Johann Friedrich Schannat

German historian, b. at Luxemburg, 23 July, 1683; d. at Heidleberg, 6 March, 1739. He studied at the University of Louvain and when twenty-two years of age was a lawyer, but before long he turned his attention exclusively to history and became a priest. The Prince-Abbot of Fulda commissioned Schannat to write the history of the abbey and appointed him historiographer and librarian. At a later date he received similar commissions from Franz Georg von Schönborn, Archbishop of Trier and Bishop of Worms. In 1735 the Archbishop of Prague, Count Moriz von Manderscheid, sent Schannat to Italy to collect material for a history of the councils. He made researches with especial success in the Ambrosian Library at Milan and the Vatican Library at Rome. His chief works are: "Vindemiae literariae" (1723-24); "Corpus traditionum Fuldensium" (1724); "Fuldischer Lehnhof" (1726); "Dioecesis Fuldensis" (1727); "Historia Fuldensis" (1729); "Historia episcopatus Wormatiensis" (1734); "Histoire abregee de la maison Palatine" (1740). More important than all these, however, is the "Concilia Germaniae", edited from material left by Schannat and continued by the Jesuit Joseph Hartzheim (11 fol. vols., 1759-90). At a later date the "Eiflia illustrata" (1825-55) was also published.