JAFFÉ, PHILIPP. - Distinguished historian and critic, born at Schwersenz (Posen) on 17 Feb. 1819, died 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 in the MGH for vols. XII and XVII-XIX of the Scriptores, where he published, among other works, a group of Italian annals of the 12th-13th centuries; from 1862 he was extraordinary professor at Berlin and undertook the Bibliotheca rerum Germanicarum (6 vols., 1864-73); his catalogue of the manuscripts of Cologne Cathedral was completed by W. Wattenbach (1874).
Of Jewish family, his origin and polemical character—becoming particularly excitable in his later years—caused him bitterness; obstructed in his historical career, he took a degree in medicine without, however, practising it; he converted to Protestantism in 1868.
He was one of the most prolific discoverers of medieval historical sources; to him is owed the first systematic collection of papal acts prior to the year 1198 (only those published), issued in brief form and in chronological order (Regesta pontificum Romanorum ab condita Ecclesia ad annum p. Chr. n. MCCXVIII, Berlin 1851); the work, still fundamental for studies in ecclesiastical history, received a second enlarged and corrected edition by S. Löwenfeld, F. Kaltenbrunner and P. Ewald (2 vols., 1885-88).