Arndt, Ernst Moritz (1769–1860)

German poet, historian, and patriot. In 1803 he published Versüch einer Geschichte der Leibeigenschaft in Pommern und Rügen, a history of serfdom which led to its abolition in Pomerania 1806. In 1806 he issued the call to the Germans to throw off the yoke of France, and was forced into exile in Sweden to escape Napoleon.

He was born at Schoritz, the son of an emancipated serf. Appointed to the University of Bonn as professor of history 1818, he threw himself into the movement for constitutional reform and was suspended from his post 1819–40. A monument in his honour was erected in Bonn 1865.

Arndt's other works include Gedichte/Poems (1804–18; complete edition 1860), religious poems; Erinnerungen aus dem äusseren Leben/Recollections from the External Life (1840), an autobiography; and Geist der Zeit/Spirit of the Times (1808–18).