The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Rotteck, Karl von

ROTTECK, Karl von, a German historian, born in Freiburg, Baden, July 18, 1775, died there, Nov. 26, 1840. He was professor of history at Freiburg from 1798 to 1818, and subsequently of political science, and long represented the university in the first constitutional assembly of Baden, where he advocated the liberty of the press. This displeased the authorities, who stopped the journal Der Freisinnige, of which he was an editor, and in 1832 removed him from his professorship. He was repeatedly elected burgomaster, but did not serve. His monument at Freiburg, erected in 1848, was removed in 1849 and reërected in 1862. His principal work is Allgemeine Geschichte (9 vols., Freiburg, 1813-'27), continued by Steger and Hermes to 11 vols. (25th ed., Brunswick, 1866 et seq.}. Several translations of this work and of an abridgment (4 vols.,

Stuttgart, 1830-'34; 7th ed., 6 vols., 1860-'61) have appeared, including one of the latter by T. Jones (4 vols., Philadelphia, 1840, reprinted in London). Conjointly with Welcker, Rotteck began to publish the Staatslexikon (12 vols., Altona, 1834-'44; 3d ed., 14 vols., Leipsic, 1856-'66).