Klaus von See (10 August 1927 – 30 August 2013) was a German philologist who specialized in

Germanic studies Germanic philology is the philological study of the Germanic languages, particularly from a comparative or historical perspective. The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary te ...

Biography

Klaus von See was born in the village of Altendorf, Brome, Germany on 10 August 1927. He studied history,

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 ...

and Scandinavian philology at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

, receiving his doctorate there under the supervision of historian

Hermann Aubin Hermann Aubin (23 September 1885 – 11 March 1969) was an Austrian-German historian. Biography Hermann Aubin was born in Liberec, Reichenberg, Austrian Empire, Austria on 23 December 1885. His father was a wealthy factory owner. The Aubin famil ...

in 1953. After completing his legal studies, von See became greatly interested in Germanic and Scandinavian philology, and in 1957 he took up a position as an assistant at the Germanic Seminar the University of Hamburg. von See

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

in 1962 with the thesis ''Altnordische Rechtswörter. Philologische Studien zur Rechtsauffassung und Rechtsgesinnung der Germanen'', which examined terminology in

early Germanic law Germanic law is a scholarly term used to describe a series of commonalities between the various law codes (the ''Leges Barbarorum'', 'laws of the barbarians', also called Leges) of the early Germanic peoples. These were compared with statements i ...

, particularly

Medieval Scandinavian law Medieval Scandinavian law, also called North Germanic law, was a subset of Germanic law practiced by North Germanic peoples. It was originally memorized by lawspeakers, but after the end of the Viking Age they were committed to writing, mostly by M ...

. His thesis was supervised by Hans Kuhn. The same year, von See was appointed Professor of Germanic Philology at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

. Here von See expanded the Nordic Department of the German Seminar, and 1976 he created an Institute for Scandinavian Studies under his leadership. von See specialized in the study of

Old Norse literature Old Norse literature refers to the vernacular literature of the Scandinavian people up to c. 1350. It mainly consists of Icelandic writings. In Britain From the 8th to the 15th centuries, Vikings and Norse settlers and their descendants colon ...

. He was the author of several works on Old Norse literature and

. von See was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the

Order of the Falcon The Order of the Falcon () is the only order of chivalry in Iceland, founded by Christian X of Denmark, King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland on 3 July 1921. The award is awarded for merit for Iceland and humanity and has five degrees. Nowaday ...

, a Knight of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...

, and an Honorary Life Member of the

Viking Society for Northern Research The Viking Society for Northern Research is a group dedicated to the study and promotion of the ancient culture of Scandinavia. Founded in London in 1892 as the Orkney, Shetland and Northern Society or the Viking Club, its name was changed in 1902 ...

. von See retired from the Goethe University Frankfurt in 1995. He died 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 ...

on 30 August 2013.

Selected works

* ''Altnordische Rechtswörter. Philologische Studien zur Rechtsauffassung und Rechtsgesinnung der Germanen'' (Hermaea. New Series, vol. 16). Niemeyer, Tübingen 1962 (habilitation thesis). * ''Germanische Verskunst'' (Sammlung Metzler). Metzler, Stuttgart 1967. * ''Deutsche Germanen-Ideologie. Vom Humanismus bis zur Gegenwart''. Athenäum-Verlag, Frankfurt/M. 1970. * ''Germanische Heldensage. Stoffe, Probleme, Methoden; eine Einführung''. 2. edition. VG Athenaion, Wiesbaden 1981, (first edition: Wiesbaden 1971). * ''Barbar, Germane, Arier. Die Suche nach der Identität der Deutschen''. Winter, Heidelberg 1994, . * ''Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda''. Winter, Heidelberg 1997–2019 (7 volumes, together with Beatrice La Farge, Katja Schulz et al.). * ''Europa und der Norden im Mittelalter''. Winter, Heidelberg 1999, . * ''Die Göttinger Sieben. Kritik einer Legende'' (Beiträge zur neueren Literaturgeschichte/3; vol. 155). 3. edition. Winter, Heidelberg 2000, (first edition: Heidelberg 1997). * ''Freiheit und Gemeinschaft. Völkisch-nationales Denken in Deutschland zwischen Französischer Revolution und Erstem Weltkrieg''. Winter, Heidelberg 2001, . * ''Königtum und Staat im skandinavischen Mittelalter''. Winter, Heidelberg 2002, (dissertation, University of Hamburg). * ''Texte und Thesen. Streitfragen der deutschen und skandinavischen Geschichte''. Winter, Heidelberg 2003, (with a preface by Julia Zernack). * ''Ideologie und Philologie. Aufsätze zur Kultur- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte'' (Frankfurter Beiträge zur Germanistik; vol. 44). Winter, Heidelberg 2006, .

Sources

* Gerd Wolfgang Weber (ed.): ''Idee, Gestalt, Geschichte. Studien zur europäischen Kulturtradition. Festschrift Klaus von See''. University Press, Odense 1988, (with a preface ''Zu Werk und Wissenschaft des Germanisten Klaus von See'' and a bibliography of the works by Klaus von Sees until 1988 at pp. 713–719). * ''Bibliographie Klaus von Sees von 1989 bis 2002''. In: ''Texte und Thesen. Streitfragen der deutschen und skandinavischen Geschichte''. Winter, Heidelberg 2003, , pp. 305–309. * ''Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender 2009.'' 22. edition. K. G. Saur, München 2009, . * Notker Hammerstein: ''Die Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main, Bd. 2: Nachkriegszeit und Bundesrepublik 1945–1972''. Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2012, , pp. 567–570. * Julia Zernack: ''Klaus von See 1927–2013.'' In: '' European Journal of Scandinavian Studies'' 44, 1 (2014), pp. 1–3. 1927 births 2013 deaths German philologists Germanic studies scholars Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Knights of the Order of the Falcon Old Norse studies scholars People from Gifhorn (district) University of Hamburg alumni {{Germany-linguist-stub