From 1946 to 1961, he was the editor of the weekly magazine
Die Furche [The Furrow], and in 1961, he was appointed chief literacy to the
Vienna Burgtheater. He taught at the University of Vienna. Most of his books have been translated into several languages. Heer was a historian of ideas, religion, and culture. As a historian, he was less of a tireless researcher of details in archives and more concerned with providing an interpretive and explanatory, often narrative, overview of specific events, eras, or individuals. Among other things, he devoted himself to the history of the
Holy Roman Empire and its relationship to Europe. In his view,
Charlemagne was the "father of Europe," whose empire shaped the structures of European history. For him, the 11th and 12th centuries, the era of the
Salian and
Hohenstaufen dynasties, were the decisive and formative period for the new Europe. The supranational Holy Roman Empire, in conjunction with the
Habsburg Empire of
Charles V, where "the sun never set," was a Europe of unity in diversity on a small scale. According to Heer, the "driving force of the Western world is its Christian core." ==Later life==