January 27, 1701 Birth of Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim (pseudonym: Justinus Febronius) in Trier, Germany. Hontheim, a Roman Catholic priest, was a historian and theologian. He was a professor at the University of Trier and in 1748 became an auxiliary bishop of Trier. In 1763 under the pseudonym, Justinus Febronius, he published a book, De Statu … [Read more...]

January 26, 1781 Birth of Achim von Arnim (1781-1831) in Berlin, Germany. Von Arnim was one of the outstanding writers of the Romantic period of German literature. He studied at the University of Heidelberg. His best known work is a collection of folk poetry, Des Knaben Wunderhorn (1808). January 26, 1795 Death of Johann Christoph … [Read more...]

January 25, 1366 Death of Heinrich Seuse (also spelled Suso in some texts) (original name Heinrich von Berg) in Ulm, Germany. Seuse, a Dominican, was one of the outstanding mystics in German religious history. He studied under another great mystic, Meister Eckehart in Cologne. He came under criticism and attack when he held to the positions of … [Read more...]

January 24, 1076 The Holy Roman Emperor writes a letter to Pope Gregory VII condemning him as a usurper of the papacy. January 24, 1679 Birth of Christian Freiherr von Wolff in Breslau, Germany (now in Poland). Wolff was a philosopher and mathematician of the Enlightenment. He studied with Leibniz and on his recommendation was appointed to … [Read more...]

January 23, 1002 Death of Otto III, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in Viterbo, Italy (born in Germany in 980). As a child, Otto was crowned King of the Germans in Aachen in 983 following the death of his father, Otto II. In 996 he led his army to Rome to assist Pope John XV who was facing an insurrection by the forces of Crescentius. By the … [Read more...]

January 22, 1729 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781) born in Kamenz, Germany. Lessing was the dominant literary figure of the early 18th century in Germany. He was a dramatist, aesthetic philosopher and critic. Significant works by Lessing include Laokoon: oder uber die Grenzen der Malerei und Poesie (1766), Minna von Barnhelm (1767), … [Read more...]

January 21, 1521 Martin Luther excommunicated by Roman Catholic Church. January 21, 1794 Birth of Adolf Ludwig Follen (1794-1855) in Giessen, Germany. Follen was a romantic poet. Involved politically during his student years, he was expelled from the University of Giessen in 1815. In Heidelberg he became one of the founders of the … [Read more...]

January 20, 1488 Birth of Sebastian Münster (1488-1582) in Ingelheim, Germany. Münster was professor of Hebrew at the University of Basel after 1527. His major contribution to scholarship was his Cosmographia, published in 1544. That book, proceeding from the geography of Ptolemy, represented a revival of the science of geography in Germany, … [Read more...]