Georg Waitz was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 historian

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 study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 and politician.

He was born at Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

, in the duchy of Schleswig and educated at the Flensburg gymnasium and the universities of Kiel

University of Kiel

The University of Kiel is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 23,000 students today...

 and Berlin

Humboldt University of Berlin

The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...

. The influence of Ranke

Leopold von Ranke

Leopold von Ranke was a German historian, considered one of the founders of modern source-based history. Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on primary sources , an emphasis on narrative history and especially international politics .-...

 early diverted him from his original purpose of studying law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, and while still a student he began that series of researches in German medieval history which was to be his life's work.

On graduating at Berlin in August 1836, Waitz went to Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

 to assist Pertz

Georg Heinrich Pertz

thumb|Georg Heinrich PertzGeorg Heinrich Pertz , was a German historian born at Hanover.From 1813 to 1818 he studied at the University of Göttingen, chiefly under A. H. L. Heeren...

 in the great national work of publishing the Monumenta Germaniae historica

Monumenta Germaniae Historica

The Monumenta Germaniae Historica is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published sources for the study of German history from the end of the Roman Empire to 1500.The society sponsoring the series was established by the Prussian reformer Heinrich Friedrich Karl Freiherr vom...

; and the energy and learning he displayed in that position won him a summons to the chair of history at Kiel in 1842. The young professor soon began to take an interest in politics, and in 1846 entered the provincial diet as representative of his university. His leanings were strongly German, so that he became somewhat obnoxious to the Danish government, a fact which made an invitation in 1847 to become professor of history at Göttingen peculiarly acceptable.

The political events of 1848-1849, however, delayed his appearance in his new chair. When the German party in Schleswig and Holstein rose against the Danish government, Waitz hastened to place himself at the service of the provisional government. He was sent to Berlin to represent the interests of the duchies there, and during his absence he was elected by Kiel as a delegate to the Frankfurt Parliament

Frankfurt Parliament

The Frankfurt Assembly was the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany. Session was held from May 18, 1848 to May 31, 1849 in the Paulskirche at Frankfurt am Main...

. Waitz was an adherent of the party who were eager to bring about a union of the German states under a German emperor; and when the king of Prussia declined the imperial crown the professor withdrew from the assembly in disappointment, and ended his active share in public life.

In the autumn of 1849 Waitz began his lectures at Göttingen. His style of speaking was dry and uninteresting; but the matter of his lectures was so practical and his teaching so sound that students were attracted in crowds to his lecture-room, and the reputation of the Göttingen historical school spread far and wide. At the same time Waitz's pen was not idle, and his industry is to be traced in the list of his works and in the Proceedings of the different historical societies to which he belonged.

In 1875 Waitz removed to Berlin to succeed Pertz as principal editor of the Monumenta Germaniae historica. In spite of advancing years the new editor threw himself into the work with all his former vigour, and took journeys to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 to collate works preserved in these countries. He died at Berlin on the 24th of May 1886. He was twice married—in 1842 to a daughter of Schelling the philosopher, and in 1858 to a daughter of General von Hartmann.

Waitz is often spoken of as the chief disciple of Ranke, though perhaps in general characteristics and mental attitude he has more affinity with Pertz or Dahlmann

Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann

Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann was a German historian and politician.He came of an old Hanseatic family of Wismar, then controlled by Sweden...

. His special domain was medieval German history, and he rarely travelled beyond it.

The violinist Joseph Joachim

Joseph Joachim

Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.-Origins:...

 attended Waitz's lectures in 1853.

Works

Waitz's chief works, apart from his contributions to the Monumenta, are:

• Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte (8 vols, Kiel, 1844–1878; 2nd ed., 2 vols only, 1865–1870)
• Schleswig-Holsteins Geschichte (2 vols, Göttingen, 1851–1854; the 3rd vol. was never published)
• Lübeck unter Jürgen Wullenwever und die europäische Politik (3 vols; Berlin, 1855–1856)
• Grundzüge der Politik (Kiel, 1862)

Among his smaller works, which, however, indicate the line of his researches, are the following:

• Jahrbücher des deutschen Reichs unter Heinrich I. (Berlin, 1837, 3rd ed., 1885)
• Über das Leben und die Lehre des Ulfila (Hanover, 1840)
• Das alte Recht der salischen Franken (Kiel, 1846)
• Deutsche Kaiser von Karl dem Grossen bis Maximilian (Berlin, 1872)

In conjunction with other scholars Waitz took a leading part in the publication of the Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte (Munich, 1862 seq.), and in the Nordalbingische Studien, published in the Proceedings of the Schleswig-Holstein Historical Society (Kiel, 1844–1851). A Bibliographische Übersicht über Waitz's Werke was published by Ernst Steindorff

Ernst Steindorff

Ernst Steindorff was a German historian who was a native of Flensburg.He studied history at the Universities of Kiel, Göttingen and Berlin...

at Göttingen in 1886.

Obituary notices of Waitz are to be found in the Historische Zeitschrift, new series, vol. xx.; in the publications for 1886 of the Berlin Academie der Wissenschaften, the Göttingen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, and the Hansischer Geschichtsverein; in the Historisches Jahrbuch der Görres Gesellschaft, vol. viii.; and in the Revue historique, vol. xxxi.

Sources