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Hermann Kellenbenz (1913-1990)

EXHIBITION | February 4 - March 1 | Sala de Referência | Free entrance

CONFERENCE by Torsten Arnold | February 4 | 6 pm | Free entrance

Hermann Kellenbenz, born on August 28 1913 in Süssen (former Kingdom of Württemberg, today’s state Baden-Württemberg), Germany, was professor of Modern and Contemporary History as well as Economic and Social History at the Universities of Cologne and Nuremberg-Erlangen. In 1938, Kellenbenz received his doctor’s degree at the University of Kiel (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany) with his thesis about Sweden’s policy in Holstein-Gottorf during the second half of the 17th century: Holstein-Gottorf, eine Domäne Schwedens. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der norddeutschen und nordeuropäischen Politik 1657-1675, first published in 1940 (Marques 1993).

After World War II, Kellenbenz taught History in Regensburg (1948-1950) and Würzburg (1952-1957) and closely collaborated with international historians such as Fernand Braudel (France), Arthur H. Cole and Frederic C. Lane (USA), A. H. de Oliveira Marques and Virgínia Rau (Portugal) as well. During the 1960s, while teaching History at the University of Cologne, Kellenbenz was director of the Rhenish-Westphalian Economic Archive: Rheinisch-Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv, Cologne, Germany. In 1970, Kellenbenz returned to the University of Nuremberg-Erlangen where he had taught between 1957 and 1960 and was professor of History until his retirement in 1983. By then he was appointed scientific director of the Fugger archive and especially focused his research on the Portuguese and Spanish documentation which in 1990 was published in three volumes: Die Fugger in Spanien und Portugal bis 1560.

Hermann Kellenbenz died on November 26 1990.

His achievements were honored by the obituaries of Mr. Prof. PhD Rolf Walter, the last assistant of Kellenbenz, published in the Mitteilungen des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg (German), and of Mr. Prof. PhD A. H. de Oliveira Marques, his friend, published in Ler História (Portuguese).

Therefore, this obituary focuses on the following contributions remembering the one hundred anniversary of Hermann Kellenbenz (2013):

Kellenbenz created the Cologne Colloquia of International Economic and Social History: Kölner Kolloquien zur Internationalen Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte, which, in post war Europe of the late 1960s and early 1970s, contributed to join historians and researchers investigating European economic and social history. While the first colloquium focused on the economic relationships of Iberian Peninsula and the remaining European states in a time of the discoveries and the impact of new established worldwide markets linked by maritime trade routes; the following colloquia focused on the importance of copper and iron, two important metals in Renaissance Europe. The proceedings of the colloquia were published as: Foreign Merchants acting in the Iberian Peninsula during the 15th and 16th century, Fremde Kaufleute auf der Iberischen Halbinsel, Core Areas of Iron Extraction and Production in Europe (1500-1650), Schwerpunkte der Eisengewinnung und Eisenproduktion in Europa (1500-1650) and Core Areas of the Copper Production and Copper trade in Europe (1500-1650),  Schwerpunkte der Kupferproduktion und des Kupferhandels in Europa (1500-1650).

By observing the innumerous articles, books, encyclopedia entries, papers or reviews produced, there are two specific areas of his personal interest: the Portuguese overseas expansion, to which he referred to as being one of the most interesting phenomena for research activities of historians (Kellenbenz 1970),  and the German Portuguese economic and social relationships during the 16th and 18th century. Kellenbenz contributed to the Dictionary of the History of Portugal, Dicionário de História de Portugal, directed by Joel Serrão by entries about Germans in Portugal, Alemães em Portugal, Fuggers in Portugal, Fuggers em Portugal, Imhoff among others. By focusing on documents about the German-Portuguese relationships such as the Upper German families like the Ehingers and Herwarts during the 16th century, Kellenbenz rather contributed to European economic history than only to Germany’s or Portugal’s past. His studies revealed detailed facts but, by identifying names such as Elberte or Embertin in the documentation of the Portuguese Casa da Moeda to be the Herwarts of Augsburg or Emcuria or Imcuria to be the Imhoffs, Hermann Kellenbenz created a basis of continuous research post mortem.

Torsten Arnold

Bibliography
Kellenbenz, Hermann –  «Wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Aspekte der überseeischen Entdeckungen Portugals». In Scripta Mercurae. [S.l.]: [s.n.], 1970, vol. 2. p. 1-39.
Marques, A. H. de Oliveira – «In Memoriam Hermann Kellenbenz». Ler História. Lisboa: Fim de Século Edições, 1993, vol. 23, p. 117-124.
Walter, Rolf – «Nachruf Prof. Dr. Hermann Kellenbenz (28. 8. 1913 - 26. 11. 1990). In Mitteilungen des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg. Nuremberg, 1991, vol. 78, p. VIII-X.