BIBLIOGRAPHY: Roswitha's works were edited by K. A. Barack, Nuremberg, 1858; and K. Strecker, Leipsic, 1906; and are in MPL, cxxxvii. 971-1196. The two historical poems are in MGH, Script., iv (1841), 302-335. There are German translations of the Otto by W. Gundlach, Innsbruck, 1894, and others. Consult A. Ebert, Litteratur des Mittelalters, iii. 285 aqq., Leipsie, 1887; A. H. Hoffmann, De Roswithe vita et acriptis, Wratislaw, 1839; O. Rommel, in Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, iv (1864), 123-158; R. Kopke, Hrotsuit von Gandersheim, Berlin, 1869; idem, Die alteste deutsche Dichterin. %ulturgeschicheliches Bild aus dem 10. Jahrhundert, ib. 1869; R. Steinhoff, in Zeitschrift des Harzvereins far Geschichte and Alterthumskunde, xv (1882), 116-140; a notable series of contributions by 0. Grashof are to be found in Studien and Mitthealungen aus den Benediktiner- and CistercienserOrden, 1884-88; Wattenbach, DGQ, i (1885 ), 4, 313-316, i (1893), 334-336; W. H. Hudson, in English Historical Review, 1888, pp. 431-457; ADB, xxix. 283-294; Mary Reed, in Free Review, i. 269-282, London, 1893--94; Hauck, KD, iii. 301 sqq.
ROTA ROMANA. See CURIA,, 3.ROTH, rot, KARL JOHANN FRIEDRICH: German Lutheran; b. at Vaihingen (5 m. s.w. of Stuttgart), Wurttemberg, Jan. 23, 1780; d. at Munich Jan. 21, 1852. He studied law at the University of Tubingen (1797-1801), and was then consul for Nuremberg at Paris, Vienna, and Berlin. When Nuremberg came under Bavarian control, Roth entered the service of the state, first as financial counselor for the circle of Pegnitz at Nuremberg, then (1810) as chief financial counselor at Munich, and finally (1817) as ministerial counselor in the royal ministry of finances. His De bello Borussico commentarius (1809) proved his unusual scholarship. Meanwhile he had passed from the point of view of Voltaire and Rousseau to orthodoxy, as was shown by his selections from Luther's writings, Die Weisheit Dr. Martin Lulhers (1817), and his editions of
100the works of J. G. Hamann (Leipsic 1821-25). As president of the supreme consistory of Bavaria (1828-18) he exercised rare tact and administrative skill, in guiding the Church through the troublous reaction against rationalism, in cultivating the personal acquaintance of the clergy, and in executing the existing order, thus elevating the moral and the intellectual status of the clergy. He established a stated supervision of theological students at Erlangen, which was soon given up, and a seminary for the training of the Evangelical clergy at Munich, which was soon obliged to reduce its number of students from eight to six annually. During the period 1837-48, the Roman Catholics were in the ascendency with the government, and Roth was blamed for being remiss in not insisting upon the Protestant claims, though, perhaps, without justice. Nevertheless, in 1848 he was retired in order to allay the agitation against him. Soon after, he was made a member of the council of state, in which he continued almost till his death.
(KARL BURGERt.)ROTHE, rote, RICHARD: Theologian; b. at
Posen (100 m. e. of Frankfort-on-the-Oder) Jan.
28, 1799; d. at Heidelberg Aug. 20, 1867. His
father was characterized by strong fidelity to duty
and patriotic devotion; his mother by
Early Life fervent piety. The latter was of a
and rationalistic type, as was also the
Education. wretched religious instruction obtained
from the side of the school and the
Church. However, he was led into a supernatural
vein of thought by the imaginative works of Novalis
and other leaders in the Romantic movement_ and by
his own reading of the Bible. He thus acquired a
living Christianity. Accordingly, against his par
ents' inclination, he resolved to study theology,
and, at Easter, 1817, betook himself to Heidelberg.
Here he was influenced anew by Romanticism, so
that he came to entertain warm sympathies with
Roman Catholicism. At Berlin, whither he re
moved in 1819, there prevailed, in part, a Pietistic
type of religion, together with a very conservative
spirit in matters of State and Church, and a prefer
ence for the Hegelian philosophy. Rothe listened
to Hegel's lectures on natural law and political sci
ence with enthusiasm, and was but little attracted
by Schleiermacher's lectures and sermons. He ac
quired growing reverence for August Neander (q.v.),
through whose good offices he found entrance to the
circle that gathered about Baron von Kottwitz.
Yet he felt not at all content, but tired of academic
life and yearned for home. Cheered and refreshed
by a brief visit to his parents, he went to the Theo
logical Seminary at Wittenberg in the autumn of
1819. Most influential over him here was the third
director H. L. Heubner (q.v.); nevertheless Rothe
aimed to preserve his individuality and mental free
dom. He also here, as formerly at Berlin, at first
vigorously withstood the attempts of the new semi
nary adjunct Rudolf Stier and of Baron von Kott
witz and the licentiate Tholuck on a visit from
Berlin to win him over to a Pietistic form of relig
ion; but before long his sensitive temperament
yielded. On May 9, 1821, he reports of the inward
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. C. MacDonnell, Life and Correspondence of William Connor Magee, 2 vols., London, 1896; A. C. Benson, Life of E. W. Benson, 2 vols., ib. 1899; DNB, Supplement iii. 334-335.