EZECHIEL SPANHEIM, NUMISMATIST? Öffentlichkeit Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 41, October 10, 2004, Article 8
EZECHIEL SPANHEIM, NUMISMATIST?
According to an article in the Daily Collegian of New
England, a history professor is in Europe doing research,
and he is looking for information on a man named
Ezechiel Spanheim, whom he believes was a numismatist."Brian W. Ogilvie, Associate Professor of History, has been
conducting research in Europe on a $40,000 Fellowship for
University Teachers from the National Endowment for the
Humanities and a fellowship at the Columbia University
Institute for Scholars at Reid Hall in Paris.His work centers on his hypothesis that the culture of
17th-century diplomacy encouraged reconciliation between
erudition and polite society."In a nutshell, diplomats were not professionals in the 17th
century. That is, there were no schools that trained diplomats,
no civil service in the modern sense, and the like. They were
often recruited from the ranks of scholars, because Latin was
still the language of international law and it was also still used
for negotiation. So there were a lot of diplomats who were
scholars."More specifically, Ogilvie is gathering information on Ezechiel
Spanheim, a numismatist (coin studier), scholar and diplomat.
Ogilvie believes that Spanheim's unique role in European culture
will offer a glimpse into the changing nature of the era (and
validate his hypothesis). An obstacle in this is the fact that
although he was famous in his day, he is now almost forgotten."I have asked a few dozen historians who are specialists on
early modern European history whether they have heard of
Ezechiel Spanheim and almost always, the answer is no."To read the full article, see: " target="_blank">Full Story
[So ... can any of our readers help? -Editor]
- 2004-10-10
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