Hieronymus Wolf (13 August 1516 – 8 October 1580) was a sixteenth-century German historian and humanist, most famous for introducing a system of Roman historiography that eventually became the standard in works of medieval Byzantine history.

A student of Philipp Melanchthon and Joachim Camerarius,[1] he managed to secure the position of secretary and librarian in the newly established public library of Augsburg in 1537, where he was given the chance to study and translate numerous ancient and medieval Greek authors, making them accessible to German academics.

Until his time, no distinction was made between ancient and medieval Greek works, and indeed the latter was shadowed by the interest shown for classical authors.

Rather, interest was stirred from a different direction, that of discovering and explaining the history that led to the conquest of much of eastern Europe by the Ottomans, whom Wolf lived to see during their Siege of Vienna.

This replacement reflects the feud between east and west over the title of Emperor of the Romans, that began already with Constantine the Great transferring the capital to Constantinople.

[citation needed] Following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, Mehmed II assumed the title Kayser-i Rûm ("Caesar of Rome") [citation needed] and in 1480 started an expedition to Italy which began with the Ottoman invasion of Otranto and Apulia (1480–1481) as the first step of his plan to conquer also the city of Rome.

[citation needed] In the 17th century, Louis XIV of France prompted for the assemblage of all Roman works and called several renowned scholars from around the world to participate in this effort.