Richard Otto Zöpffel was a German church historian and theologian born in Arensburg, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 (today Kuressaare, Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

).

He studied theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 in Dorpat, and history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 at the University of Göttingen under Georg Waitz

Georg Waitz

Georg Waitz was a German historian and politician.He was born at Flensburg, in the duchy of Schleswig and educated at the Flensburg gymnasium and the universities of Kiel and Berlin...

 (1813-1886). In 1871 he published Die Papstwahlen vom 11. bis 14. Jahrhundert (Papal Electrons from the 11th to 14th Centuries), and based on this work received his doctorate in Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

. Shortly afterwards he was appointed associate professor of church history at the University of Strasbourg

University of Strasbourg

The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....

, becoming a full professor in 1877. In 1887-88 he was rector of the university.

With Heinrich Julius Holtzmann

Heinrich Julius Holtzmann

Heinrich Julius Holtzmann , German Protestant theologian, son of Karl Julius Holtzmann , was born at Karlsruhe, where his father ultimately became prelate and counsellor to the supreme consistory....

 (1832–1910) he created the influential Theologie und Kirchenwesen (Glossary of Theology, first edition-1882), and contributed many articles to the Realencyklopädie of Herzog, Plitt, and Hauck.