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WAITZ, GEORG (1813-1886)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 247 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WAITZ, GEORG (1813-1886) , See also:German historian, was See also:born at Flensburg, in the duchy of See also:Schleswig, on the 9th of See also:October 1813. He was educated at the Flensburg gymnasium and the See also:universities of See also:Kiel and See also:Berlin. The See also:influence of See also:Ranke See also:early diverted him from his See also:original purpose of studying See also:law, and while still a student he began that See also:series of researches in German See also:medieval See also:history which was to be his See also:life's See also:work. On graduating at Berlin in See also:August 1836, Waitz went to See also:Hanover to assist See also:Pertz in the See also:great See also:national work of See also:publishing the Monumenta Germaniae historica; and the See also:energy and learning he displayed in that position won him a See also:summons to the See also:chair of history at Kiel in 1842. The See also:young See also:professor soon began to take an See also:interest in politics, and in 1846 entered the provincial See also:diet as representative of his university. His leanings were strongly German, so that he became somewhat See also:obnoxious to the Danish See also:government, a fact which made an invitation in 1847 to become professor of history at See also:Gottingen peculiarly acceptable. The See also:political events of 1848-1849, however, delayed his See also:appearance in his new chair. When the German party in the See also:northern duchies See also:rose against the Danish government, Waitz hastened to See also: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 See also:absence he was elected by Kiel as a delegate to the national See also:parliament at See also:Frankfort. Waitz was an adherent of the party who were eager to bring about a See also:union of the German states under a German See also:emperor; and when the See also:king of See also:Prussia declined the imperial See also:crown the professor withdrew from the See also:assembly in disappointment, and ended his active See also:share in public life. In the autumn of 1849 Waitz began his lectures at Gottingen. His See also:style of speaking was dry and uninteresting; but the See also:matter of his lectures was so See also:practical and his teaching so See also:sound that students were attracted in crowds to his lecture-See also:room, and the reputation of the Gottingen See also:historical school spread far and wide.

At the same See also:

time Waitz's See also:pen was not idle, and his See also:industry is to be traced in the See also:list of his See also:works and in the Proceedings of the different historical See also:societies to which he belonged. In 1875 Waitz removed to Berlin to succeed Pertz as See also:principal editor of the Monuments Germaniae historica. In spite of advancing years the new editor-threw himself into the work with all his former vigour, and took journeys to See also:England, See also:France and See also:Italy 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 See also:Schelling the philosopher, and in 1858 to a daughter of See also:General von See also:Hartmann. Waitz is often spoken of as the See also:chief See also:disciple of Ranke, though perhaps in general characteristics and See also:mental attitudehe has more See also:affinity with Pertz or See also:Dahlmann. His See also:special domain was medieval German history, and he rarely travelled beyond it. Waitz's chief works, apart from his contributions to the Monumenta, are:—Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte (8 vols., Kiel, 1844–1878; 2nd ed., 2 vols. only, 1865–187o) ; Schleswig-Holsteins Geschichte (2 vols., Gottingen, 1851–1854; the 3rd vol. was never published); See also:Lubeck unter Jurgen Wullenwever and See also:die europdische Politik (3 vols. ; Berlin, 1855–1856); and Grundziige der Politik (Kiel, 1862). Among his smaller works, which, however, indicate the See also:line of his researches, are the following: Jahrbiicher See also:des deutschen Reichs unter Heinrich I. (Berlin, 1837, 3rd ed., 1885) ; Uber das Leben and die Lehre des Ulfila (Hanover, 184o); Das alte Recht der salischen Franken (Kiel, 1846); and Deutsche Kaiser von Karl dem Grossen bis See also:Maximilian (Berlin, 1872). In See also:conjunction with other scholars Waitz took a leading See also:part in the publication of the Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte (See also:Munich, 1862 seq.), and in the Nordalbingische Studien, published in the Proceedings of the Schleswig-See also:Holstein Historical Society (Kiel, 1844–1851).

A Bibliographische Ubersicht fiber Waitz's Werke was published by E. Steindorff at Gottingen 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 Akademie der Wissenschaften, the Gottingen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, and the Hansischer Geschichtsverein; in the Historisches Jahrbuch der See also:

GOrres Gesellschaft, vol. viii. ; and in the Revue historique, vol. xxxi.

End of Article: WAITZ, GEORG (1813-1886)

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