Berent Schwineköper was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 archivist

Archivist

An archivist is a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media...

 and historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

.

Born in Magdeburg

Magdeburg

Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

, Prussian Saxony, Schwineköper was the son of an apothecary

Apothecary

Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....

. At the universities of Göttingen, Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

, and Freiburg

University of Freiburg

The University of Freiburg , sometimes referred to in English as the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.The university was founded in 1457 by the Habsburg dynasty as the...

, Schwineköper studied history, German studies, art history, and historical auxiliary sciences. His main advisors were Alfons Dopsch, Heinrich von Srbik, Hermann Heimpel, and especially Percy Ernst Schramm

Percy Ernst Schramm

Percy Ernst Schramm was a German historian of medieval political symbolism and ritual. His research focused primarily on the ideology of the medieval state, particularly the ways in which the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages represented their authority through images and rituals,...

, from whom Schinweköper received his doctorate in 1937 with the work Der Handschuh im Recht, Ämterwesen, Brauchtum und Volksglauben.

Schwineköper attended the Institut für Archivwissenschaft (institute for archival science) from 1939–41 and then was the archivist at the Preußisches Geheimes Staatsarchiv in Berlin-Dahlem

Dahlem (Berlin)

Dahlem is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. Dahlem is one of the most affluent parts of the city and home to the main campus of the Free University of Berlin with the...

. In 1944 he became archival councillor at the state archive in Magdeburg. From February 1946 to June 1959, Schwineköper was scientific archivist at the provincial archive in Magdeburg. In 1958 he was named an honorary docent

Docent

Docent is a title at some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks below professor . Docent is also used at some universities generically for a person who has the right to teach...

 for diplomatics of the Middle Ages and for regional history at the Institut für Archivwissenschaft in Potsdam

Potsdam

Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

.

In June 1959 Schwineköpeger migrated from East Germany to West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

 to work at the city archive of Freiburg. He began teaching at the University of Freiburg in 1964 and was named an honorary professor in 1972. He was a participant of the Konstanz

Konstanz

Konstanz is a university city with approximately 80,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland. The city houses the University of Konstanz.-Location:...

er Arbeitskreis concerning medieval history and an extraordinary member of the historical commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. He was also a member of the East German historical commission for Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...

. Schwineköper died in Freiburg.

External links

• Biography at the University of Magdeburg