DIEKAMP, WILHELM. - Historian, b. at Geldern on 13 May 1854, d. at Rome on 25 Dec. 1885. Having completed his studies in theology and history with brilliant success, he began his career with Widukind, der Sachsenführer nach Geschichte und Sagen (Münster in West. 1877).
Various dissertations of his published in periodicals earned him the task of continuing the collection Die Geschichtsquellen des Bistums Münster, begun by Fiker, Cornelius, and Janssen; he did so by publishing vol. IV of the series: Vita s. Liutgeri (ibid. 1881). He also continued, with a supplementary fascicle (ibid. 1885), the series Westphälisches Urkundenbuch, begun by Wilmans and W. E. Giefers; having subsequently taken up pontifical diplomatics, he contributed to it with excellent dissertations in the periodicals Historisches Jahrbuch (4 [1833], p. 210 ff.) and Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung (3 [1882], p. 565 ff.; 4 [1883], p. 497 ff.; 5 [1884], p. 141 ff., 622 ff.).