Die Verleihung der Ehrendoktorwürde der Universität Erlangen an Wilhelm Meyer aus Speyer am 23. Februar 1882
Der erste Doktortitel eines Mittellateinischen Philologen im Spiegel Erlanger Archivalien und Bücher
Schlagworte:
Wilhelm Meyer from Speyer, Elias von Steinmeyer, first honorary doctorate in Medieval Latin Philology, history of Medieval Latin Philology, University of ErlangenAbstract
Wilhelm Meyer († 1917), one of the ‹founding fathers› of Medieval Latin Philologyas an academic discipline in its own right, is supposed to have been awardedhis honorary doctorate by the University of Erlangen in 1885, one year before hisappointment to the chair of Classical Philology in Gottingen and some years afteran unsuccessful attempt made in Graz by the German philologist Anton Emanuel Schonbach († 1911). The relevant documents were said to be lost, but they could befound recently in the University Archive at Erlangen. The survey of the relating fileand of letters exchanged between Meyer and Elias (von) Steinmeyer (professor ofGerman Philology in Erlangen, † 1922) and between Steinmeyer and Schonbach in the University Library of Erlangen-Nurnberg provides new insights into Schonbach’sfailure in Graz, the proceeding in Erlangen, Steinmeyer’s part in it and Meyer’s attitudeto his honorary doctorate and permits to correct the date of the award: February23, 1882. Together with letters exchanged between Steinmeyer and Edward Schroder (professor of German Philology in Gottingen, † 1942) about the death of Meyer in 1917 these documents reveal the reasons for the confusion of the date, too.
