Alfred von Arneth

Who was Alfred von Arneth?

Alfred Ritter von Arneth, Austrian historian, born at Vienna, was the son of Joseph Calasanza von Arneth, a well-known historian and archaeologist, who wrote a history of the Austrian Empire and several works on numismatics and brother of Doctor Franz Hektor von Arneth.

Alfred Arneth studied law, and became an official of the Austrian state archives, of which in 1868 he was appointed keeper. He was a moderate liberal in politics and a supporter of German unity. As such he was elected to the Frankfurt parliament in 1848. In 1861 he became a member of the Lower Austrian diet and in 1869 was nominated to the Upper House of the Austrian Reichsrat. In 1879 he was appointed president of the Kaiserliche Academie der Wissenschaften at Vienna, and in 1896 succeeded von Sybel as chairman of the historical commission at Munich.

Von Arneth was an indefatigable worker, and, as director of the archives, his willingness to listen to the advice of experts, as well as his own sound sense, reportedly helped to promote the more scientific treatment and use of public records in most of the archives of Europe. He was noted for his scientific temper and for drawing from original sources.