A. H. L. Heeren

Arnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren (25 October 1760, Arbergen – 6 March 1842, Göttingen) was a German historian who was professor of philosophy and history at the University of Göttingen. He was a member of the Göttingen school of history.

Biography

Heeren was born on 25 October 1760 in Arbergen near Bremen, a small village in which his father was a clergyman. He spent the first 15 years of his life in Arbergen, where he was privately educated. From the beginning of the year 1776, shortly after his father had been appointed Prediger at the cathedral at Bremen, he attended the cathedral school there. At Michelmas 1779 he went on to the university at Göttingen, in accord with his father's wish that he work toward a degree in theology.

Having begun his studies at Göttingen, Heeren, like so many ambitious young men of that period, decided against theology as a vocation. (This did not, however, denote a turning away from religion; Heeren would remain sympathetic to religious belief throughout his life.) By Christian Gottlob Heyne he was introduced to philology, and by Ludwig Timotheus Spittler to the study of history. After much vacillation, Heeren let himself be persuaded by Spittler that his primary talent lay in historical research. It was the decisive moment of his young life.

With Heyne's blessing, Heeren decided to pursue an academic career. In 1784, having received his degree as a Doctor of Philosophy, he simultaneously earned the right to teach at Göttingen as a Privatdocent or adjunct professor. Though he recognized almost immediately that his true vocation lay elsewhere, his first scholarly work was in philology. In 1785 he published an edition of De encomiis by the rhetorician Menander, and proposed as well a critical edition of the Eclogae physicae et ethicae of Johannes Stobaeus. In connection with this work, as well as in hopes of improving his health, he then undertook (in July 1785) a trip to Italy, Paris, and the Netherlands. He spent seven months in Rome. Having a congenial personality, he immediately made himself at home there. Before departing he, the son of a Reformed clergyman, would earn the patronage of several Cardinals of the Catholic Church. He then passed two months in Paris.