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RITTER VON KARL HEINRICH LANG (1764-1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 172 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RITTER VON KARL HEINRICH LANG (1764-1835)  , German historian, was born on the 7th of
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June 1764 at Balgheim, near
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Nordlingen . From the first he was greatly attracted towards
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historical studies, and this was shown when he began to attend the gymnasium of Oettingen, and in 1782, when he went to the university of
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Altdorf, near Nuremberg . At the same time he studied jurisprudence, and in 1782 became a government clerk at Oettingen . About the same period began his activities as a journalist and publicist . But Lang did not long remain an official . He was of a restless, changeable character, which constantly involved him in
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personal quarrels, though he was equally
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quick to retire from them . In 1788 he obtained a position as private tutor in Hungary, and in 1789 became private secretary to Baron von Biihler, the envoy of
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Wurttemberg at Vienna . This led to further travels and to his entering the service of the prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein . In 1792 Lang again betook himself to a university, this time to
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Gottingen . Here he came under the influence of the historian, Ludwig
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Timotheus Spittler, from whom, as also from Johannes von Muller and Friedrich Schlegel, his historical studies received a fresh impulse . At intervals from 1793 to 18o1 Lang was closely connected with the Prussian statesman Hardenberg, who employed him as his private secretary and archivist, and in 1797 he was
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present with Hardenberg at the congress of Rastadt as secretary to the legation . He was occupied chiefly with affairs of the principalities of Anspach and Bayreuth, newly acquired by Prussia, and especially in the settlement of disputes with Bavaria as to their boundaries .

When in 1805 the principalities became

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part of Bavaria, Lang entered the Bavarian service (18o6), was ennobled in 18o8 and from 1810 to 1817 held the office of archivist in Munich . He again devoted himself with
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great
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enthusiasm to historical studies, which naturally dealt chiefly with Bavarian
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history . He evolved the theory, among other things, that the boundaries of the old counties or pagi (Gaue) were identical with those of the dioceses . This theory was combated in later days, and caused great confusion in the province of historical geography . For the rest, Lang did great service to the study of the history of Bavaria, especially by bringing fresh material from the archives to bear upon it . He also kept up his activity as a publicist, in 1814 defending in a detailed and somewhat biassed pamphlet the policy of the minister Montgelas, and he undertook critical studies in the history of °the
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Jesuits . In 1817 Lang retired from active
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life, and until his
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death, which took place on the 26th of March 1835, lived chiefly in
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Ansbach . Lang is best known through his Memoiren, which appeared at Brunswick in two parts in 1842, and were republished in 1881 in a second edition . They contain much of
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interest for the history of the period, but have to be used with the greatest caution on account of their pronounced tendency to satire . Lang's character, as can be gathered especially from a consideration of his behaviour at Munich, is darkened by many shadows . He did not
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scruple, for instance, to strike out of the lists of witnesses to
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medieval charters, before
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publishing them, the names of families which he disliked . Of his very numerous
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literary productions the following may be mentioned: Beitrdge zur Kenntnis der naliirlichen and politischen Verfassung
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des oettingischen Vaterlandes (1786) ; Ein Votum fiber den Witcher von einem Manne sine veto (1791) ; Historische Entwicklung der deutschen Steuerverfassungen (1793); Historische Priifung des zermeintlichen Alters der deutschen Landstande (1796) ; Neuere Geschichte des Ffirstentums Bayreuth (1486–1603) (1798–1811); Tubellen fiber Flacheninhalt ea'c. and bevorstehende Verluste der deutschen Reichsstdnde .

(On the occasion of the congress of Rastadt, 1798); Der Minister

Graf von Montgelas (1814); Geschichte der Jesuiten in Bayern (1819); and Bayerns Gauen (Nuremberg, 1830) . See K . Th. v . Heigel, Augsburger allgemeine Zeitung for 1878, p . 1969 et seq., 1986 et seq . (Beilage of the 14th and 15th of May) ; F . Muncker, in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, vol. xvii . (1883) ; F . X. v . \Wegele, Geschichte der deutschen Historiographic (1885) . (J .

End of Article: RITTER VON KARL HEINRICH LANG (1764-1835)
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