Karl Wilhelm Nitzsch
Nitzsch, Karl Wilhelm
Born Dec. 22, 1818, in Zerbst; died June 20, 1880, in Berlin. German historian.
Nitzsch was a professor at the Universities of Kiel (from 1848), Königsberg (from 1862), and Berlin (from 1872). Continuing the investigations begun by B. G. Niebuhr, he critically analyzed sources pertaining to the early history of ancient Rome and studied the socioeconomic and political conflicts within the Roman republic, devoting special attention to the Roman peasantry. Nitzsch explained the origin of medieval urban communities in terms of the patrimonial estate theory.
WORKS
Die Gracchen und ihre nächsten Vorgänger. Berlin, 1847.Ministerialität und Bürgerthum im 11. und 12. Jahrhundert. Leipzig, 1859.
Die Römische Annalist. Berlin-Leipzig, 1873.
Geschichte des deutschen Volkes bis zum Augsburger Religionsfrieden, vols. 1–3. Leipzig, 1883–85.
In Russian translation:
Istoriia Rimskoi respubliki. Moscow, 1908.