James Burton Robertson

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James Burton Robertson (born November 15, 1800 in London , † February 14, 1877 in Dublin ) was a British historian and publicist .

Life

James Burton Robertson was the son of Thomas Robertson, a landowner on the island of Grenada , where he spent his early childhood. After the death of his father, he was brought to England by his mother in 1809 and, from 1810, he was educated at St Edmund's Catholic College in Ware, Hertfordshire, for nine years. From 1819 he studied law in London and became a lawyer there in 1825, but did not practice this profession. During a number of long stays in France he carried out literary, philosophical and dogmatic-theological studies under the guidance of his friends Lamennais and Gerbet (later Bishop of Perpignan ). In 1835 he published an English translation of Friedrich Schlegel's lectures on the philosophy of history , to which he added a memoir on the life and writings of the author and which went through many editions.

From 1836 to 1854 Robertson was a hard worker for the Dublin Review and during this time he lived in various regions of Belgium and Germany , namely in Würzburg , where he obtained an English translation of Möhler's Symbolik (2 vols., London 1843) with a sketch about it the status of Protestantism and Catholicism in Germany over the past 100 years and a memoir about Möhler's life. With this work, which also saw several editions, he is said to have contributed significantly to the mass conversion of the Puseyists to the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1855 Robertson was appointed professor of geography and modern history to the newly established Catholic University of Ireland by John Henry Newman . With the professorship of history he later connected that of English literature . In 1869 he received an annual pension of 90 pounds sterling from Queen Victoria , on the recommendation of Gladstone , in recognition of his long service to English literature . In 1873 Pope Pius IX awarded him . the title of Doctor of Philosophy. He died in Dublin on February 14, 1877 at the age of 76 and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery .

Robertson also published:

  • Lectures on various subjects of ancient and modern history , London 1859
  • The prophet Enoch; or the sons of god and the sons of men , epic-lyrical poem in Blankversen, London 1860
  • Lectures on Spain in the eighteenth century; on the life, writings, and times of Chateaubriand, and on the Freemasons, Illuminati, Jacobins and Socialists , London 1864
  • Lectures on the life, writings, and times of Edmund Burke , London 1869; new edition 1872
  • Translation of Hergenröthers Anti-Janus (London 1870), with a brief historical introduction to Gallicanism from Louis XIV to the most recent times

literature

personal data
SURNAME Robertson, James Burton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British historian and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1800
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 1877
Place of death Dublin