1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Schlosser, Friedrich Christoph
SCHLOSSER, FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH (1776-1861), German
historian, was born at Jever in East Friesland on the 17th of
November 1776. He took up the study of theology, mainly
at Göttingen, and began life as a private tutor. Turning to the
study of history, he carried with him the tendency to construct
his syntheses upon the scanty basis of 18th-century generalizations;
yet in spite of the growing scientific school he became
and remained for a quarter of a century the most popular German
historian. In 1807, inspired by his study of Dante, he published
his first work Abälard und Dulcin, a defence of scholasticism
and medieval thought. Two years later biographical studies
of Theodore Beza and Peter Martyr Vermili (Leben des Theodor
de Beza und des Peter Martyr Vermili, Heidelberg, 1809) revealed
more genuine scholarship. In 1812 appeared his History of
the Iconoclastic Emperors of the East (Geschichte der bilderstürmenden
Kaiser des oströmischen Reichs), in which he controverted
some points in Gibbon and sought to avoid painting the
past in present-day colours. His own strong predispositions
prevented him from accomplishing this, however, and the
history remains open to grave scientific criticism. But it won
for him the favour of Archbishop Karl Theodor Dalberg, and
secured for him a professorship in the Frankfort Lyceum. He
left Frankfort in 1819 to become professor of history at Heidelberg,
where he resided until his death on the 23rd of September
1861.

In 1815 appeared the first volume of his World History
(Weltgeschichte in zusammenhängender Erzählung). This work,
though never completed, was extended through many volumes,
bespeaking an inexhaustible energy and a vast erudition. But
it lacks both accuracy of fact and charm of style, and is to-day
deservedly quite forgotten. On the other hand a translation of
the pedagogical handbook of Vincent of Beauvais and the
accompanying monograph are still of value. The next
noteworthy work was a history of antiquity and its culture (Universal-historische
Übersicht der Geschichte der alten Welt und ihrer
Kultur, 1st part, 1826; 2nd part, 1834), which, while revealing
little knowledge of the new criticism of sources inaugurated
by F. A. Wolf and B. G. Niebuhr, won its way by its unique
handling of the subject and its grand style. In 1823 he published
in two volumes a Geschichte des 18ten Jahrhunderts; then, enlarged
and improved, this work appeared in six volumes as Geschichte
des 18ten Jahrhunderts und des 19ten bis zum Sturz des französischen
Kaiserreichs (1836-1848). The history had a most extraordinary
success, especially among the common people, owing, not to
its scientific qualities, but to the fact that the author boldly
and sternly sat in judgment upon men and events, and in his
judgments voiced the feelings of the German nation in his day.
For this very reason it is no longer read. It has been translated
into English by D. Davison (8 vols., 1843-1852). Finally,
Schlosser undertook a popular World History for the German
People (Weltgeschichte für das deutsche Volk, 1844-1857), which
also enjoyed the favour of those for whom it was written.

Schlosser stands apart from the movement towards scientific
history in Germany in the 19th century. Refusing to limit
himself to political history, as did Ranke, he never learned to
handle his literary sources with the care of the scientific historian.
History was to him, as it had been to Cicero, a school for morals;
but he had perhaps a juster conception than Ranke of the breadth
and scope of the historian's field.