Bernard de Montfaucon

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Bernard de Montfaucon

Don Bernard de Montfaucon (born January 16, 1655 in the castle of Soulatgé in Languedoc , France , † December 21, 1741 in Paris ) was a French scholar and paleographer .

Life

Bernard was of noble origin. His interest in old scripts became apparent early on. As a teenager he read a French translation of Plutarch's Vitae . 1672 he joined the cadet school of Perpignan , in order to pursue a military career. He served two years in the army of General Henri de Turenne in Germany . After a serious illness, however, he joined the Benedictine order in 1676 and learned the Greek language in a short time . Subsequently he studied Hebrew , Syriac , Chaldean , Coptic and dealt with numismatics .

Image of a priest of the Cybele cult , from: L'Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures

Bernard de Montfaucon was called to the monastery of St. Germain-des-Prés (Paris) in 1687 and worked under the leadership of Jean Mabillon on an edition of the Greek Fathers of the Church . In 1694 he was appointed curator of the coin collection. Between 1698 and 1701 he went to Italy on behalf of the Maurinians , where he studied old manuscripts. He also made the acquaintance of Lodovico Antonio Muratori in Milan and Pope Innocent XII. in Rome. As a result of his travels, he published the works of Athanasius , Origen and John Chrysostom , among others, until 1718 ; in 1739 he also published an extensive catalog of the manuscripts of the most important European libraries. With “L'Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures” (1719) he commented on 1,120 panels of ancient monuments . In “Les monumens de la Monarchie françoise” (1733) he commented on French monuments, including the Bayeux Tapestry, which was rediscovered only a few years earlier thanks to his .

In 1708 Bernard de Montfaucon published the "Palaeographia graeca", a textbook on ancient Greek scripts. To do this, he examined over 11,000 manuscripts. He is therefore considered to be the founder of Greek palaeography . 1719 Montfaucon was raised to a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres .

He is buried in the Chapelle de la Vierge in Saint-Germain-des-Prés next to Jean Mabillon .

Fonts (selection)

  • with others: Analecta græca sive varia opuscula græca hactenus non edita. Volume 1. Martin et al., Paris 1688, ( digitized version ).
  • as editor with others: S. Athanasii opera omnia. 2 (in 3) volumes. Anisson, Paris 1698.
  • Diarium italicum. Sive Monumentorum veterum, Bibliothecarum, Musæorum, & c. Anisson, Paris 1702, ( digitized version ).
  • Collectio nova patrum et scriptorum græcorum. 2 volumes. Rigaud, Paris 1706, (digital copies: Volume 1 , Volume 2 ).
  • Palæographia græca. Guerin et al., Paris 1708, ( digitized ).
  • Hexaplorum Origenis quæ supersunt. 2 volumes. Guerin et al., Paris 1713, (digital copies: Volume 1 , Volume 2 ).
  • Bibliotheca Coisliniana, olim Segueriana. Guerin et al., Paris 1715, ( digitized ).
  • L'Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures. 15 volumes. , Paris 1719–1724, ( digital copies ).
  • Les monumens de la Monarchy françoise. 5 volumes. Gandouin et al., Paris 1729–1733, ( digital copies ).
  • SI Chrisostomi opera omnia. 13 volumes. Guerin et al., Paris 1718–1738.
  • Bibliotheca bibliothecarum manuscriptorum nova. 2 volumes. Briasson, Paris 1739, (digital copies: Volume 1 , Volume 2 ).

literature

Web links

Commons : Bernard de Montfaucon  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Everything that has appeared. See: Michael O. Krieg: No more was published. A list of unfinished printed works. Volume 1: A-L (= Bibliotheca bibliographica. 2, 1, ZDB ID 407143-8 ). Krieg, Vienna 1954, p. 16.
personal data
SURNAME Montfaucon, Bernard de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Montfaucon, Don Bernard de (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French scholar and paleographer
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1655
PLACE OF BIRTH Soulatgé Castle , Languedoc , France
DATE OF DEATH December 21, 1741
Place of death Paris