Johannes August Hermann (John) Koch (22 December 1850, in Orunia – 28 September 1934, in Berlin) was one of the most prolific modern scholars of medieval English literature, especially the works of Geoffrey Chaucer.
He married Thomasine Pole in 1878 and then moved to Berlin, where he taught at the Dorotheenstädtisches Realgymnasium until 1911.
His critical editions of the Canterbury Tales and the so-called “Minor Poems” were widely known and appreciated.
[1] Together with Bernhard ten Brink, Eugen Kölbing, Julius Zupitza, and Ewald Flügel, he was part of the impressive cadre of German Chaucer scholars during the foundational phase of English Studies.
Koch was also greatly active as a member of the Corps Baltia, a student organization for which he wrote a number of essays and historical studies.