WILHELM

WATTENBACH (1819–1897)  , German historian, was born at Ranzau in Holstein on the 22nd of September 1819 . He studied philology at the universities of Bonn, Gottingen and Berlin, and in 1843 he began to work upon the Monumenta Germaniae histories' . In 1855 he was appointed archivist at Breslau; in 1862 he became professor of history at Heidelberg, and ten years later professor at Berlin, where he was a member of the directing body of the Monumenta and 'a member of the Academy . He died at Frankfort on the 21st of September 1897 . Wattenbach was distinguished by his thorough knowledge of the chronicles and other original documents of the middle ages, and his most valuable work was done in this field . His principal book, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter bis zur Mitte des 13 . Jahrhunderts, is unrivalled as a guide to the sources of the history of Germany in the middle ages; this was first published in 1858, and has passed through several editions . Cognate works are his Anleitung zur lateinischen Palaographie (Leipzig, 1869, and again 1886) ; and Das Schriftwesen im Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1871, and again 1896) . Wattenbach also wrote Beitrdge zur Geschichte der christlichen Kirche in Bohmen and Mahsen (Vienna, 1849); Geschichte des romischen Papsttums (Berlin, 1876) ; and Anleitung zur griechischen Palaographie (Leipzig, 1867, and again 1895) .