In 2023, in connection with the re-evaluation of our institutional history, the MGH initiated the project of publishing a digital edition of the letters of Ernst Kantorowicz. Beginning with those addressed to persons related to the MGH, such as Carl Erdmann, Ernst Perels, Emma Heller, or Paul Fridolin Kehr, we will be successively editing all available letters written by Ernst Kantorowicz and making them permanently available in digital format.
As an internationally renowned medieval research institution, the Monumenta Germaniae Historica had regular contact with Ernst Kantorowicz and supported him in his scholarly work. In 1930, Kantorowicz even wrote to MGH president Paul Fridolin Kehr declaring himself willing to undertake an edition for the Monumenta as an expression of his „quiescent love“ towards the circle of scholars there.
The edition plans never came to fruition, but 19 years later, after emigrating to the USA and beginning his career anew, Ernst Kantorowicz did become a corresponding member of the newly reconstituted MGH central board of directors. In early 1949, writing to Friedrich Baethgen, a personal friend since the 1920s and now MGH president, Kantorowicz accepted his election and expressed his bond with the Monumenta in reference to the words of the Jewish historian Wilhelm Levison: „I do not know if you have W. Levison’s ‚England and the Continent in the Eighth Century‘ at hand. (...) In the prologue, he makes an open confession of his indebtedness to the MGH. And he wrote that during the war! In more or less the same way, I have pleasure in the continuation of my accustomed „easy attachment“ to the MGH. The term „corresponding member“ aptly expresses exactly that „easiness“. („Ich weiss nicht, ob Ihnen W. Levison's ‚England and the Continent in the Eighth Century‘ zur Hand gekommen ist (...). Im Vorwort legt er ein schönes Bekenntnis ab, in dem er darlegt, was er den M.G.H. verdanke. Dies geschah noch während des Krieges. Es ist etwa in diesem Sinne, dass mich das Fortbestehen meiner von jeher ‚lockeren Verbundenheit‘ mit den M.G.H. freut. Das ‚korrespondierende Mitglied‘ bringt gerade jene ‚Lockerheit‘ glücklich zum Ausdruck.“)
The digital letter edition features tooltips and footnotes explaining allusions, literary and historical references, and reminiscences in the text. With the search function, the database may be accessed for diverse research queries.
>>> Digital edition of the letters of Ernst Kantorowicz
>>> Information on Kantorowicz' biography, his correspondence, and the edition project
>>> How to use the database