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Constant von Wurzbach

Constantin Wurzbach Ritter von Tannenberg (11 April 1818 – 17 August 1893) was an Austrian biographer, lexicographer and author.

Constant von Wurzbach

11 April 1818 Edit this on Wikidata
Ljubljana Edit this on Wikidata

August 7, 1893(1893-08-07) (aged 75)
Berchtesgaden Edit this on Wikidata

Caroline von Wurzbach-Tannenberg, Antonie von Wurzbach-Tannenberg Edit this on Wikidata

Unterleutnant (1841–) Edit this on Wikidata

Ritter (1874–) Edit this on Wikidata

Biography[edit]

He was born in Laibach, Carniola (present-day Ljubljana, Slovenia).He later went on to complete a course in philosophy and published poetry in local periodicals, inspired by the work of Nikolaus Lenau and Anastasius Grün.


At the request of his father, he began studying jurisprudence at Graz, which he, however, abandoned after two years. Instead, he joined the Austrian army and served in a Galician infantry regiment at Cracow from 1837. As a cadet, he continued to publish poems under the pseudonym W. Constant. In 1841 he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant (Unterleutnant) and transferred to Lemberg (Lviv). At the same time, he studied philosophy at the Lemberg University and in 1843 became the first active officer in the Austrian army to obtain a doctorate.


By the end of the year, Wurzbach left the army and took up an appointment at the Lemberg University library. In 1849 he was appointed librarian in the Ministry of the Interior at Vienna, and subsequently secretary in the Ministry of State.


Wurzbach died in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria. He was the father of Alfred von Wurzbach, an art critic.

Bibliographisch-statistische Uebersicht der Litteratur des österreichischen Kaiserstaates (Bibliographic-statistical overview of the literature of the Austrian Empire, 1856)

Biographisches Lexikon des Kaisertums Oesterreich (Biographical dictionary of the Austrian Empire; 60 vols., 1857–92) A unique publication on a gigantic scale, containing about 25,000 critical biographies of notable personages in every walk of life and from all parts of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

He is best known for:


His other writings include:

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Wurzbach, Constant, von Tannenberg" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

public domain

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