Godefroid Kurth

Godefroid Kurth (11 May 1847, Arlon – 4 January 1916) was a celebrated Belgian historian. He is known for his histories of the city of Liège in the Middle Ages and of Belgium, of his Catholic account in Les Origines de la civilisation moderne of the formation of modern Europe, and for his defence of the medieval guild system.

Godefroid Kurth was born 11 May 1847 in Arlon, the capital of the Belgian province of Luxembourg. His father, a former soldier from Cologne became a police commissioner in Arlon, but died 1850. The family spoke Luxembourgish at home and he learned French in primary school. He entered the Royal Athenaeum of Arlon (high school) and in 1865, the Normal School of Liège, where he completed his studies in 1869. That same year he was ppointed professor of French at the Athénée de Liège.

He became chair of Medieval History and Belgian History at the University of Liège in 1873, where he encountered difficulties because of his strongly held Catholic views. Kurth was considered ultramontane by his contemporaries. His study of the medieval guild system brought an increased appreciation of the principles of charity. brotherhood, and justice and led to his becoming one of the founders of the Christian Democratic movement. Léon-E.Halkin said of him, "Godefroid Kurth [was] the last of the romantic historians and the first of the 'technical' historians in Belgium".

In 1873 Kurth was awarded a PhD in Historical Sciences. One of his students, Henri Pirenne, became a noted historian. Halkin considered them the founders of the scientific method of history in Belgium. Kurth modelled his pedagogy on that of instituted by the German historian Leopold von Ranke at the University of Berlin. In 1906 he was promoted to emeritus status and left the university to director of the Belgian Historical Institute of Rome.

Kurth was repulsed by the consequences of the German invasion and the fighting in Belgium with their accompanying atrocities on the civilian population. Relying on testimony, including the killings of Aarschot, he wrote The Prussian The Getaway in Belgium (Paris-Brussels 1919) which, unfinished at his death, was published posthumously. Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier wrote in the preface, that Kurth whose family origins were German, was "overwhelmed by the invasion, its iniquity, its atrocities, its sham".

Godefroid Kurth wrote over 500 books and journal articles, including contributions to the Catholic Encyclopedia. He died at Asse on 4 January 1916.

Published in 1886, The Origins of Modern Civilization brought him an international reputation. It was also somewhat controversial in that Kurth drew a direct connection between the "civilizing principle" of Christianity and the development of modern civilization.

Kurth"s "style is consciously literary, lively, and flamboyant; ...However, Kurth's version of history is also notably technical; it is founded on rigorous principles of historical criticism, extensive mastery of philology and profound knowledge of the sources and other works." His Clovis (1895), Notger de Liège (1905), and La cité de Liège au Moyen-âge (1909-1910) remain indispensable reference works.

Books

• Cato the Elder, biographical study, Bruges, Daveluy 1872
• The origins of modern civilization, Leuven, Ch. Peeters, 1886
• Leprosy in the West before the Crusades, Paris, Alphonse Picard, 1891
• Poetic story Merovingian, Brussels, Belgian Society bookshop 1893
• The linguistic border in Belgium and northern France, Brussels, Belgian Society bookshop 1898
• Das deutsche und der Deutsche Verein Belgien, Arlon and Aubel, Willems, 1896
• The Church at turning points in history, Brussels, Belgian Society bookshop 1900
• Saint Boniface, Paris, Lecoffre, coll. "The Saints" 1902
• Cork City in the Middle Ages, Brussels, Liege, Dewit, Cormax and Demarteau 1909
• Mizraim, memories of Egypt, Albert Dewit, 1912
• Frankish Studies, Paris, Brussels, Honoré Champion, Albert Dewitte, 1919

Articles

• "Saint Gregory of Tours and classical studies in the sixth century," Review of historical issues, Vol. XXIV, 1878
• "The Beaumont Belgian Act", crowned memoirs and other memoranda, vol. XXXI, 1881
• "A biography of Bishop Notger the twelfth century," Bulletin of the Royal Commission of History, 1891
• "The Nationalities in Auvergne in the sixth century," the Royal Academy of Science Bulletins, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium, vol. 4, April 1900
• "The Dukes and Counts of Auvergne in the sixth century," Auvergne Review, September 1900
• "The origins of the City of Liege," Bulletin of the Liege Archaeological Institute, Vol. XXXV, 1905
• "What wonder the Germans," The Twentieth Century, 1906
• "Research on the origin of the parishes of Liège," Bulletin of the Art Society and history of the diocese of Liège, vol. 16, 1907