Karl Krumbacher

Karl Krumbacher (born Sept. 23, 1856, Kempten, Bavaria [Germany]—died Dec. 12, 1909, Munich, Ger.) was a German scholar who developed the modern study of Byzantine culture. His writings and seminars were the basis for the specialized training of Byzantine scholars from all parts of the world.

Educated in the classics at the universities of Leipzig and Munich, Krumbacher turned to medieval Greek literature. His Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (1891; “History of Byzantine Literature”) went through several revisions. In 1892 he founded the periodical Byzantinische Zeitschrift (“Byzantine Journal”), which became the central international organ for Byzantine studies.

In 1897 Krumbacher was appointed to the newly created professorial chair in medieval and modern Greek studies at the University of Munich. His other works include “Die griechischen Literatur des Mittelalters” (1905; “Greek Literature of the Middle Ages,” a part of P. Hinneberg’s Die Kultur der Gegenwart [“The Culture of the Present”]) and Das Problem der neugriechischen Schriftsprache (1902; “The Problem of the Modern Greek Literary Language”).