Jean-Henri Maubert de Gouvest

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Jean-Henri Maubert de Gouvest (born November 20, 1721 in Rouen , † November 21, 1767 in Altona ) was a French escaped monk, adventurer, artillery officer , secretary , writer and publicist . During his life Maubert (arbitrarily ennobled by the appendix “de Gouvest”) was imprisoned thirteen times for plagiarism or debts in surrendering.

As an unsteady adventurer and cross-border commuter of the Enlightenment , Maubert de Gouvest is one of the forgotten authors and publicists in literary history and today arouses interest through his varied biography. The authorship or editing of some works is uncertain or could only be clarified in recent years.

Life

youth

Jean-Henri Maubert was born the son of a grocer. At the age of 17 he escaped from his father's house in a religious crisis - provided that the work “Le temps perdu ou les écoles publiques” published in 1765 is autobiographically correct - and decided in 1740 to join the Capuchin order , which he left in 1744, disturbed and disaffected . Maubert was in Holland.

08528-Königstein-1907-fortress - Georgenburg with Hungerturm-Brück & Sohn Kunstverlag.jpg

By the middle of the 18th century, many religious orders were in decline and a moral dissolution had begun. The Capuchin Order of Rouen was not spared either. A biographical development followed, which is typical of the time, and not by chance, reminiscent of Henri-Joseph Dulaurens , with whom he shared the experience of many years imprisonment in Germany.

Difficult and productive years

Arrived in Saxony (1745), Henri Maubert served as an artillery officer and later as tutor in the Rutowski family . In Dresden, under the pretense of aristocratic origin, he tried to pursue a career as a publicist by adding the name “de Gouvest” to the name. Jean-Henri Maubert de Gouvest was imprisoned at Königstein Fortress from 1748 to March 1752 on behalf of August III. The reasons for this are unknown. Maubert was released at the request of Benedict XIV on condition that he return to the order after confession in Rome. On his return to France he managed to leave in Lausanne, where he continued the writing he had begun in prison. Maubert de Gouvest settled in the village of Allaman in Vaud and converted to Calvinism in Bern . The epistolary novel “Lettres Iroquoises”, published in 1752, is like its role model, the “ Lettres Persanes ” by Montesquieu, a criticism of civilization (an idiosyncratic testimony to free thought and early dropout) and, despite its naive pathos, has several editions. In 1753 he was a lawyer and was naturalized.

Voltaire became aware of Maubert de Gouvest through the apocryphal "Testament Politique du Cardinal Jules Alberoni ", which he had bought from Joseph-Marie Durey de Morsan. Maubert de Gouvest was named next to La Beaumelle as editor of the unauthorized first Frankfurt edition of Voltaire's “La Pucelle d'Orléans.” (La P..d'O ..) from 1755. In August 1755 Maubert de Gouvest left for England; only after a stay at Karl Friedrich's court did he arrive in London in December. Maubert made the acquaintance of William Fraigneau, professor of ancient Greek at Cambridge, the Treasury Secretary Henry Furnese, Sampson Gideon and many politicians, such as Frederick, Lord Bolingbroke. He collected details about Frederick II for a new book. It ended in suspicion. In December 1757 he traveled to Holland with his wife and child.

Cell in the Paleis op de Dam , where Maubert was imprisoned for 17 months

With the help of Heinrich von Brühl he was appointed secretary to the Elector of Saxony August III. employed. In 1758 his brochure, a fictitious collection of letters “ The justified Ephraim. Or, historical and judgmental news about the past, present and future state of the Saxon financial system: In addition to a comparison of the Prussian and Saxon economics ... by the Jew Ephraim in Berlin to his cousin Manasses in Amsterdam, "published in which Veitel Heine Ephraim about the The difficult financial situation of Saxony, Prussia, France and England during the Seven Years' War related and sharply criticized Frederick II, who plundered Saxony, Cleves and Silesia in order to fill his coffers. Friedrich demanded that he be deported. Maubert was imprisoned and forced to leave Holland. Maubert met Johann Karl Philipp Graf Cobenzl and became editor of the Mercure des Pays-bas and temporarily acting head of the royal printing house.

He lived in Brussels until August 1761 and then moved to Frankfurt and Mannheim. In 1762/63 he stayed in Paris, Munich and Stuttgart. He was arrested in Worms. In December 1764 he was in Amsterdam and was imprisoned within two weeks. The city brought a process against him because of his attack in "La pure vérité" on Karl Friedrich, his wife, the librarian Joseph Uriot , religion, customs and civilization. The “dangerous” Maubert was imprisoned for 17 months while his writings were being translated from French. In the meantime he wrote “Lettres du chevalier Robert Talbot”. July 1765 he was sentenced. In May 1766 he was still in custody. After his release he was invited by a stranger, but Maubert died during his trip.

classification

Jean-Henri Maubert de Gouvest, like his colleagues Groubentall de Linière and Henri-Joseph Dulaurens, belonged to a group of low-ranking, plebeian authors who, around the middle of the 18th century, fought against the church, intolerance, superstition, abuse of power and arbitrariness of all kinds with rebellious and drastic writings. Those who wanted to be taken seriously and accepted by the bonne compagnie , the literary society that propelled the enlightened reasoning, could not avoid using a decent, moderately subtle expression instead of rumbling impertinent suaden. After all, the Enlightenment was not only concerned with criticism and accusation, but also with refining human education. The highly gifted Maubert de Gouvest, on the other hand, was too unsteady and always in trouble to have complied with this demand.

In the 18th Iroquois letter, Maubert de Gouvest sums up his opinion on the point of clarification: Everyone can think "reasonably" without having to follow the guidelines of Aristotle, Descartes or Newton. Anyone who has to sweat profusely before he finds reason is not a philosopher, but a fool.

Works

  • Epistle novel: Lettres Iroquoises, chez les Vénérables (Bousquet), Irocopolis (Lausanne), 1752, 2 volumes, 8 °, (II), 166 p., (II), 164 p. [1]
  • Apocryphal script: Testament Politique du Cardinal Jules Alberoni, recueilli de divers mémoires, lettres & entretiens de son eminence par Monsignor AM traduit de l'italien par le C. de RBM, Marc-Michel Bousquet & Cie, Lausanne, 1753, 12 °, XXX-460 p.
  • Historical work: Histoire politique du siècle, siècle où se voit développée la conduite de toutes les Cours, d'un Traité à l'autre, depuis la Paix de Westphalie, jusqu'à la dernière Paix d'Aix La Chapelle. 1754
  • Font: L´ami de la fortune, ou mémoires du marquis de SA, Nourss (unknown), Londres (The Hague), 1754, 8 °, (2), 120 pp.
  • Font: École du gentilhomme, Verney, Lausanne, 1754, 8 °, XVI, 259 pp.
  • Biography: L'illustre paisan ou Mémoires et aventures de Daniel Moginié, natif du village de Chézales, au canton de Berne, Bailliage de Moudon,; mort à Agra, le 22 de may 1749, âgé de 39 ans; Omrah de la Ire classe , Commandant de la Seconde Garde Mogole, Grand Portier du Palais de l'Empereur, & Governor du Paingëab. Ou se trouvent plusieurs particularités, anecdotes des dernières révolutions de la Perse & de l'Indostan, & du règne de Thamas-Kouli-kan. Ecrit et adressé par lui même à son frère François, son légataire, Verney, Lausanne, 1754, 2 volumes, 8 °, (1f), 256, (1) S. - The illustrious farmer or life story and events of Daniel Moginies [.. .]: containing various secret messages about the latest changes in Persia and Indostan [...] from himself to his brother [...]. Franz wrote. From the French, Berlin, 1755
  • Font: Reflexions d "un Suisse sur les motifs de la guerre presente, without printer and location, 1757
  • Fictitious collection of letters: Ephraïm justifié. Mémoire Historique et Raisonné sur l'Etat passé, present, et futur, des Finances de Saxe. Avec le parallèle de l'Oeconomie Prussienne & de l'Oeconomie Saxonne. Ouvrage utile aux Créanciers & Correspondans, aux Amis & aux Ennemis de la Prusse & de la Saxe. Adressé par le Juif Ephraïm de Berlin à son cousin Manassès d'Amsterdam, without printer, Erlangen (?), 1758, 12 °, VIII, 107 p. ( Preview in Google book search)
  • Font: L'Esprit de la presente guerre. Discours de M. de G. dans la Chambre des C. Pour & contre les deux Opinions dominantes dans le Parlement de la Grande-Bretagne, en Faveur du Commerce et de la Paix, De l'Imprimerie du Futur-Congres, (?) , a l'Olivier Verd. (?), 1758, 12 °, XII - 99 p., XII, 99 p.
  • Pamphlet: Avis au Ministre de Prusse a La Haye, Au de la du Moerdick, 1758, 8 °, 47 p
  • Magazine: Mercure Historique et politique des Pays-Bas, volumes 1759 and 1760
  • Apocryphe: Mémoires Militaires sur les Anciens. Ou Idée précise de tout ce que les Anciens ont écrit relativement à l'Art Militaire. Recueillis et mis en ordre par…, 1762
  • Font: La Paix générale, ou Considérations du Docteur Mann'lover, d'Oxfordt. Mises en françois by M. Maubert de Gouvest. De l'Impr. du futur Congrès, no place, (Berlin), 1762, 12 °, (2), 267, (1) p.
  • Pamphlet: La pure verité. Lettres et memoires sur le Duc et la Duche de Virtemberg. Pour servir a fixer l'opinion publique sur le proces entre le Prince et ses sujets. Honni soit qui mal y pense, without printer, Augsburg, 1765, 8 °, 176 p. - The pure truth or memorabilia of the Wirtemberg house, Cölln, 1767, 248 p.
  • Autobiography: Mémoire pour le Sr. Maubert de Gouvest, without printer (Changuion), without location, (Amsterdam), without year (1765)
  • Font: Les temps perdu, ou les écoles publiques, Changuion, Amsterdam, 1765, 8 °, VII, 146 pp.
  • Epistle novel: Lettres du chevalier Robert Talbot de la Suite du Duc de Bedford à Paris en 1762, sur la France comme elle est dans ses divers départements, avec nombre de particularités intéressantes touchant ses hommes en place, Changuion, Amsterdam 1766; 2 volumes, 12 °, XIV, (1), 334 p., (3), 362 p.
  • Apocryphal script: Testament politique du Chevalier Walpoole, Comte d'Orford, et ministre d'Angleterre, Arkstéee & Merkus, Amsterdam, 1767, 8 °, (2), VIII, 254 p., (2), 408 p.
  • Novel: Candide en Dannemarc, ou L'optimisme des honnêtes-gens, without printer (Esslinger), Geneva (Frankfurt), 1767, 8 °, (1), 239, (2) pp.
  • Font: Trop est trop.Capitulation de la France avec ses moines & religieux de toutes les livrées, without printer, The Hague (?), 1767

literature

  • Chèvrier, FA: Histoire de la vie de H. Maubert, soi-disant chevalier de Gouvest, gazettier à Bruxelles et auteur de plusieurs libelles politiques. London, 1763, (a contemporary diatribe on Maubert de Gouvest)
  • Lalanne: Dictionnaire historique de la France. Entry "Maubert de Gouvest"
  • Le temps perdu, ou les écoles publiques. Considérations d'un patriote sur l'éducation de la première jeunesse en France. Avec l'idée d'un nouveau collège et le précis de l'instruction qui y seroit donnée . 1765, p. 1 ( preview in Google Book Search).
  • Éloge historique de M. Maubert de Gouvest, tiré du "Nécrologe des hommes célèbres de France" online

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Pia Jauch: Jean-Henri Maubert de Gouvest - An "Iroquois" as an early critic of civilization: Reason is born free. In: nzz.ch. June 11, 2005, accessed August 6, 2017 .
  2. ↑ The justified Ephraim, or, historical and judgmental news about the past, present and future state of the Saxon financial system together with a comparison of the Prussian and Saxon economies: a very useful work for all creditors, correspondents, friends and enemies of Prussia and Saxony . not identified, 1758 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ^ Hanno Brand: Trade, Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange Continuity and change in the North Sea area and the Baltic c. 1350-1750 . Uitgeverij Verloren, 2005, ISBN 978-90-6550-881-2 , p. 233 ( preview in Google Book search).
  4. ↑ MAUBERT DE GOUVEST: Dictionnaire des journalistes. In: gazettes18e.fr. Retrieved August 6, 2017 (French).
  5. ^ Memoire pour le Sr. Maubert de Gouvest . tape 1 . Boitte, 1766 ( preview in Google Book Search).
  6. ↑ Journal des sçavans, avec des extraits des meilleurs journaux de France & d'Angleterre, p. 554
personal data
SURNAME Maubert de Gouvest, Jean-Henri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French editor, writer and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1721
PLACE OF BIRTH Rouen , France
DATE OF DEATH November 21, 1767
Place of death Altona (unsecured)