Introduction
Italian connections
Letterhead of the International Congress of Historical Sciences in Rome 1903; Postcards to Henry Simonsfeld from Attilio Raffanelli, 22.03.1903, and Luigi Schiaparelli, 01.03.1908
Henry Simonsfeld cultivated many scholarly and personal relationships in Italy, some of which became real friendships. His work was highly appreciated south of the Alps: Directly after its publication in German, his doctoral thesis was translated into Italian; he was elected as a corresponding member of four Italian scientific societies and honoured by the Italian king with the knights‘ cross of the order of St. Mauritius und Lazarus . Simonsfeld’s knowledge of and connections with the world of Italian scholarship were very useful for the MGH and also invaluable for him during his work on the „Jahrbücher“ of Fredrerik Barbarossa .
The postcards from Italy in the MGH archive are quite typical of scholarly communication at that time, but they are one of the few sources of information on Henry Simonsfeld’s biography, since his collected correspondence, which after his death was stored by his widow Lina in his Munich flat, was destroyed in an air raid in 1945. A postcard from Luigi Sciaparelli , a well-known palaeographer who studied in Munich in 1894/1895, has a personal touch: Sciaparelli recalls being invited by Simonsfeld to meet his mother, Sophie , who rhapsodised about her time in Venice, and how glad he was to speak Italian with her.
Simonsfeld also engaged himself in an institutional context to cultivate contacts between Italy and Germany. He was the only unsalaried lecturer to join the committee of professors of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in receiving a delegation of several hundred Italian students who came to Munich in a chartered train in 1897. The letter paper that he later used for stenographic notes was a souvenir of the 1903 International Congress of Historical Sciences in Rome, where he had participated as the leader of a section.
Contrasting the appreciation which Simonsfeld enjoyed in Italy with the obstructiveness he faced in Germany, the question arises whether this difference in treatment was related to the different forms of anti-Semitism prevailing in the two countries.
Transcription
Ill[ustrissi]mo Signore
I Codici a cui allude la Sua Cartolina
del dì 19 corrente esistono in questo Archivio Capitolare, ambedue (se non ho
errato) nel medesimo volume. Ella potrà consultarli, nel giorno in cui Le sarà
più comodo (eccettuate le Feste) nelle Ore Antimeridiane.
Pistoia – adi 22 Marzo 1903
Con ossequio
C(anonic)o A. Raffanelli
Erlauchtester Herr
Die in Ihrer Postkarte vom 19. dieses
Monats genannten Codices sind in diesem Kapitelsarchiv vorhanden, beide (wenn
ich mich nicht getäuscht habe) im selben Band. Sie können sie in den
Vormittagsstunden benutzen, an dem Tag, der Ihnen am genehmsten ist (außer an
Feiertagen).
Pistoia, am 22. März 1903
Hochachtungsvoll
Canonicus A. Raffanelli
Fir[enze] 1 III 1908
Carissimo Prof.,
mi disse ieri il prof. Del Vecchio di aver incaricato il prof. Cipolla della rec[ensione] della di Lei opera. Non ricordo con precisione se abbia fatto accurate ricerche nell’archivio delle monache di S. Fr[ancesco] in Todi. Credo di no. Ella si rivolga al Dr. Brigante , ora impiegato presso la Biblioteca di Perugia; forse l’accompagnerà in persona a Todi. Egli ha la famiglia a Diruta, sulla strada Perugia-Todi.
Non crederei che Ella possa rinvenire
notevoli nuovi a Nonantola: quell‘arch[ivio] è piccolo, abbastanza ordinato, fu
visitato da tanti eruditi tedeschi.
Nelle vacanze Pasquali andrò a Lucca
per lo studio di quelle carte Longobarde; voglio però sperare che Ella non
verrà a Firenze proprio in quei giorni (12-26 aprile), mi spiacerebbe troppo.
L’attendo con vivo desiderio; abbia la bontà di farmi noto il giorno del suo
arrivo.
I miei gemellini bene; vedrà quali
personaggi!! Ossequi alla Signora.
L‘aff[ezionatissi]mo discepolo
L[uigi] Sch[iaparelli]
Florenz, 1. März 1908
Lieber Herr Professor,
gestern sagte mir Professor Del Vecchio , dass er Professor Cipolla mit der Rezension Ihres Werks beauftragt habe. Ich erinnere mich nicht genau, ob Sie im Archiv der Nonnen von S. Francesco in Todi schon sorgfältig recherchiert haben. Ich glaube nicht. Wenden Sie sich an Dr. Brigante , der jetzt bei der Bibliothek in
Perugia beschäftigt ist; vielleicht wird er Sie persönlich nach Todi begleiten.
Seine Familie lebt in Deruta, an der Straße Perugia-Todi.
Ich würde nicht glauben, dass Sie noch bemerkenswertes Neues in Nonantola finden können: das Archiv dort ist klein, ziemlich geordnet, es wurde schon von vielen deutschen Gelehrten besucht.
In den Osterferien werde ich nach Lucca gehen, um die dortigen langobardischen Urkunden zu untersuchen; ich möchte aber hoffen, dass Sie nicht gerade in diesen Tagen (12. bis 26. April) nach Florenz kommen, das würde mir sehr leidtun. Ich erwarte Sie mit lebhafter Sehnsucht; haben Sie die Güte, mir den Tag Ihrer Ankunft mitzuteilen.
Meinen kleinen Zwillingen geht es gut;
Sie werden sehen: welche Prachtkerle!! Meine Empfehlung an die Frau Gemahlin.
Ihr getreuester Schüler
L[uigi] Sch[iaparelli]
