Karl Spruner von Mertz

Karl Spruner von Merz (15 November 1803, in Stuttgart – 24 August 1892), or Karl von Spruner as he preferred to be known, was a German cartographer and scholar.

He spent most of his long life in military service. He joined the Bavarian army, aged 11, in 1814, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1825. He established a reputation as a scholar, but this did not come to the notice of his military superiors until 1851, leading them to promote him to major in 1852 and to lieutenant colonel in 1855. He was promoted to general in 1883, and finally retired in 1886, after 72 years in the Bavarian army.