Johannes Fried is a German historian and mediaevalist.

Fried studied at the University of Heidelberg, where he obtained his doctorate in 1970 and his habilitation

Habilitation

Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...

 in 1977. He was professor at the University of Cologne

University of Cologne

The University of Cologne is one of the oldest universities in Europe and, with over 44,000 students, one of the largest universities in Germany. The university is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, an association of Germany's leading research universities...

 1980-1983 and holds the Chair of Mediaeval History at the University of Frankfurt am Main since 1983. He has been visiting Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study

Institute for Advanced Study

The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...

 in Princeton

Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...

 1995-1996.

Fried is a member of several learned societies and was president of the Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands (German Society of Historians) 1996-2000.

Theses

Johannes Fried considers Notger von Lüttich, not Johannes Canaparius, as the author of Vita sancti Adalberti episcopi Pragensis on Adalbert von Prag (* 956 - † 997), written around 1000, which for the first time mentions Danzig/Gdansk as „urbs Gyddanyzc“.

Publications

(Only monographs are listed below)

• Die Entstehung des Juristenstandes im 12. Jahrhundert. Zur sozialen und politischen Bedeutung gelehrter Juristen in Bologna und Modena, Diss. phil. Heidelberg 1970 (Forschungen zur neueren Privatrechtsgeschichte 21), Köln, Wien 1974.

• Der päpstliche Schutz für Laienfürsten. Die politische Geschichte des päpstlichen Schutzprivilegs für Laien (11.-13. Jahrhundert) (Abhandlungen der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Kl., Jg. 1980, Nr. 1), Heidelberg 1980.

• Otto III. und Boleslaw Chrobry. Das Widmungsbild des Aachener Evangeliars, der "Akt von Gnesen" und das frühe polnische und ungarische Königtum. Eine Bildanalyse und ihre historischen Folgen (Frankfurter Historische Abhandlungen 30), Stuttgart 1989. (2nd revised edition published in Stuttgart 2001.)

• Die Formierung Europas 840-1046 (Oldenbourg Grundriß der Geschichte 6), München 1991, ²1993.

• Der Weg in die Geschichte. Die Ursprünge Deutschlands bis 1024 (Propyläen Geschichte Deutschlands 1), Berlin 1994.

• Kaiser Friedrich II
  Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
  Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
  
  . als Jäger oder ein zweites Falkenbuch Kaiser Friedrichs II. (Nachrichten der Akademie, phil.-hist. Kl. 4), Göttingen 1996. Auch erschienen in: Esculum e Federico II. L'imperatore e la città: per una rilettura dei percorsi della memoria. Atti del Convegno di studio svoltosi in occasione della nona edizione del "Premio internazionale Ascoli Piceno", Ascoli Piceno, 14-16 dicembre 1995, hg. v. Enrico Menestò, Spoleto 1998, S. 33-86

• Aufstieg aus dem Untergang. Apokalyptisches Denken und die Entstehung der modernen Naturwissenschaft im Mittelalter, München 2001.

• Les fruits de l'Apocalypse. Origenes de la pensée scientifique moderne au Moyen Âge. Avec une préface de Jean-Claude Schmitt, traduit par Denise Modigliani, Paris 2004.

• Die Aktualität des Mittelalters. Gegen die Überheblichkeit unserer Wissensgesellschaft, Sigmaringen 2003.

• Der Schleier der Erinnerung. Grundzüge einer historischen Memorik, München 2004.

Fried has also published a large number of book chapters and articles in journals.