JAFFÉ, PHILIPP. - Distinguished historian and critic, b. at Schwersenz (Posen) on 17 Feb. 1819, d. by suicide at Wittenberge on 3 Apr. 1870.
He studied in Berlin under Ranke, publishing his first studies in 1843 (Lothar von Sachsen) and in 1846 (Konrad III). He collaborated with Pertz on vols. XII and XVII-XIX of the Scriptores of the MGH, where he published, among other things, a group of Italian annals from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; from 1862 he was extraordinary professor in Berlin and undertook the Bibliotheca verum Germanicarum (6 vols., 1864-73); his catalogue of the manuscripts of Cologne Cathedral was completed by W. Wattenbach (1874).
Of an Israelite family, his origin and his polemical temperament, which became particularly excitable in his final years, caused him much bitterness; thwarted in his historical career, he took a degree in medicine, though without practising it; he converted to Protestantism in 1868.
He was one of the most prolific seekers of medieval historical sources; to him is due the first systematic collection of papal acts prior to the year 1198 (only those published), issued in brief summary and in chronological order (Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita Ecclesia ad annum p. Chr. n. MCXCVIII, Berlin, 1851); the work, still fundamental for studies in ecclesiastical history, had a second edition enlarged and corrected by S. Löwenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner, and P. Ewald (2 vols., 1885-88).