DAHN, JULIUS SOPHUS FELIX (1834 )

This article appears in Volume V07, Page 734 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: DAH-DEM

DAHN, JULIUS SOPHUS FELIX (1834 ) , German historian, jurist and poet, was born on the 9th of February 1834 in Hamburg, where his father, Friedrich Dahn (18111889), was a leading actor at the city theatre. His mother, Constance Dahn, nee Le Gay, was a noted actress. In 1834 the family moved to Munich; where the parents took leading roles in the classical German drama, until they retired from the stage: the mother in 1865 and the father in 1878.

Felix

Dahn studied law and' philosophy in Munich and Berlin from 1849 to 18J3. His first works were in jurisprudence, Uber die Wirkung der Klagverjahrwng bei Obligationen (Munich, 1855), and Studien zur Geschichte der germanischen Gottesurteile (Munich, 1857). In 1857 he, became docent in German law at Munich university, and in x862 professor-extraordinary, but in 1863 was called to Wiirzburg to a full professorship. In 1872 he removed to the university of Konigsberg, and in 1888 settled at Breslau, becoming

rector

RECTOR (Lat. for " ruler," " guide," &c., from regere, " rule ")

of the university in 1895. Meanwhile in addition to many legal works of high

standing

STANDING

, he had begun the publication of that long

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of histories and historical romances which has made his name a household word in Germany. The great history of the German migrations, Die Konige der Germanen, Halide i.-vi. (Munich and Wiirzburg, 18611870), Bande vii:-xi. (

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, 1894-1908), was a masterly study in constitutional history as well as a literary

work

WORK

of high merit, which carries the narrative down to the dissolution of the Carolingian empire. In his Urgeschichte der germanischen and romanischen Volker (Berlin, 1881189o), Dahn went a step farther back still, but here as in his Geschichte der deutschen Urzeit (Gotha, 18831888), a wealth of picturesque detail has been worked over and resolved into history with such imaginative insight and

critical

CRITICAL (in alphabetical order of authors)

skill as to make real and present the indistinct beginnings of German society. Together with these larger works Dahn wrote many monographs and studies upon primitive German society. Many of his essays were collected in a

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of six volumes entitled Bausteine (Berlin, 18791884). Not less important than his histories are the historical romances, the best-known of which, Ein Kampf um Rom, in four volumes (

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, 1876), which has gone through many later editions, was also the first of .the series: Others are Odhins Trost (Leipzig, 188o); Die Kreuzfahrer (Leipzig, 1884);
Odhins Rache (Leipzig, 1891); Julian der Abtriinnige (Leipzig, 1894), and one of the most popular, Bis zum Tode getreu (Leipzig, 1887). The

list

LIST (O.E.
lisle
- LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)
, a Teutonic word, cf. Dut. lust, Ger. Leiste, adapted in Ital. lista and Fr.
lisle
- LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)
)
LIST, FRIEDRICH (1789-1846)

is too long to be given in full, yet almost all are well-known. Parallel with this great production of learned and imaginative works, Dahn published some twenty small volumes of poetry. The most notable of these are the epics of the early German period. His wife Therese, nee Freiin von Droste-Hiilshoff, was joint-author with him of Walhall, Germanische Goiter and Heldensagen (Leipzig, 1898).
A collected edition of his works of fiction, both in

prose

PROSE

and verse, has reached twenty-one volumes (Leipzig, 1898), and a new edition was published in 1901. Dahn also published four volumes of memoirs, Erinnerungen (Leipzig, 1890-1895).

End of Article: DAHN, JULIUS SOPHUS FELIX (1834 )

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/DAH_DEM/DAHN_JULIUS_SOPHUS_FELIX_1834_.html">
DAHN, JULIUS SOPHUS FELIX (1834 )
</a>

(Previous)
DAHLSTJERNA, GUNNO (1661-1709)

(Next)
DAHOMEY (Fr. Dahome)

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email