ARNDT, ERNST MORITZ (1769-186o), German poet and patriot, was born on Dec. 26, 1769, at Schoritz in the island of Riigen, which at that time belonged to Sweden. He was edu cated at Stralsund, Greifswald, and Jena, and qualified for the Lutheran ministry. At the age of 28 he renounced the ministry, and for 18 months he led a wandering life, visiting Austria, Hun gary, Italy, France, and Belgium. Returning homewards up the Rhine, he was moved by the sight of the ruined castles along its banks to intense bitterness against France. The impressions of this journey he later described in Reisen durch einen Theil Deutschlands, Ungarns, Italiens, and Frankreichs in den Jahren 1798 and 1799 (1802-04). In 1800 he settled in Greifswald as Privatdozent in history, and the same year published Uber die Freiheit der alten Republiken. In 1803 appeared Gercoanien and Europa, "a fragmentary ebullition," as he himself called it, of his views on the French aggression. This was followed by one of the most remarkable of his books, Versuch einer Geschichte der Leibeigenscha f t in Pommern and Rugen (1803), a history of serf dom in Pomerania and Rugen, which was so convincing an indict ment that King Gustavus Adolphus IV. in 1806 abolished the evil. In 1806 Arndt was appointed to the chair of history at the univer sity. In this year he published the first part of his Geist der Zeit, in which he flung down the gauntlet to Napoleon and called on his countrymen to rise and shake off the French yoke. So great was the excitement it produced that Arndt was compelled to take refuge in Sweden to escape the vengeance of Napoleon. In pamphlets, poems, and songs he communicated his enthusiasm to his countrymen. Schill's heroic death at Stralsund impelled him to return to Germany and, under the disguise of "Almann, teacher of languages," he reached Berlin in December 1809. In 1810 he returned to Greifswald, but only for a few months. He again set out on his adventurous travels, lived in close contact with the first men of his time, such as Blucher, Gneisenau, and Stein, and in 1812 was summoned by the last named to St. Petersburg to assist in the organization of the final struggle against France. Meanwhile, pamphlet after pamphlet, full of bitter hatred of the French oppressor, came from his pen, and his stirring patriotic songs, such as Was ist das deutsche Vaterland? Der Gott, der Eisen wachsen lives, and Was blasen die Trompeten? were on all lips. When, after the peace, the university of Bonn was founded in 1818, Arndt was appointed to the chair of modern history. In this year appeared the fourth part of his Geist der Zeit, in which he criticized the reactionary policy of the German powers. The boldness of his demands for reform offended the Prussian govern ment, and in the summer of 1819 he was arrested and his papers confiscated. Although speedily liberated, he was in the following year arraigned before a specially constituted tribunal. Although not found guilty, he was forbidden to exercise the functions of his professorship, but was allowed to retain the stipend. The next 20 years he passed in retirement and literary activity. In 1840 he was reinstated in his professorship, and in 1 841 was chosen rector of the university. The revolutionary outbreak of 1848 rekindled in the venerable patriot his old hopes and energies, and he took his seat as one of the deputies to the National Assembly at Frankfort. He formed one of the deputation that offered the imperial crown to Frederick William IV., and indignant at the king's refusal to accept it, he retired with the majority of von Gagern's adherents from public life. He died at Bonn on Jan. 29, 1860.
Arndt's untiring labour for his country rightly won for him the title of "the most German of all Germans." His lyric poems are not, however, all confined to politics. Many among the Gedichte (1803-18; complete edition, 1860) are religious pieces of great beauty. Among his other works are Reise durch Schweden (1797) ; Nebenstunden, eine Beschreibung and Geschichte der schottlandischen Inseln and der Orkaden (182o) ; Die Frage uber die Niederlande (1831) ; Erinner ungen aus dem ausseren Leben, an autobiography, and the most valuable source of information for Arndt's life (1840) ; Rhein- and Ahrwanderungen (1846) ; Wanderungen and Wandlungen mit dem Reichsfreiherrn von Stein (1858) and Pro populo Germanico (1854), which was originally intended to form the fifth part of the Geist der Zeit. Arndt's Werke have been edited by H. Rosch and H. Meisner in 8 vols. (not complete) (1892-98) . Biographies have been written by E. Langenberg (1869) and Wilhelm Baur, 5th ed. (1882) . See also H. Meisner and R. Geerds, E. M. Arndt, ein Lebensbild in Brie/en (1898) , and R. Thiele, E. M. Arndt (1894) . There are monuments to his memory at Schoritz, his birthplace, and at Bonn, where he is buried.