Jacques Bongars

Jacques Bongars (* 1554 in Orléans , † June 29, 1612 in Paris ) was a French diplomat and book collector.

life and work

Coming from a Huguenot family, Bongars came to Germany in 1564 and attended Latin school in Heidelberg in 1565 . Philological and theological studies followed in 1566–1567 in Marburg , 1568 in Jena , and 1569–1571 in Strasbourg, then legal studies in Orléans , then in Bourges . A study trip took him in 1585 with a companion via Hungary and Transylvania to Constantinople and might have had Jerusalem as his destination; in the same year Bongars entered the diplomatic service as secretary to the French ambassador in Frankfurt . In 1593 he was appointed chargé d'affaires at the English and Danish courts and at German courts by Henry IV .

In 1581 Bongars' critical edition of Justin's Epitome of the Historiae Philippicae of Pompeius Trogus appeared in Paris . In 1600 he published the collection of sources Rerum Hungaricum scriptores varii and in 1611 Gesta Dei per Francos with 20 chronical texts on the history of the Crusades .

The Bongars Library

As a humanist scholar, Bongars compiled a valuable library. In 1604 he acquired a large part of the famous manuscript collection of the collector and editor Pierre Daniel (1530–1603) of Orléans, together with his cousin Paul Pétau (1568–1614). Pierre Daniel had brought parts of the famous monastery library of the Benedictine abbey of Fleury (Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire near Orléans) to safety from the pillaging Huguenot soldiers in 1562. Around 70 early and high medieval manuscripts from Fleury came into his possession in Bongars' share. He was also able to acquire valuable medieval manuscripts from Strasbourg and on his travels. In his will, Bongars bequeathed his library to his godson Jakob Graviseth (1598–1658), son of his Strasbourg friend and banker René Graviseth (1560–1633), who in 1615 bought the castle and the Liebegg estate in the then Bernese Aargau. Jakob Graviseth was granted citizenship rights in Bern in 1624 after his marriage to Salome von Erlach , daughter of Bernese mayor Franz Ludwig von Erlach , and in return bequeathed the Bongars library to the city of Bern in 1631 . These holdings now make up the Bongarsiana Collection, which is divided into the Burger Library (over 500 manuscripts) and the University Library (around 3,000 printed volumes) .

literature

Hans Bloesch (ed.): The city and university library of Bern . Grunau, Bern 1932. ( digitized version )

Hermann Hagen: Jacobus Bongarsius: A contribution to the history of the learned studies of the 16th – 17th centuries. Century . Fischer, Bern 1874. ( digitized version )

Ariane Huber Hernández: “Because of Liberey arrested in Bongars”. Correspondence regarding the change of Jacques Bongars' library from Basel to Bern . In: Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde , Vol. 110 (2010), pp. 269–276.

Patrick Andrist: Strasbourg - Basel - Bern. Books on the trip. The legacy of the library from Jacques Bongars, the gift from Jakob Graviseth and the further fate of the collection in Bern . In: Berner Hans (ed.): Scriptorium und Offizin: Festgabe for Martin Steinmann on his 70th birthday , Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde Vol. 110 (2010), pp. 249–268.

Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich (ed.): Jacques Bongars (1554–1612). Scholar and diplomat in the age of denominationalism . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2015, ( Late Middle Ages, Humanism, Reformation ; 87), ISBN 978-3-16-152724-1 .

Ruth Kohlndorfer-Fries: Diplomacy and scholarly republic . The contacts of the French envoy Jacques Bongars (1554–1612) . Niemeyer, Tübingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-484-36637-4

Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 .

Thomas Klöti and Florian Mittenhuber (2014). Bongar's source work on the history of the Crusades . Murten 2014, ( full text )

Web links

Barbara Braun-Bucher: Bongars, Jacques. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Bongarsiana / Codices in the online archive catalog of the Burgerbibliothek Bern
Jacques Bongars and his library on the Bongarsiana pamphlets in the University Library of Bern

Individual evidence

↑ Some of his lecture transcripts are preserved in the Burgerbibliothek Bern; one from Jena was published in 1568, see Monika Michel-Rüegg: Lecture notes from school days , in: Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( Passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 , pp. 44–45.
↑ Florian Mittenhuber: Jacques Bongars, life and work ; in: Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( Passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 , pp. 9–14, especially pp. 9–10.
↑ According to the speculations of Walther Ludwig: Jacques Bongars' aborted trip to the Orient in the light of new research , in: Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich (ed.): Jacques Bongars (1554–1612). Scholar and diplomat in the age of denominationalism . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-16-152724-1 , pp. 89-96.
↑ Florian Mittenhuber: Jacques Bongars, life and work ; in: Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( Passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 , pp. 9–14, especially pp. 11–13, with a map of the route to Constantinople p. 12.
↑ Florian Mittenhuber: The manuscripts of the Bongarsiana , in: Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( Passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 , pp. 15-21, with map pp. 22-23.
↑ Sabine Schlüter: Die Drucke der Bongarsiana , in: Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( Passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 , pp. 24–28, and map pp. 22–23.
^ Claudia Engler: Arte et marte. Franz Ludwig von Erlach and the Bongarsiana . In: In the eye of the hurricane, federal power elites and the Thirty Years War , ed. by André Holenstein, Georg von Erlach and Sarah Rindlisbacher (= Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte , vol. 77, 2015 No. 3, special edition), pp. 34–50.

personal data
SURNAME	Bongars, Jacques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French diplomat and book collector
DATE OF BIRTH	1554
PLACE OF BIRTH	Orleans
DATE OF DEATH	June 29, 1612
Place of death	Paris

[1] Some of his lecture transcripts are preserved in the Burgerbibliothek Bern; one from Jena was published in 1568, see Monika Michel-Rüegg: Lecture notes from school days , in: Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( Passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 , pp. 44–45.

[2] Florian Mittenhuber: Jacques Bongars, life and work ; in: Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( Passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 , pp. 9–14, especially pp. 9–10.

[3] According to the speculations of Walther Ludwig: Jacques Bongars' aborted trip to the Orient in the light of new research , in: Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich (ed.): Jacques Bongars (1554–1612). Scholar and diplomat in the age of denominationalism . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-16-152724-1 , pp. 89-96.

[4] Florian Mittenhuber: Jacques Bongars, life and work ; in: Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( Passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 , pp. 9–14, especially pp. 11–13, with a map of the route to Constantinople p. 12.

[5] Florian Mittenhuber: The manuscripts of the Bongarsiana , in: Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( Passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 , pp. 15-21, with map pp. 22-23.

[6] Sabine Schlüter: Die Drucke der Bongarsiana , in: Jacques Bongars, humanist, diplomat, book collector . - Burgerbibliothek, Bern 2012, ( Passepartout ), ISBN 978-3-7272-1237-6 , pp. 24–28, and map pp. 22–23.

[7] Claudia Engler: Arte et marte. Franz Ludwig von Erlach and the Bongarsiana . In: In the eye of the hurricane, federal power elites and the Thirty Years War , ed. by André Holenstein, Georg von Erlach and Sarah Rindlisbacher (= Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte , vol. 77, 2015 No. 3, special edition), pp. 34–50.