CORNELIUS, KARL ADAM. – German historian, born in Würzburg on 12 March 1819, died in Munich on 10 February 1903. After teaching for some time at the Braunsberg secondary school, he was appointed professor at the University of Bonn in 1854 and then, two years later, at the University of Munich. In 1870 he defected from the Church to place himself at the head of the Old Catholic movement initiated by J. Döllinger, together with his disciples Druffel, Ritter, and Stieve.
Among his works, the following deserve particular mention: Die münsterischen Humanisten und ihr Verhältnis zur Reformation (Bonn 1851); Geschichte des münsterischen Aufruhrs der Wiedertäufer (2 vols., Munich 1855–60); Studien zur Geschichte des Bauernkrieges (ibid., 1851).
BIBL.: Der Grosse Brockhaus, IV, Leipzig 1929, p. 232; Ph. Funk, s. V. in LThK, III, col. 48; A. De Gubernatis, Dict. intern. des écrivains du jour, I, pp. 693 ff. Emma Santovino