During the Vatican Council he adhered to Ignaz von Döllinger, but was in no real sense an Old Catholic, and in 1882 explicitly retracted all his utterances in favour of that sect.
He received his doctorate in law in 1867 at the University of Graz and was considered a disciple of Friedrich Maassen, who influenced him in the application of the historical method.
Friedrich Nietzsche | Friedrich Schiller | Friedrich Engels | Carl Friedrich Gauss | Karl Friedrich Schinkel | Friedrich Dürrenmatt | Friedrich Hayek | Caspar David Friedrich | Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel | Friedrich Hölderlin | Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle | Friedrich Ebert | Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling | Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel | Friedrich Gulda | Friedrich Rückert | Friedrich Paulus | Johann Friedrich Böttger | Friedrich von Huene | Friedrich List | Friedrich | Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters | Johann Friedrich Blumenbach | Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow | Friedrich Specht | Friedrich Schleiermacher | Friedrich Schlegel | Friedrich Karl Dörner | Friedrich Fröbel | Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué |