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HAGEN, FRIEDRICH HEINRICH VON DER (178o-1856), German philologist, chiefly distinguished for his researches in Old German literature, was born at Schmiedeberg in Brandenburg on the 19th of February 1780. After studying law at the university of Halle, he obtained a legal appointment in the state service at Berlin, but in 18o6 resigned this office in order to devote himself exclusively to letters. In 1810 he was appointed professor extraordinarius of German literature in the university of Berlin; in the following year he was transferred in a similar capacity to Breslau, and in 1821 returned to Berlin as professor ordinaries. He died at Berlin on the 11th of June 1856. Although von der Hagen's critical work is now entirely out of date, the chief merit of awakening an interest in old German poetry belongs to him.
His principal publications are the Nibelungenlied, of which he issued four editions, the first in 1810 and the last in 1842; the Minnesinger (Leipzig, 1838–1856, 4 vols. in 5 parts) ; Lieder der altern Edda (Berlin, 1812) ; Gottfried von Strassburg (Berlin, 1823) ; a collection of Old German tales under the title Gesamtabenteuer (Stuttgart, 1850, 3 vols.) and Das Heldenbuch (Leipzig, 1855). He also published fiber die altesten Darstellungen der Faustsage (Berlin, 1844); and from 1835 he edited Das neue Jahrbuch der Berlinischen Gesellschaft fur deutsche Sprache and Altertumskunde. His correspondence with C. G. Heyne and G. F. Benecke was published by K. Dziatzko (Leipzig, 1893).