Ludwig Schmidt (18 July 1862 – 10 March 1944) was a German historian and librarian at the

Saxon State and University Library Dresden The Saxon State and University Library Dresden (full name in ), abbreviated SLUB Dresden, is located in Dresden, Germany. It is both the regional library () for the Federal Republic of Germany, German State of Saxony as well as the academic libr ...

. He is best known for his

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

, '' Die Geschichte der deutschen Stämme bis zum Ausgang der Völkerwanderung'' (1904-1918), which up to the present day remains the standard reference work on the history of the

Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...

in the

Migration Period The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...

Biography

Ludwig Schmidt was born 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 ...

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony () was a German monarchy in Central Europe between 1806 and 1918, the successor of the Electorate of Saxony. It joined the Confederation of the Rhine after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, later joining the German ...

on 18 July 1862. He studied history at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

from 1881 to 1884, during which he developed an interest in

Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

and the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

. Wilhelm Arndt and Heinrich Bernhard Christian Brandes were among his professors. His 1884 dissertation was on the history of the

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

. After his graduation, Schmidt was employed by the

, where he was appointed Senior Librarian in 1919 and Deputy Director in 1921. He received the title of Professor in 1907, was soon afterwards made Corresponding Member of the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences () was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer. In the 18th century, when Frenc ...

and Full Member of the

Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig () is an institute which was founded in 1846 under the name ''Royal Saxon Society for the Sciences'' (). Notable people * Kurt Aland * Annette Beck-Sickinger * Walther Bothe * Alexander Car ...

. Schmidt received the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the

Albert Order The Albert Order () was created on 31 December 1850 by King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony to commemorate Albert III, Duke of Saxony (known as Albert the Bold). It was to be awarded to anyone who had served the state well, for civil virtue, s ...

in 1910. He retired on 31 December 1925.

Research

Ludwig Schmidt specialized in the history of the

during the

. His

, ''Die Geschichte der deutschen Stämme bis zum Ausgang der Völkerwanderung'', was published in 1904–1918. It has since been revised and republished in numerous editions. In the second edition published in 1934, which disagrees with

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

theories, Schmidt spoke out against the politicization of history by the Nazi authorities. Schmidt's book is based almost entirely on primary sources, on which Schmidt had gained a complete overview during his time as a university librarian. From the early 20th century up to modern times, his book has been an essential resource for historians on the history of the Germanic peoples during the Migration Period.. "So bleibt die "Geschichte der deutschen Stämme" zumindest als Stoffslg. unentbehrlich."; . "Wegen ihrer Materialfülle ist diese Publikation noch heute unentbehrlich."; . " en today one cannot study the Goths or any other late antique barbarians without reference to the revised second edition of Ludwig Schmidt’s ''Geschichte der deutschen Stamme'' (‘History of the German Tribes’)..."; . "The Goths are not, of course, a neglected subject. A fine tradition of German scholarship stretches back over a hundred years or more, and Schmidt’s Die Ostgermanen remains quite indispensable." The book is listed by the ''

Oxford Classical Dictionary The ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (''OCD'') is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first pub ...

'' (2012) as a primary resource on the Germanic peoples.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Ludwig 1862 births 1944 deaths Leipzig University alumni German non-fiction writers 20th-century German historians German librarians Germanic studies scholars Writers from Dresden

Biography

Research

See also

References

Sources