Christoph Ernst Tiedtke’s Appeal of December 12, 1747: New Facts about the Lithuanian Language Seminar at the University of Halle

  • Birutė Triškaitė
Keywords: 18th century, Lithuanian Language Seminar at the University of Halle, Christoph Ernst Tiedtke, Gotthilf August Francke, Franz Albert Schultz

Abstract

    The article analyses and publishes the archival document found at the Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (German: Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz) in Berlin, which reveals new facts about the Lithuanian Language Seminar established at the University of Halle in 1727. It is an appeal of Christoph Ernst Tiedtke (1722–after 1772), a graduate of the University’s Faculty of Theology, stepson of Peter Gottlieb Mielcke (1695–1753) and half-brother of Christian Gottlieb Mielcke (1733–1807), which was written on December 12, 1747 and was addressed to the Privy Council (German: Geheimer Rat) in Berlin. This archival source is important for the history of the Lithuanian Language Seminar at the University of Halle, as it provides evidence about a nearly undocumented final period of existence of the seminar. Based on the information recorded in Tiedtke’s appeal, the article reveals that efforts were actually made to continue the activities of the seminar after 1740, which is usually considered the year of closure of the Lithuanian Language Seminar at the University of Halle in historiography.

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