Erich Gritzner (7 April 1874, in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

– 10 November 1963, in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

) was a German

heraldist Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their Lineage (anthropology), lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family ...

and sigillographer, known for his research of

German nobility The German nobility () and Royal family, royalty were status groups of the Estates of the realm, medieval society in Central Europe, which enjoyed certain Privilege (law), privileges relative to other people under the laws and customs in the Ger ...

. He was the son of heraldist

Maximilian Gritzner Adolf Maximilian Ferdinand Gritzner (29 July 1843 – 10 July 1902) was a German expert on heraldry and a herald in the Ministry of the Interior in Berlin. His reference book on orders of knighthood was still in print in 2000. Gritzner was bor ...

(1843–1902). He studied at the universities of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

and

, receiving his doctorate at Leipzig in 1901. From 1903 he worked as a research assistant at the Hauptstaatsarchiv and the Ernestinischen Gesamtarchiv in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

, then in 1907/08 served as an archival assistant for the district archives of

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

. From 1911 to 1920 he worked in the Saxon commission for nobility, and eventually was named "heraldmeister" in the Ministry of the Interior at Dresden.

Selected writings

* ''Symbole und Wappen des alten deutschen Reiches'', 1901 – Symbols and crests of the old German Empire. * ''Sphragistik, Heraldik deutsche Münzgeschichte'' (with Theodor Ilgen, 1906) –

Sphragistics Sigillography, also known by its Greek-derived name, sphragistics, is the scholarly discipline that studies the wax, lead, clay, and other seals used to authenticate archival documents. It investigates not only aspects of the artistic design ...

, heraldry and German coinage. * ''Heraldik'', 1906 – Heraldry. * ''Die Siegel der deutschen Universitäten in Deutschland, Oesterreich und der Schweiz'', (with Hans Gritzner, 1906) – The seals of the German universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; part of the series: ''J. Siebmacher's grosses und allgemeines Wappenbuch'' (" Johann Siebmacher's great and general

armorial A roll of arms (or armorial) is a collection of coat of arms, coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms. The oldest extant armorials date to the m ...

").Most widely held works by Erich Gritzner
WorldCat Identities

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gritzner, Erich 1874 births 1963 deaths Writers from Berlin Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Leipzig University alumni German heraldists German genealogists German archivists