Johann Heinrich Friedrich Karl Witte (July1, 1800March6, 1883) was a German jurist and scholar of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

Biography

Karl Witte was born in Lochau, now part of

Schkopau Schkopau () is a municipality in the Saalekreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography It is situated at the confluence of the Saale River with its White Elster and Luppe tributaries, approx. north of Merseburg, and south of Halle. ...

. He was the son of pastor Karl Heinrich Gottfried Witte (1767–1845) who encouraged a fairly intense program of learning. When Karl Witte was nine, he spoke German, French, Italian, Latin, and Greek, and on April 10, 1814, at the age of 13, he became a

doctor of philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking world. It is named afte ...

in Germany. As a result, Witte was listed in ''

The Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

'' as the "youngest doctorate", a record that still stands; however, ''The Guinness Book of World Records'' lists his age as 12. Witte was the subject of a book written by his father: ''The Education of Karl Witte: Or, The Training of the Child''. This book attracted criticism and soon fell into oblivion in Germany. He achieved his reputation as a Dante scholar in 1823 with his essay "The Art of Misunderstanding Dante". Witte died in Halle.

References

External links

* * * "The Art of Misunderstanding Dante" in {{DEFAULTSORT:Witte, Johann Heinrich Friedrich Karl 1800 births 1883 deaths Leipzig University alumni German Byzantinists German jurists 19th-century German philosophers Italian–German translators 19th-century German translators Dante scholars Translators of Dante Alighieri