Johannes Janssen

John Janssen ( born April 10, 1829 in Xanten, † December 24, 1891 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German Catholic priest and historian.

Life

He started at age 14 on his father's wish an apprenticeship as a coppersmith, but was allowed to visit the school and later went to high school in Recklinghausen. As Obersekundarier but he eventually attended the church school in Xanten (today Stiftsgymnasium Xanten ). He then studied theology in Münster and lions. In 1851 he decided to go to the science of history. He studied in Bonn, where he received his doctorate in 1853 with a thesis on the Abbot of Stavelot and Corvey Wibald. In 1854 he qualified as a professor in Münster.

Because of his friendship with the Frankfurt historian Johann Friedrich Böhmer he decided to follow a reputation as a professor of history at the Municipal Gymnasium in Frankfurt am Main. He was ordained priest in 1860. Upon the death Böhmers Janssen took a vacation for a longer period of study in Rome. An offer to enter into the diplomatic service of the Curia, he struck out, however, but returned to Frankfurt in the teaching profession.

Although he had developed in the 1860s, a prussia friendly attitude, he walked under the influence of the Kulturkampf for a determined critic. In 1875 he had himself selected for the Centre Party in the constituency Montjoie- Schleiden- Malmedy a member of the Prussian House of Representatives. However, as early as autumn 1876, he resigned and withdrew again to the Frankfurt School. In 1880 he was appointed by Pope Leo XIII. appointed Apostolic prothonotary ( highest level of Honorary Prelate ).

Since 1854 Janssen was a member of the Catholic Leseverein Berlin, now KStV Askania Burgundia in CT.

On December 24, 1891 Janssen died in Frankfurt am Main. His grave is located in the Frankfurt 's main cemetery.

Work

Janssen was one of the main representatives of a so-called ultramontane history and was at the time also as the most important Catholic historians. He was strongly influenced by the early history of Ignaz von Dollinger. His great work is The History of the German people since the end of the Middle Ages. 8 volumes. Freiburg from 1878 to 1894. In this work, he was a staunch opponent of the Lutheran Reformation, and tried to prove that the Protestants would have been responsible for the social, political and religious unrest in Germany during the 16th and 17th century. He tried through his connections with the Catholic Centre Party, not without success, to transfer his history of the German people to the politics of the day. His conception led to numerous controversies in particular on the part of Protestants, including with August Ebrard, Max Lenz, Hermann Baumgarten, he A word to my critics, Freiburg 1882., and a second word to my critics, Freiburg 1883 even made ​​public with the works. . Frequently in the debates, the scientific objectivity was overshadowed by the passionate excitement that characterized the period after the Kulturkampf. This was true of the history of both denominational camp in equal measure. One of the few Protestant historian, who - of course, to approve without the basic trend of conception of history Janssens - worked to an objective classification of the work of Janssen, William Maurenbrecher was. He, too, had experienced the excitement of the years themselves. Maurenbrecher raised - in contrast to the usual criticism of the Protestant side - but the expressive source language and the penetration of the substance at Janssen out. He praised Janssens efforts to the representation of the negative consequences of the Reformation, which tended to be overlooked in his time Protestant church historian, historians, and theologians like it if he did not share the one-sided view. However Maurenbrecher reaped no little criticism with his history of the Catholic Reformation in 1880, both Catholic side Alfons Belle Home, Franz Dittrich and on the part of Protestants such as August Ebrard and Hermann Baumgarten. Despite some unilateral tendencies in his work, the meaning has not been provided by Janssens works deny. The numerous editions that are not themselves reached Leopold von Ranke, confirm that impressive. His influence must be regarded as long-lasting. He can still be felt in the 1920s, although a decrease in sectarian tensions already emerging during the First World War. Important Catholic representative of a new image Luther in the 20th century are Adolf Hertel, Joseph Lortz, Hubert Jedin, Erwin Iserloh, Peter and Otto Hermann Pesch 's. This is from the Protestant side also recognized such as Gottfried Maron.

Janssen has been in the German historiography of particular importance, because it - before Karl Lamprecht - the first is, who wrote a kind of social history. He was concerned about the appearance of the negative consequences of the Reformation. He went so far as to the thesis that the Reformation a "Flower of the Late Middle Ages" zunichtemachte. Janssen it was based on the history of art, where at this time a heyday was really seeing. However, he overlooked the need to reform the Church and the late medieval society. He raised deliberately highlighted weaknesses of the Reformation and avoided services and modern achievements of the era - especially among the Protestants - emphasized.

One of the most important representatives of this later conception of history was Ludwig von Pastor. This Janssen also maintained close contact. Other important representatives were Grisar Hartmann and Heinrich Denifle.

The significant for the Indian church history and missionary Archbishop Alois Benziger (1864-1942) was a young man, in Frankfurt, a private student of John Janssen.

Janssens major works

• The history of the German people since the end of the Middle Ages (8 vols, Freiburg, 1878-1894 ), who has experienced numerous issues, has been extended and improved by Ludwig Pastor. The greater part of it was continued even translated into English by MA Mitchell and A. M. Christie London, 1896 ff
• Frankfurt Reich Correspondence, 1376 1519, Freiburg 1863-1872.
• Schiller as a historian, 2 neubearb. Ed, Freiburg, 1879.
• France Rhine appetites and anti-German policy in earlier centuries, 2nd edition, Freiburg 1883.
• John Friedrich Böhmer's life and beliefs: edited after the author's larger work: " John Friedrich Böhmer's life, letters, and smaller fonts, Freiburg, 1869.
• John Friedrich Böhmer's life, letters, and smaller fonts, Freiburg 1868.