Johannes Janssen
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Johannes Janssen (April 10, 1829 - December 24, 1891), German historian, was born at Xanten, and was educated as a Roman Catholic at Münster, Louvain, Bonn and Berlin, afterwards becoming a teacher of history at Frankfurt-am-Main.
He was ordained priest in 1860; became a member of the Prussian Chamber of Deputies in 1875; and in 1880 was made domestic prelate to the pope and apostolic pronotary. He died at Frankfurt on the 24th of December 1891. Janssen was a stout champion of the Ultramontane party in the Roman Catholic Church.
His great work is his Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters (8 vols., Freiburg, 1878 1894). In this book he shows himself very hostile to the Reformation, and attempts to prove that the Protestants were responsible for the general unrest in Germany during the 16th and 17th centuries. The authors partisanship led to some controversy, and Janssen wrote An meine Kritiker (Freiburg, 1882) and Ein zweites Wort an meine Kritiker (Freiburg, 1883) in reply to the Janssens Gesclzichte des deutschen Volkes (Munich, 1883) of M Lenz, and other criticisms.
The Gescizichte, which has passed through numerous editions, has been continued and improved by Ludwig Pastor, and the greater part of it has been translated into English by MA Mitchell and AM Christie (London, 1896, fol.). Of his other works perhaps the most important are: the editing of Frankfurts Reichskorrespondenz, 1376-1519 (Freiburg, 1863-1872); and of the Leben, Briefe und kleinere Schriften of his friend JF Böhmer (Leipzig, 1868); a monograph, Schiller als Historiker (Freiburg, 1863); and Zeit- und Lebensbilder (Freiburg, 1875).
See L Pastor, Johannes Janssen (Freiburg, 1893); F Meister, Erinnerung an Johannes Janssen (Frankfort, 1896); Schwann, Johannes Janssen und die Geschichte der deutschen Reformation (Munich, 1892).
Reference
- This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.de:Johannes Janssen