Konstantin von Höfler
German-Austrian historian, archivist, university lecturer and rector of the Charles University in Prague (1811–1897)
Konstantin von Höfler (26 March 1811 – 29 December 1898) was a German church and general historian, publicist, ennobled anti-nationalist politician and poet.
Biography and works
He was born at Memmingen in Bavaria (southern Germany) on 26 March 1811; died at Prague, 29 December 1898. After finishing his studies in the gymnasia at Munich and Landshut, he studied first jurisprudence and then history at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München under Guido Görres, Ignaz von Döllinger and especially Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, and received his degree in 1831 on presenting the dissertation "Ueber die Anfänge der griechischen Geschichte" [About the Beginnings of Greek History]. Aided by a pension from the government, he studied two more years at the University of Göttingen, where he published a "Geschichte der englischen Civilliste" [History of the English Civil List].
He then went to Italy, residing chiefly at Florence and Rome, and worked there industriously in the examination of original sources. Returning to Munich, he accepted the editorship of the official Münchener Zeitung in order to earn a subsistence, but while thus engaged he had by 1838 qualified himself as a privatdozent [private(ly sponsored) professor] in history at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The following year, he became extraordinary — in 1841 ordinary professor of history; in 1842 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences. In 1839, he published "Die deutschen Päpste" [The German Popes] in two volumes. After this he devoted himself to his duties as professor until 1846, when he fell into disfavour with King Ludwig I of Bavaria on account of the position he took, along with several other professors, in the popular agitation against the relations of the king with the dancer Lola Montez. He expressed his views on the subject in "Concordat und Constitutionseid der Katholiken in Bayern" [Concordat and the Silk Constitution of Catholics in Bavaria], and for this was removed from his university position on 26 March 1847.
“Konstantin von Höfler” enters the record as german-Austrian historian, archivist, university lecturer and rector of the Charles University in Prague (1811–1897). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Konstantin, Höfler and German-Austrian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q71249. VIAF identifies the subject as 54223499. The Library of Congress control number is n82161402. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1811, 1898, 1831 and 1838.
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This entry incorporates text from “Konstantin von Höfler” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.