Henry Denifle

Friedrich Heinrich Suso Denifle - Given Name: Joseph Anton, known as Heinrich - OP ( born January 16, 1844 in Imst (Tirol ), † June 10, 1905 in Munich) was a church historian and Dominicans.

Life and work

From 1870 he served as a lecturer in Graz. In 1876 he became a professor in Graz. Since 1883 he was sub- archivist at the Vatican Archives in Rome, after he had since 1880, Assistant General of the Dominican Order in Rome.

From his historical work is the biography of Martin Luther and Lutheranism with most meaningful. In this, the influence of the historian Johannes Janssen reveals. Like this Denifle distinguished due to the sources of the Vatican Secret Archives of Luther and the Reformation a very negative image. In this way, also expressed temporarily Hartmann Grisar.

The work Denifle experienced severe criticism, especially by controversial today because of their anti-Semitism Protestant theologian Adolf von Harnack and Reinhold Seeberg. Denifle font brought valuable corrections of the Weimar Luther output. The New German Biography ( Volume 3, page 597) stated this: " Luther Denifle work attracted extraordinary attention, and violent opposition Over time, however, the benefits of the work were increasingly recognized. . "

Denifle marked by the early works of Ignaz von Dollinger and Janssen also the culmination of a radical Catholic historiography. During the First World War, the religious tensions decrease though. However, the influence of one's own confessional bond remained palpable.

These topics are treated Denifle dealt with mysticism as well as the culture and history of the Church of the Middle Ages. He also wrote a work on the origin of the medieval universities. Together with Franz Ehrle he published from 1885 to 1900, the seven volumes of the Archive of Literature and Ecclesiastical History of the Middle Ages.

In France Denifle were primarily known for his research on the history of the university. With Emile Chatelain (1851-1933), he handed over the deed book 1889 the University of Paris Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis out. In 1897 he became a corresponding member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. In December 2012, the Académie honored him with an international conference on his work. Denifle received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Münster, Innsbruck and Cambridge.

Quotes

1910

" Specifically, I would like to pay my thanks to the Catholic colleagues who have treated numerous individual questions of the medieval history of dogma with invading diligence and methodological focus. Some of them also have expressly or implicitly those judging of the Reformation rejected in comparison with the Middle Ages, not crowned with the Denifle his scientific life's work, but has been destroyed. "

1957

" Denifle was a man of great modesty and deep faith, of immense erudition, penetrating mental acuity, indestructible work force and unerring instinct, a fearless and relentless fighter for the truth. He has been researching the medieval spirit world, due to the incalculable, unpublished source material in Europe's libraries in the last decades of the 19th century decisive drives and eviction. It also owes Luther research sustainable impact. "

Works

• The emergence of the universities of the Middle Ages up to 1400. (1885), only the first volume appeared.
• Specimina paleogr. Calendar entry. Rome. Pontif. (1888 )
• Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis (4 vols, 1889-1897 ) and Auctarium Chartularii ( 2 vols, 1894-1897 ) in the Google Book Search, Stanford, Volume 1, PDF, 72 MB
• The devastation of the churches, monasteries and hospitals in France in the 15th century (French, 2 vols, 1897 /99)
• Luther and Lutheranism in the first evolution; shown moderate source (1909 )
• The Catholic Church and the destiny of mankind (2nd edition 1905)