Albert Jäger (1801-1891) "Memories of my Life"

In this volume, the previously unknown memoirs of the Austrian historian Albert Jäger (1801-1891) are published for the first time in the form of a scholarly annotated edition. Jäger was first a Benedictine monk in the abbey of Marienberg and a grammar school teacher. As such, he turned to history and then became a tutor to a noble family. Through this connection he came to Innsbruck and became a university professor of history there. He was particularly impressed by the revolutionary events of the year 1848, which occupy a considerable part of his memoirs. In 1851, the Austrian Minister of Education Leo Thun-Hohenstein brought him to the University of Vienna as the first professor of Austrian history. There, in 1854, Jäger founded the Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, which still exists today. For some time in the 1860s he became politically involved on the side of the Catholic conservatives. In retirement, Albert Jäger returned to Tyrol and until his death devoted himself mainly to Tyrolean regional history and to writing his memoirs. He died in Innsbruck in 1891 at the age of 90. Due to his long lifespan, his various connections and his numerous fields of activity, Albert Jäger is a remarkable witness of his time. The memoirs offer special insights into the history of education and science, but also into the everyday social and religious history of the Habsburg Monarchy in the 19th century. In addition, they provide a comprehensive reconstruction of his life story. For a better understanding of the editorial text, an introduction traces Jäger`s biography, describes the source of the memoirs and places them in a larger context. The volume is completed by selected indexes and supplements, but also by short biographies of all the persons appearing in the memoirs.

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