SG Heritage Dictionary

Heide Encyclopedia Britannica

HEIDE, a town of Prussia, chief town of the circle of North Ditmarsh, province of Schleswig-Holstein, is situated on a small plateau which stands between the marshes and moors bordering the North Sea, 35 miles N.N.W. of Glückstadt. It is the seat of a provincial office, a court of justice, and a head tax office, and possesses tobacco and cigar manufactories, a tannery, and a rope work. Heide in 1447 became the capital of the Ditmarsh peasant republic, but on the 13th June 1559 it was the scene of the complete defeat of the peasant forces by the Danes and the duke of Schleswig-Holstein. The population in 1875 was 6772.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 11, p. 622
[115 words — estimated reading time: 1 minute]

Heidegger Encyclopedia Britannica

HEIDEGGER, John Henry (1633-1698), theologian, was born at Bärentschweil, in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, on July 1, 1633. He began his studies in his native country, and completed them at Marburg and Heidelberg. Becoming doctor of philosophy at the latter university, he soon afterwards was appointed professor extraordinarius of Hebrew, and later of philosophy. From Heidelberg he was in 1659 summoned to Steinfurt to fill the chair of theology and ecclesiastical history, and in the same year he became doctor of theology of Heidelberg. In 1660 he revisited Switzerland; and, after marrying, he travelled in the following year over Holland. The war at this time having dispersed the students from Steinfurt, Heidegger returned in 1665 to Zurich, where he was immediately elected professor of moral philosophy. Two years later he succeeded Hottinger in the chair of theology, which he occupied till his death, January 15, 1698. Heidegger was the principal author of the Formula Consensus Helvetica in 1675, which was designed to unite the Swiss Reformed churches, but had an opposite effect.

His writings are largely controversial, and are in great part levelled against the Roman Catholic Church. The chief are Be IIistοriα sacra Patriarcharum Exercitationes selectee, 1667-1671; Dissertatio de Peregrinationibus Religiosis, 1670; Be Ratione Studiorum, opuscula aurea, &c., 1670; Historia Fapatus, 1684; Tumultes Concilii Tridentini, 1690; Exercitationes Biblicoe, 1700, with a life of the author prefixed; Corpus Theologiae Christianae, 1700; and lives of Hottinger, 1667, and Fabricius, 1698. His autobiography appeared in 1698, under the title Historia Vitee J. H. Heideggeri.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 11, p. 622
[257 words — estimated reading time: 2 minutes]

Heidelberg Encyclopedia Britannica

HEIDELBERG, a German university city in the Baden circle and jurisdiction of the same name, lies in 49° 24' N. lat. and 8° 41' 32" E. long., at the foot of the Castlehill, a spur of the Königsstuhl on the south bank of the Neckar, about 12 miles from the junction of that river with the Rhine. The situation of the town is one of romantic beauty....

Placed at the opening of the winding Neckar valley, it has behind it and before it lofty hills covered with vineyards and forests. Between these the Neckar rushes swiftly along. To the left the country opens out into the broad Rhine plain, cultivated like a garden, and bounded by distant and hardly perceptible mountains. The town primarily consists of one long narrow street, the Hauptstrasse, which begins near the station of the Main-Neckar railway on the west, and runs parallel to the river with continuations for a distance of about 2 miles to the Karlsthor (where there is a smaller station) on the east. To the south of this the Anlage, a pleasant promenade flanked with fine houses and gardens, leads directly from the chief station to the centre of the town. A number of smaller streets run up from the river, intersecting the Hauptstrasse at right angles. On the other side of the Neckar the Heiligenberg, a vine-clad hill wooded towards the summit, crowned with the ruins of an old chapel, rises abruptly from the river bank. About half-way up the hill the Philosophen weg, a famous road, runs from the Hirschgasse opposite the Karlsthor to the suburb of Neuenheim, opposite the railway station. At this point the Neckar valley ceases, and the river flows slowly onward in the almost level Rhine plain. Of late years the town has grown very much towards the west end on both sides of the river. The additions have been almost entirely of the better class of houses.

Of the churches the chief are the Peterskirche (founded before 1392), where Jerome of Prague in 1460 expounded the Reformed doctrines; the Heiliggeistkirche, erected at the beginning of the 15th century, of which the nave is used for Protestant, the choir for Old Catholic worship; and the Jesuitenkirche, with sumptuously decorated interior. All these are built in the Gothic style. The rathhaus, the museum, and the university (1712) are large but common-place erections. Two handsome bridges cross the Neckar. That to the east, opposite the castle (built 1788), is adorned with a gateway, and with statues of Minerva and the elector Charles Theodore of the palatinate; the other (built 1877) unites Heidelberg and Neuenheim. In the west part of the town there is a bronze statue of Field-Marshal Prince Wrede (1767-1838), erected in 1860 by Louis L, king of Bavaria. The chief building at Heidelberg, and indeed its chief attraction for strangers, is the famous castle which overhangs the west part of the town. It is situated on the Castlehill, more properly called the Jettenbuhel, 330 feet above the Neckar. Though now a ruin, yet its extent, its magnificence, its beautiful situation, its interesting history, render it by far the most noteworthy, as it certainly is the grandest and largest, of the old castles of Germany. It was begun about the end of the 13th century. Elector Rupert greatly improved it, and erected the Rupert’s building in the early part of the 15th century; succeeding electors of the palatinate did much for it, especially Frederick V., the unfortunate king of Bohemia. It suffered greatly during the Thirty Years’ War, but was restored by Charles Louis (1650-1680). It was dismantled by the French in 1689, and again in 1693. In 1764 it was struck by lightning and its destruction completed. The castle as it at present stands is a square edifice formed of several distinct structures built round a large court-yard; the entrance is on the south side. The court-yard contains a fountain adorned with four granite pillars brought from Charlemagne’s palace at Ingelheim. The chief parts of the castle are Rupert’s building (about 1400) on the left; Otto Henry’s building (1556) on the right, “the finest example of Renaissance architecture in Germany,” a lofty building of which the front is richly decorated; Frederick’s building (1601), the finest part, forming the northern portion of the whole, and adorned with a large number of imposing statues. Within this is the chapel, and behind it the Altan (1610), or castle balcony, which directly overhangs the town and from which the finest of Heidelberg views is obtained. The castle contains an interesting antiquarian museum formed by the Count Graimberg, and the celebrated Great Tun, which was built in 1751, but has been only used on one or two occasions. Its capacity is 49,000 gallons. There is a castle garden, spacious and well laid out.

The university of Heidelberg is the oldest in the German kingdom. It was founded in 1356 by the elector Rupert, but it was not till 1386, when it obtained papal sanction, that its real life begins. It was constructed after the type of Paris, had four faculties, and possessed numerous privileges. Marselius von Inghen was its first rector. Frederick the Victorious, Philip the Upright, and Louis V. respectively cherished it. Otto Henry gave it a new organization, further endowed it, and founded the library. At the Reformation it became a stronghold of Protestant learning. The famous Heidelberg catechism was drawn up by its theologians. Then the tide turned. Damaged by the Thirty Years’ War, it led a struggling existence for a century and a half. A large portion of its remaining endowments were cut off by the peace of Lunéville (1801). In 1803 however the elector Charles Frederick raised it anew, and reconstituted it under the name of “Ruperto-Carolina.” At present (1880) it has 38 ordinary and 26 extraordinary professors. The students number about 500 in winter, and from 800 to 900 in summer. A very large proportion are English aud Americans. The library was first kept in the choir of the Heiliggeistkirche, and then consisted of 3500 MSS. In 1623 it was sent to Rome by Tilly, and stored as Bibliotheca Palatina in the Vatican. It was afterwards taken to Paris, an 1 in 1815 was restored to Heidelberg. In 1703 the new library was founded; it has now nearly 300,000 volumes, besides many valuable MSS. Among the other university institutions are the academic hospital, the maternity hospital, the physiological institution, the chemical laboratory, and the zoological museum.

The other educational foundations are a gymnasium and a burgher and a real school. There is a small theatre (closed during the summer months) and a Kunstverein. The manufactures of Heidelberg are unimportant. The inhabitants chiefly support themselves by supplying the wants of a large and increasing body of foreign permanent residents, of the considerable body of tourists who during the summer pass through the town, and of the university students. The population of the town and outlying suburbs was 19,988 in 1871, and 22,334 (or including Neuenheim, 23,918) in 1875. About one-third are Catholics. The town is well lighted, and is supplied with excellent water from the Wolfsbrunnen.

Heidelberg at an early period was a fief of the bishop of Worms, but the rulers of the palatinate came more and more to reside there, till Count Otho of Wittelsbach (1228-1253) made it the capital of the palatinate, and this it continued to be for nearly six centuries. As Heidelberg was one of the great centres of the Reformed faith, it suffered severely in the Thirty Years’ War. In 1622 it was sacked by Tilly, and in 1633 was taken by the Swedes. In 1634 it was beleaguered by the Bavarians. In 1635 it was occupied by the imperial forces under Gallas. At the peace of Westphalia (1648) Charles Louis, son of Frederick V., was restored, and he did much to raise the castle, the university, and the town. In 1688, and again in 1693, it was sacked by the French. On the last occasion, so thorough was the work of destruction that only one house—a quaintly decorated erection in the Marktplatz now used as an inn—escaped. In 1720 Charles Philip removed his court to Mannheim, and in 1803 the town became part of the grand duchy of Baden. On 5th March 1848 was held the famous Heidelberg assembly, at which steps were taken that led to the German revolution of that year.

Of the numerous topographical works on Heidelberg, those of Fickler (1863) and Oncken (2d ed., 1874) may be mentioned. The Wegweiser durch Heidelberg (1879) supplies a briefer and more popular account. The university annals are told in Hautz’s Geschichte der Universität Heidelbergs (2 vols., 1863-64), and the very interesting history of the library in Wilken’s Geschichte der Bildung, Beraubung, und Vernichtung der alten Heidelberger Büchersammlung (1817), and in Ruland’s Zur Geschichte der alten nach Rom entführten Bibliothek zu Heidelberg, Leip., 1856. The Heidelberger Jahrbücher (1817-73) contain a mass of interesting and important information as to the history of the town and castle.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 11, p. 622 — signed F. WA.
[1,541 words — estimated reading time: 9 minutes]

Heideloff Encyclopedia Britannica

HEIDELOFF, Karl Alexander von (1788-18G5), a German architect, was the son of Victor Peter Heideloff, a painter of some reputation, and was born at Stuttgart 2d February 1788. He studied at the art academy of his native town, and after following the profession of an architect for some time at Coburg was in 1818 appointed city architect at Nuremberg. In 1822 he became professor at the polytechnic school, and some years later he was chosen conservator of the monuments of art. Heideloff devoted his chief attention to the Gothic style of architecture, and the buildings restored and erected by him at Nuremberg and in its neighbourhood attest both his original skill and his purity of taste. He also achieved some success as an historical painter. He died at Hassfurt 28th September 1865.

Among his writings on architecture are Die Lehre von den Säulenordnungen, 1827; Der Kleine Vignola, 1832; Nürnbergs Baudenkmäler der Vorzeit, 1838-43; and Die Ornamentik des Mittelalters, 1838-42.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 11, p. 624
[165 words — estimated reading time: 1 minute]