Julius Ficker or Julius von Ficker or Johann Kaspar Julius Ficker von Feldhaus (30 April 1826 – 10 June 1902) was a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

. In 1898 he was awarded the

Pour le Mérite The (; , ), also informally known as the ''Blue Max'' () after German WWI flying ace Max Immelmann, is an order of merit established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. Separated into two classes, each with their own designs, the was ...

for Sciences and Arts.Johann Kaspar Julius Ficker von Feldhaus
Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste (

Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts Pour is a name which can be used as a surname and a given name: * Kour Pour (born 1987), American artist of Iranian and British descent * Mehdi Niyayesh Pour (born 1992), Iranian footballer * Mojtaba Mobini Pour (born 1991), Iranian footballer * ...

) (in German)

Career

Born at

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

, Ficker studied history and law at

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

, and

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 ...

, and during 1848-49 lived in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, where he was closely associated with the noted historian

Johann Friedrich Böhmer Johann Friedrich Böhmer (22 April 179522 October 1863) was a German historian. His historical work was chiefly concerned with collecting and tabulating charters and other imperial documents of the Middle Ages. Biography Böhmer was born in Fra ...

, who proved himself a generous friend and patron. In 1852 he proceeded to Bonn, but shortly afterwards accepted an invitation from Count Leopold Thun-Hohenstein, the reorganizer of the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n system of education, to settle at

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

as professor of general history. In 1863, however, he joined the faculty of jurisprudence, and his lectures on political and legal history drew around him a large circle of devoted and admiring pupils. In 1866 he was elected member of the

Austrian Academy of Sciences The Austrian Academy of Sciences (; ÖAW) is a legal entity under the special protection of the Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every fi ...

, but retired, after being ennobled by the Emperor of Austria,

Franz Joseph Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...

, in 1879.

The Sybel-Ficker controversy

During the period 1859–1866, triggered by the publication of

Giesebrecht Friedrich Wilhelm von Giesebrecht (5 March 1814 – 17 December 1889) was a German historian. He was born in Berlin, the son of Karl Giesebrecht (died 1832), and a nephew of the poet Ludwig Giesebrecht (1792–1873). He studied under Leopold ...

's ''Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit'', he was engaged in a literary controversy with the historian

Heinrich von Sybel Heinrich Karl Ludolf von Sybel (2 December 1817 – 1 August 1895) was a German historian and politician, who served in the Landtag of Prussia from 1862 to 1864 and from 1874 to 1880. He was a professor at the University of Bonn from 1861 to 1875 ...

on the significance of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. Ficker advocated and defended the theory that Austria, on account of its blending of races, was best fitted as successor of the old empire to secure the political advancement of both Central Europe and of Germany. In support of his theory, he wrote ''Das deutsche Kaiserreich in seinen universalen und nationalen Beziehungen'' (Innsbruck, 1861), and ''Deutsches Königtum und Kaisertum'' (Innsbruck, 1862). As legatee of Böhmer's literary estate, he published the ''Acta Imperii selecta'' (Innsbruck, 1870) and directed the completion and revision of the ''

Regesta Imperii Papal regesta are the copies, generally entered in special registry volumes, of the papal letters and official documents that are kept in the papal archives. The name is also used to indicate subsequent publications containing such documents, in c ...

''.

Death and legacy

Julius von Ficker died in Innsbruck in 1902, aged 76. His sons were also prominent.

Ludwig von Ficker Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname) Ludwig is a surname of German origin. It is derived from the Old High German given name Ludwig, w ...

(1880–1967) was a publisher and essayist who promoted and published the work of his friend,

Georg Trakl Georg Trakl (; 3 February 1887 – 3 November 1914) was an Austrian poet and the brother of the pianist Grete Trakl. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists. He is perhaps best known for his poem " Grodek", which h ...

Heinrich von Ficker Heinrich von Ficker (22 November 1881 – 29 April 1957) was a German-Austrian meteorologist and geophysicist who was a native of Munich. He was the son of historian Julius von Ficker (1826–1902). Career From 1911 he was a professor of met ...

(1881–1957) was a meteorologist, geophysicist and explorer.

Rudolf von Ficker Rudolf (von) Ficker (until 1919, Rudolf Ritter Ficker von Feldhaus; * 11 June 1886 in Munich; † 2 August 1954 in Igls) was an Austrian musicologist. Life Rudolf von Ficker was the son of the historian Julius von Ficker and brother of author/pu ...

(1886–1954) was a musicologist.

Works

Ficker's numerous and important works extend over three branches of scientific history: political and legal history and the science of

diplomatics Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents, especially historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, pr ...

. In each division he discovered new methods of investigation. Among his writings those of especial note are:

Political history

* (Cologne, 1850) * (Münster, 1851) * (Cologne, 1853) * (Vienna, 1855).

Legal history

* (Vienna, 1857) * (Innsbruck 1859) * (Innsbruck, 1861) * (4 vols., Innsbruck, 1868–74) * (3 vols., Innsbruck, 1891–97).

Diplomatics

* (2 vols., Innsbruck, 1877–78).

References

Sources

External links

Julius von Ficker
aeiou.at. Accessed 18 March 2024. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ficker, Julius von 1826 births 1902 deaths People from Paderborn People from the Province of Westphalia German Roman Catholics 19th-century German historians 19th-century Austrian historians German legal historians Academic staff of the University of Innsbruck University of Bonn alumni University of Münster alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni German expatriates in Austria German male non-fiction writers Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Rectors of universities in Austria