Maximilian Wolfgang Duncker

He studied at the universities of Bonn and Berlin till 1834, was then accused of participation in the students' societies, which the government was endeavouring to suppress, and was condemned to six years' imprisonment, afterwards reduced to six months.

He had already begun his labours as a historian, but after serving his sentence in 1837, found himself debarred till 1839 from completing his course at Halle, where in 1842 he obtained a professorship.

Elected to the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848, he joined the Right Centre Party, and was chosen reporter of the projected constitution.

An outspoken opponent of the policy of Manteuffel, he was refused promotion by the Prussian government, and in 1857 accepted the professorship of history at Tübingen.

Duncker's eminent position among German historians rests mainly on his "Geschichte des Alterthums" (1st edition, 1852–1857; English translation by Evelyn Abbott, 1877–1882).