Krumbacher was born at
Kürnach im Allgäu in the
Kingdom of Bavaria. He studied Classical Philology and
Indo-European linguistics at the Universities of
Munich and
Leipzig. In 1879 he passed the State Exam (Staatsexamen) and was thereafter active as a school teacher until 1891. In 1883 he gain his doctorate (Promotion) and in 1885 his
Habilitation in Medieval and Modern Greek philology. From 1897 he was professor of
Medieval and
Modern Greek Language and Literature at the
University of Munich and held the newly created Chair of Byzantine Studies, the first professorial chair in this subject in the world. Krumbacher founded the
Byzantinische Zeitschrift (1892), the oldest academic journal of Byzantine Studies, and the
Byzantinisches Archiv (1898). His collaborator at the time was
Božidar Prokić, the renowned Belgrade Byzantinist. He died in
Munich in 1909. His successor as Professor of Byzantine Studies was August Heisenberg, father of physicist
Werner Heisenberg. His most important work is
Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur von Justinian bis zum Ende des oströmischen Reiches (527-1453) (History of Byzantine Literature from
Justinian to the Fall of the
East Roman Empire) in 1891. A second edition was published in 1897, with the collaboration of
Albert Ehrhard (section on
theology) and
Heinrich Gelzer (general sketch of Byzantine history, AD 395–1453). The value of the work was greatly enhanced by its lengthy bibliographies and it remained a standard textbook for decades. Krumbacher's extensive travels in Greece and the
Ottoman Empire became the basis of his
Griechische Reise (1886). His notable works include studies of the poetry of
Michael Glykas (1894) and
Kassia (1897) and
Populäre Aufsätze (1900). In
Das Problem der neugriechischen Schriftsprache (1902) he strongly opposed the efforts of the
Katharevousa purists to introduce the classical style into modern Greek language and literature. ==See also==