PFEIFFER, FRANZ. – Philologist, born on 27 February 1815 in Bettlach near Solothurn, died in Vienna on 29 May 1868.
He studied in Munich, became a librarian in Stuttgart, and then (1857) a professor at the University of Vienna. In 1856 he founded Germania, a quarterly journal for the study of Germanic antiquities. He is renowned for his editions of medieval Germanic texts, including: Deutsche Mystik (1845–1847); Marienlegenden (1846; 2nd ed. 1863), and the sermons of Bertoldo di Ratisbona (1862).
BIBL.: J. Strobl, s. V. in Allgemeine deutsche Biographie, XXV, pp. 635–639. Hermine Kühn-Steinhausen