GATTERER, JOHANN CHRISTOPH. - German historian and diplomatist, b. at Lichtenau, near Norimberga, 15 July 1727, d. at Gottinga, 5 Apr. 1799. At the University of Gottinga, where he taught from 1759, he founded a historical institute equipped with the oldest cabinet of palaeography. In his teaching and writings he advocated an approach to historical research pursued with the aid of all the auxiliary disciplines, for which he also compiled highly useful manuals: heraldry (Gottinga 1774), chronology (Norimberga 1775), genealogy (ibid. 1788), and diplomatics.
He devoted three studies of particular interest to the latter: Elementa artis diplomaticae universalis (Gottinga 1765), in which, in dealing with writing, he introduced a curious classification modelled on that adopted by Linneo in the natural sciences; Abriis der Diplomatik (ibid. 1798); Praktische Diplomatik (ibid. 1799). Among his historical works, the following deserve mention: Handbuch der Universallhistorie (ibid. 1761 ff.); Die Weltgeschichte in ihrem ganzen Umfang (ibid. 1785–87); Versuch einer allgemeinen Weltgeschichte (Norimberga 1792).