Jean-Paul Bignon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jean-Paul Bignon (born September 19, 1662 in Paris , † March 14, 1743 in Meulan-en-Yvelines ) was a French Roman Catholic clergyman, oratorian , science organizer, librarian, author and member of the Académie française .

life and work

The oratorian and court preacher

On his mother's side, Jean-Paul Bignon was the nephew of the Minister and Chancellor Louis Phélipeaux de Pontchartrain (1643–1727), known as Pontchartrain. He attended the Collège d'Harcourt, received his master's degree in 1679 and went to the Saint-Magloire seminary of the French oratorio . In 1684 he was dressed as an oratorian. Together with his friend François-Maximilien de Sainte-Marthe (1664–1707) he spent the years 1685–1690 in the Abbey of Saint-Paul-aux-Bois and was ordained a priest. In 1691 he was introduced to the court by his uncle, shone as a court preacher and in 1693 became Commendatabbot of the Abbey of Saint-Quentin -en-l'Isle.

The science organizer

He was elected to the Académie française (seat no.20), became an honorary member of the Académie des sciences (full member 1699) and took part in the meetings of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (honorary member 1701), as well as the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (Conseiller honoraire 1709). On behalf of Pontchartrain, who had recognized his energy and organizational talent, he drafted new statutes for the academies (1699 Académie des Sciences, 1701 Académie des inscriptions), only the Académie française, whose slow work on the dictionary was a thorn in his side, rejected his organizational proposals. 1701–1739 he published the Journal des Savants . From 1710 to 1721 he was dean of the parish of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois . In 1719 he became head of the royal library , which he reorganized with the help of Claude Sallier . In addition, he modernized the royal printing house. In 1734 he became a member of the Royal Society .

Death and figure

After 50 years of reign over science and the arts, he died in 1743 at the age of 80 and in great fortune in his house on the Seine island Ile belle in Meulan-en-Yvelines. His portrait, painted in oil in 1707, is by Hyacinthe Rigaud .

Works

  • Lettre au RP Abel-Louis de Sainte-Marthe touchant la vie et la mort du Père François Lévesque . Le Petit, Paris 1684.
  • Les Avantures d'Abdalla fils d'Hanif . 2 vols. Paris 1712–1714.
    • (Critical Edition) Ed. Raymonde Robert (* 1930). Champion, Paris 2006.
    • (German) Whimsical incidents of Abdalla, a son of Hanif . 1715. Frankfurt 1731.

literature

  • François Fossier (* 1950): L'abbé Bignon. Un génie de l'administration, des lettres et des sciences sous l'Ancien régime . L'Harmattan, Paris 2018.
  • Claudia von Collani (ed.): A scientific academy for China. Letters from the China missionary Joachim Bouvet SJ to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Jean-Paul Bignon about research into Chinese culture, language and history. Steiner, Stuttgart 1989.
  • Heribert Müller (* 1946): L'érudition gallicane et le Concile de Bâle, Baluze, Mabillon, Daguesseau, Iselin, Bignon . In: Francia. Research on West European History 9, 1982, pp. 531-555.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bignon, Jean-Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Roman Catholic clergyman, oratorian, science organizer, librarian, author and member of the Académie française
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1662
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 1743
Place of death Meulan-en-Yvelines