orig. Leopold Ranke born Dec. 21, 1795, Wiehe, Thuringia, Saxony died May 23, 1886, Berlin German historian. Ranke taught at the University of Berlin (1825-71). Inspired by the scientific method of historical study used by Barthold Georg Niebuhr, he championed objective writing based on philological and textual criticism of source materials. His scholarly technique and way of teaching (he was the first to establish a historical seminar) had great influence on Western historiography. His many works covering a wide variety of topics typically are subtle accounts of particular limited periods in European state and political history that, like his source materials, take comparatively little notice of social and economic forces
born July 24/26, 1895, London, Eng. died Dec. 7, 1985, Deyá, Majorca, Spain British man of letters. He served as an officer at the Western Front during World War I and his first three volumes of poetry were published during that time; they include some of the finest English love poems of the century. In 1926 he began a 13-year relationship with the American poet Laura Riding (1901-91), with whom he founded a press, briefly published a journal, and collaborated as a writer. After 1929 he lived principally in Majorca, Spain. The most famous of his more than 120 books are Good-bye to All That (1929), a grim memoir of the war; the historical novel I, Claudius (1934; televised in 1976); and erudite, controversial studies in mythology, notably The White Goddess (1948)