Eduard von Simson

Frankfurt National Assembly (1848–1849) Liberalism and republicanism 1810–1899 ○ Natural causes

Jurist who as president of the Frankfurt Parliament offered Frederick William IV the crown in 1849; first president of the Reichsgericht

Born in Königsberg in 1810 into a Jewish family that converted to Protestantism in 1823, he became professor of Roman law at Königsberg. Elected for Königsberg to the Frankfurt National Assembly in May 1848, he was its secretary, from October vice-president and from December president. On 3 April 1849 he led the deputation that offered Frederick William IV the imperial crown in Berlin; the king refused, and Simson gave up the presidency. He presided over the Erfurt Union Parliament in 1850, and from 1867 over the Reichstag of the North German Confederation and the German Empire. In December 1870 he led another deputation, to Versailles, to offer the crown to William I. In 1879 he became the first president of the Reichsgericht in Leipzig, serving until 1891, and he died in Berlin in 1899.

Also known as: Martin Eduard von Simson