Karl Hopf

Karl Hopf (Hamm, Westphalia, February 19, 1832 – Wiesbaden, August 23, 1873) or Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann Hopf was historian and expert in Medieval Greece, both Byzantine and Frankish.

Hopf graduated from the University of Bonn, where he received his Ph.D. in the medieval history of Greece. He worked as a professor and librarian in the University of Greifswald and the University of Königsberg. He frequently visited Italian and Greek medieval archives finding sources for his works.

His notable works include important "History of Greece from the beginning of Middle Ages to the year 1821". It was considered as the most important addition made to the knowledge about Byzantine and modern Greek history in period 1863-1877 when considerable additions have been made. In his 1870 work Hopf dealt with migration of Romani people. According to him, after they came from East, Romani people were first concentrated on Romanian lands. To escape slavery, they went to Serbia, and Serbian Emperor Stefan Dušan dispersed them throughout the Balkans, as far as Greece.

• List of works published by Karl Hopf, listed in catalogue of National library in Berlin