Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (1785-1863) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Prof. Jacob Ludwig Carl (Jacob) "Jacob Ludwig Karl" Grimm

Born 4 Jan 1785 in Hanau, Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Ancestors

Son of Philipp Wilhelm Grimm and Dorothea (Zimmer) Grimm

Brother of Friedrich Hermann Georg Grimm, Wilhelm Carl Grimm, Carl Friedrich Grimm, Ferdinand Philipp Grimm, Ludwig Emil Grimm, Friedrich Grimm, Charlotte Amalie (Grimm) Hassenpflug and Georg Eduard Grimm

[spouse(s) unknown]

[children unknown]

Died 20 Sep 1863 at age 78 in Berlin, Brandenburg, Preußen, Deutscher Bund

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Biography

Jacob Grimm is Notable.

Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm was a German philologist, jurist, linguist, and mythologist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the author of Deutsche Mythologie (Teutonic Mythology), and together with his brother Wilhelm the editor of Children's and Household Tales (Kinder- und Hausmärchen) as well as the author of the monumental Deutsches Wörterbuch (German Dictionary).

Origins

Jacob Ludwig Carl^[1] was born in 1785 in Hanau. He was the son of Philipp Wilhelm Grimm and Dorothea, née Zimmer. His father was the town clerk ("Stadtschreiber") of Hanau at the time of Jacob's birth.^[2] In 1791, the family moved to Steinau an der Straße, where Philipp Wilhelm had been transferred as a bailiff ("Amtmann").^[3] Philipp Wilhelm, who was a lawyer, died while Jacob was a child. Jacob's mother Dorothea was left with very small means; but her sister, who was lady of the chamber to the Landgravine of Hesse, helped support and educate Dorothea's large family. Jacob, with his younger brother Wilhelm, was sent to the Friedrichsgymnasium in Kassel in 1798.^[4]

Education and Career

In 1802, Jacob began attending the University of Marburg, where he studied law. His brother Wilhelm, joined him a year later, having just recovered from a long and severe illness and also began studying law.^[5]

The lectures of Friedrich Karl von Savigny, the famous investigator of Roman law, awakened in Jacob a love for historical and antiquarian investigation, which would underlie all his work. In the preface to the Deutsche Grammatik (German Grammar), Grimm credits von Savigny as being the first to teach him what it meant to study any science. Through the acquaintance with von Savigny, Jacob became familiar with Johann Jakob Bodmer's edition of the Old German minnesingers and other early texts, which spurred his interest in their language.^[6]^[7]

At the beginning of 1805, Grimm received an invitation from von Savigny, who had moved to Paris, to help him in his literary work. Jacob's studies in the Parisian libraries strengthened his taste for the literatures of the Middle Ages. Towards the end of the year he returned to Kassel, where his mother and Wilhelm had settled, the latter having finished his studies. The next year he obtained a position in the war office ("Kriegskollegium") with the small salary of 100 thalers. One of his grievances was that he had to exchange his stylish Paris suit for a stiff uniform and pigtail; but the position gave him ample time for the pursuit of his studies.^[6]^[7]

In 1808, soon after the death of his mother, Jacob was appointed superintendent of the private library of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, into which Hesse-Kassel had been incorporated by Napoleon. He was also appointed an auditor ("Beisitzer") to the state council ("Staatsrat") by Jérôme Bonaparte, while he retained his other post. His salary was increased in a short interval from 2000 to 4000 francs, and his official duties were hardly more than nominal.^[4]

Since 1806 Jacob and Wilhelm had collected fairy tales, which were edited and published between 1812 and 1858.^[3]^[8]

After the expulsion of Jérôme Bonaparte and the re-instalment of an elector, Grimm was appointed in 1813 secretary of legation, to accompany the Hessian minister to the headquarters of the allied army. In 1814 he was sent to Paris to demand restitution of the books taken by the French, and in 1814–1815 he attended the Congress of Vienna as secretary of legation. On his return from Vienna, he was sent to Paris again to secure book restitutions.^[4]

During this time he began studying the Slavic languages. In 1815 he retired as a diplomat to devote himself to literary history and linguistic research. A year later he became second librarian at the library in Kassel (his brother Wilhelm had become secretary there in 1814). In 1829, when the brothers did not receive the expected promotion following the death of the chief librarian, they looked for a new position.^[3] Thus in 1829, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm moved to the University of Göttingen, where Jacob was appointed professor of German language and literature as well as librarian, and Wilhelm under-librarian. Jacob Grimm lectured on legal antiquities, historical grammar, literary history, and diplomatics, explained Old German poems, and commented on the Germania of Tacitus.^[4]

Grimm joined other academics, known as the Göttingen Seven, who signed a protest against the King of Hanover's abrogation of the liberal constitution, which had been established some years before. As a result, he was dismissed from his professorship and banished from the Kingdom of Hanover in 1837. He returned to Kassel with his brother Wilhelm, who had also signed the protest. During their time in Kassel, Jacob regularly attended the meetings of the academy and read papers on varied subjects. The brothers remained there until 1840, when they accepted King Frederick William IV's invitation to move to the University of Berlin, where they both received professorships and were elected members of the Academy of Sciences. Jacob Grimm was not under any obligation to lecture, and seldom did so; he spent his time working with his brother on their dictionary project.^[4]

In 1848 he was a member of the preliminary parliament ("Vorparlament"). He took part in the Frankfurt National Assembly in the Paulskirche in the spring of 1848 as a nonpartisan deputy from the Prussian district of Duisburg, receiving a place of honor. As the assembly went very slowly and the results were rather disappointing for him, he resigned his mandate in October 1848 and from then on kept out of active political life. In the same year he resigned from his lecturing activities and published his History of the German Language in Leipzig. He then concentrated on work on the German Dictionary (Deutsches Wörterbuch), which was to present the entire New High German vocabulary from Luther to Goethe. Work on this massive joint project with his brother Wilhelm had already begun in 1838.^[3]

Death

Jacob died in Berlin at the age of 78, working on the dictionary until the very end of his life.^[4] He is buried at Alter Sankt-Matthäus-Kirchhof in Schöneberg, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany.^[9]