KRUMBACHER, KARL. – An eminent promoter of Byzantine studies, born on 23 September 1856 at Kürnach (near Kempten in Bavaria), died on 12 December 1909 at Munich, at whose university he had taught from 1884 until his death. K. was the pioneer of modern Byzantine and Neo-Hellenic studies; his masterpiece is the Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (Munich 1891), whose publication occasioned the establishment of the chair of Byzantine sciences at Munich, an innovation later imitated by other countries. In 1892 K. founded the journal Byzantinische Zeitschrift, of which he was director until his death. Great was the influence exercised by K. in his Byzantine seminar, which, like his journal, had a universal character embracing the entire field of Byzantine culture (philology, the editing of texts, ecclesiastical history, hagiography, liturgy, ecclesiastical poetry), all according to criteria of sound modernity combined with esteem for tradition. Aware of the importance of theological studies, K. entrusted the preparation of the first part of the second edition of his masterpiece (Munich 1897) EHRHARD, ALBERT (v.), while H. Gelzer added a sketch of Byzantine history.
Among K.’s other scholarly writings, a list of which is found in the Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 19 (1910), pp. 700–708, are various studies on the poet Romanos and on other subjects relating to Greek ecclesiastical poetry (Kasia, Kyriakos, the akrostichia in Greek ecclesiastical poetry), articles on Byzantine historians (Theophanes, Michele Glykas), on hagiography (Theodosios, Giorgio martire), on proverbs and folk songs, and on philological subjects. For the love of scholarship K. preferred a celibate life; he remained ever faithful to the doctrine of the Catholic Church.