 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 Romanticism, Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck w ...

(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 were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

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

Widukind of Corvey Widukind of Corvey (c. 925after 973; , in italian ''Vitichindo Sacco di Corvey'', in Latin VVITICHINDI SAXO) was a medieval Saxon chronicler. His three-volume '' Res gestae Saxonicae sive annalium libri tres'' is an important chronicle of 10th-cen ...

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

Hrotsvitha Hrotsvitha (–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 writer ...

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 Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Frankish ( German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son of Henry the Fowler and Matilda ...

); 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 Ferdinand Dümmler, a Berlin bookseller. He studied law, classical philology and history, among other things, ...

(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 (publisher), Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), who had founded the publishing hous ...

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