Franz Pfeiffer (February 27, 1815 - May 29, 1868), was a German literary scholar.

He was born at Bettlach near Soleure. After studying at the University of Munich he went to Stuttgart, where in 1846 he became librarian to the royal library. In 1856, Pfeiffer founded the Germanic, a quarterly periodical devoted to German antiquarian research. In 1857, having established himself as one of the foremost authorities on German medieval literature and philology, he was appointed professor of these subjects at the University of Vienna; and in 1860 was made a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. He died at Vienna.

Among the many writings he edited were the Barlaam und Josaphat of Rudolf von Ems (1843), the Edelstein of Ulrich Boner (1844), Die deutschen Mystiker des 14. Jahrhunderts (1845-1857), the Buch der Natur of Konrad von Megenberg, a 14th century writer (1861), Die Predigten des Berthold von Regensburg (1862), and the poems of Walther von der Vogelweide (1864).

Of his independent writings the most important are Zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte, Über Wesen und Bildung der hofischen Sprache in mittelhochdeutscher Zeit, Der Dichter des Nibelungenliedes, Forschung und Kritik auf dem Gebiete des deutschen Altertums, and Altdeutsches Übungsbuch. A biographical sketch by Karl Bartsch is in Uhlands Briefwechsel mit Freiherrn von Lassberg, edited by Franz Pfeiffer (1870).

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.