February 23, 1011 Death of St. Willigis von Mainz ( ? – 1011) St. Willigis was born to the family of a wagon builder in a village in Lower Saxony, Germany. He became the chancellor of Germany under the emperor Otto I. In 975 he became the Archbishop of Mainz. In 975 he was named the Primate of Germany by Pope Benedict VII. It was he who crowned … [Read more...]

February 22, 1455 Birth of Johannes Reuchlin in Pforzheim, Germany. Reuchlin was a scholar of ancient Greek and Latin who also developed a keen interest in Hebrew language and literature. In 1509 the Cologne Dominican, Johannes Pfefferkorn, persuaded the emperor to order the destruction of Hebrew books because they were a danger to Christianity. … [Read more...]

February 21, 1866 Birth of August von Wassermann (1866-1925) in Bamberg, Germany. Wassermann was the bacteriologist who discovered the blood-serum test for syphilis, the Wassermann test. He worked at the Robert Koch Institute of Infectious Diseases in Berlin. February 21, 1867 Birth of Otto Hermann Kahn (1867-1934) in Mannheim, … [Read more...]

February 20, 1751 Birth of Johann Heinrich Voss in Sommersdorf, Germany. A poet, Voss became a leader of the poets' association, the "Göttinger Hain", in Göttingen. Although he wrote poetry of merit, he is perhaps most remembered for his translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey into German. February 20, 1755 Birth of Hans Reinhard in … [Read more...]

February 19, 1199 A bull of Pope Innocent III assigns the uniform of the white tunic with a black cross to the Teutonic Knights. The uniform was worn by them during the crusades, in their later Crusades against pagans in Eastern Europe, through their governance of Prussia and continues to be their emblem in present time. February 19, … [Read more...]