LEOPOLD VON RANKE: BIOGRAPHY AND WORKS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) is considered the father of scientific history and the most important historian of German origin of the 19th century. This character was the most renowned living historian at the University of Berlin in the 19th century.

Ranke was considered the precursor of positivism as a method of detailed and historical investigation of the facts. Likewise, in the western world he was greatly influenced by his method of interpreting history through a set of techniques and theories.

The life of Leopold von Ranke was influenced by the Lutheran church and by three characters in particular: by the literary currents of Walter Scott, poet, Scottish publisher and writer of British romanticism; by Barthold Georg Niebuhr, German politician and historian; and by the German poet Johann Gottfried von Herder.

Thanks to his parents, who were Lutheran pastors and lawyers, Leopold von Ranke was a religious person. From a very young age he was taught the teachings of Lutheranism, which awakened in him a passion for the history of Martin Luther.

For this reason, over the years he established a connection between the scientific and the religious: he believed that, through history, there was a connection that served to establish ties that united him more to God.

Biography

Birth

Leopold von Ranke was born on December 21, 1795 in Wiehe - now known as Thuringia - in Germany. He was the son of Lutheran pastors and lawyers and, probably because of this influence, he showed since childhood an interest in the Lutheran church, classical culture, Latin and Greek.

Studies

His first years of studies were carried out at home. There he dedicated himself to studying Latin, Lutheran culture and Greek, among other subjects of study. Later he entered the Schulpforta Institute, where he was perfecting his knowledge related to Latin and Lutheranism.

Upon completing his studies in Schulpforta, in 1814 he entered the University of Leipzig, where his education was taught by such professors as Jakob Hermann and Johann Gottfried.

There he studied humanities, theology and philology. In his student days he showed a marked interest in the classics and Lutheran theology, translated ancient texts from Latin into German, and became an expert in philology.

From student to teacher

From 1817 to 1825 Leopold von Ranke served as a teacher in Frankfurt on the Oder, Brandenburg, Germany. There he taught at the Friedrichs Gymnasium.

It is at this point in his life that he was surprised by the ambiguity, imprecision and inconsistency of the texts that related the stories of the past, and that is when his curiosity began to search for real stories that would explore the true history of the events.

In 1825 he was appointed associate professor at the University of Berlin for his valuable and impeccable career, and from 1834 to 1871 he served as a full professor at the University of Berlin.

In his years as a teacher he taught classes and shared his knowledge on how to verify the value of sources. In addition, this historian implemented the seminar system.

He also taught the importance of telling the facts as they really happened, without nuances, analyzing in depth and without relying on the ordinary texts offered by contemporary history.

Leopold von Ranke's historiographical work was based on the interpretation of scientific research from specific periods and his concern for universality.

His concepts endured, and his contributions contributed greatly to historiography both in Germany and beyond.

Authors who influenced his life

The works of Leopold von Ranke were strongly marked by the influence of Lutheranism and the German philosopher Friedrich Schelling.

On the other hand, and as mentioned above, characters such as the German historiographer Johann Gottfried von Herder, literary critic and philosopher; and Walter Scott, a prolific writer of British romanticism and the forerunner of the modern scientific historical method.

Similarly, Barthold Georg Niebuhr had great influence on Ranke. This character was a German historian, philologist and politician.

Among other authors who were part of his life, Friedrich Schlegel, Dionisio de Halicarnaso, Immanuel Kant and Tito Livio also stand out.

Love life and accolades

Love knocked on Leopold von Ranke's door and he married the Irish Clarissa Helena Graves, in Bowness, England. They were together until the day of his wife's death, in 1871.

Throughout his career he was awarded different recognitions for his laudable work as the greatest representative of positivism.

In 1841, Leopold von Ranke was appointed royal historiographer at the Prussian court and in 1845 he was part of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences. Likewise, in 1884 he was appointed the first honorary member of the American Historical Association.

Death

Leopold von Ranke passed away on May 23, 1886 at the age of 91, in Berlin, Germany. Until very late in his life, he remained lucid and active in his work, both researching and publishing texts.

Plays

In his works you can find an exquisite taste for narrative history and for telling the facts as they really developed, based on primary sources. Leopold von Ranke was the first modern historian to put this dynamic into practice.

On the other hand, Ranke did not support historians and modern texts, believing them to be inaccurate and unreliable. He considered that it should be analyzed more in depth, and that these texts did not quench his thirst for knowledge of history.

Based on these principles, in 1824 Ranke published his first work, called History of the Latin and Germanic peoples from 1494 to 1514. This text describes the dispute between the Habsburgs and the French over Italy.

Following his line of thought, from his first book Ranke considered that history should be studied scientifically, and for that reason he reflected in the appendix his criticism and rejection of the traditional forms of studies and modern historical writing.

Editorial media

From 1832 to 1836 Leopold von Ranke published two editions of the Historical-Political Review, belonging to the Prussian government, which was sometimes shown as a vision of Ranke's research and at other times as a literary-historical journal. It was also used as propaganda for contemporary politics.

In 1832 the first edition materialized in Hamburg and the second was published from 1833 to 1836 in Berlin. As editor of the magazine, Leopold von Ranke rejected democratic and liberal thought, and defended Prussian politics.

In addition, he was responsible for most of the articles published and in each of these he described current conflicts from their historical value.

History of potatoes

Another of his great insurmountable works was the History of the Popes in Modern Times (1834-36), where he analyzed the Catholic Church from the 15th to the mid-19th century and managed to delve into how the Vatican has survived, despite to face corruption and vices.

For the investigation of the antecedents of papal history from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, he was not allowed to know the classified archives of the Vatican in Rome; However, in Rome and Venice he had access to private files, with which he managed to feed his work.

Criticism by the papacy was immediate and they denounced Leopold von Ranke for the content of the book, which exposed the negative situation of the Roman Catholic Church.

On the other hand, the success of the book was recognized and applauded by several historians, such as the British Lord Acton, who classified his research as the most objective, balanced and impartial presented in the 16th century. However, a group of detractors pointed out that von Ranke was highly anti-Catholic.

Other works

Among his other outstanding works are: The Spanish Monarchy of the 16th and 17th centuries (1827) and Memories of the House of Brandenburg.

He also wrote a history of Prussia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (1847-48), a French history -mainly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries-, a history of the Reformation in Germany and, at the age of 80, published a history of England between the 16th and 17th centuries.

After his retirement, in 1871, he continued writing stories and varied topics, such as the one entitled Albrecht von Wallenstein, a German history and treatises on the French revolutionary wars, among other works.

His advanced age did not prevent him from continuing his passion for writing and research. At the age of 82, Leopold von Ranke developed his most ambitious work: World History 1881-1888 (6 volumes), which was left unfinished due to his death.

Legacy

Despite being considered the greatest representative of positivism, some historians point out that Leopold von Ranke's ideas on historiography are abstract and obsolete.

However, historian Edward Muir points out that Ranke is to history what Charles Darwin is to biology. For that reason, the importance and his contribution to the study of universal history will make his name last in time.

References

1. Rudolf Vierhaus. "Leopold von Ranke. German historian ”in Britannica. Retrieved on September 20, 2018 in Britannica: britannica.com
2. "Leopold von Ranke. Father of modern historiography in Meta Historia ”. Retrieved on September 20, 2018 from Meta Historia: metahistoria.com
3. Álvaro Cepeda Neri. "Leopold von Ranke, History of the Popes" (July 2012) in Contra línea. Retrieved on September 20, 2018 in Contra línea: contralinea.com.mx
4. Leopold von Ranke at Wikipedia. Retrieved on September 20, 2018 in Wikipedia: wikipedia.org
5. "Leopold Von Ranke (Biography)" in Positivism story (September 2014). Retrieved on September 20, 2018 in Positivismo historia: positivismo-historia.blogspot.com
6. "Historisch-politische Zeitschrift" in Wikipedia. Retrieved on September 20, 2018 in Wikipedia: wikipedia.org
7. "Leopold von Ranke: Works & Impacts on Historiography" in Study. Retrieved on September 20, 2018 in Study: study.com