GFRORER, AUGUST FRIEDRICH Ger man historian, was born at Calw, Wurttemberg, on March 5, 1803. He was librarian at Stuttgart (183o-46), and professor of history at Gottingen (1846-61). In his Kritische Geschichte des Urchristenthums (3 vols., Stuttgart, 1838) Gf rorer developed opinions unfavourable to Protestantism, which were plainly avowed in his Church history (Allgemeine Kirchengeschichte bis Beginn des z4ten Jahrhunderts, Stuttgart, 1841-46). In 1848 he sat as a representative in the Frankfurt parliament, where he supported the "High German" party, and in 1853 he publicly went over to the Church of Rome. He was a bitter opponent of Prussia and an ardent controversialist. He died at Carlsbad on July 6, 186r.
Among his later historical works the most important is the Ge schichte der ost- u. west f rdnkischen Karolinger (Freiburg, 1848) ; but others, notably that on Hildebrand (Papst Gregorius VII. u. sein Zeitalter, 7 vols., 1859-61), are also of real value.