Gabriel Bucelin (also ''Gabriel Buzlin'', ''Gabriel Bincelint'', or ''Gabriel Bucelinus'') (29 December 1599,
Diessenhofen
Diessenhofen is a village and a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. The village is situated on the south shore of the High Rhine just opposite the German town of Gailingen am Hochrhein.
History
Diessenhofe ...
,
Thurgau
Thurgau (; french: Thurgovie; it, Turgovia), anglicized as Thurgovia, more formally the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital is Frauenfeld.
Thurgau is part ...
– 9 June 1681,
Weingarten) was a
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
polymath, Humanist, historical writer and cartographer.
Life
A scion of the distinguished line of Bucellini counts, Gabriel, at the age of thirteen, entered the Benedictine monastery at Weingarten. After a course in philosophy and theology at the Jesuit
University of Dillingen
The University of Dillingen, at Dillingen an der Donau in southern Germany, existed from 1551 to 1803. It was located in Swabia, then a district of Bavaria.
Foundation
Its founder was Cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg, Prince-Bishop of Augsbur ...
he was ordained a priest on April 23, 1624. In the same year he was sent, as master of novices, to restore the primitive fervour and raise the standard of studies in the monastery of St. Trudpert in the
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
. In 1627 he became secretary to Abbott Franz Dietrich and to the Swabian Benedictine congregation. He filled the position of master of novices at Weingarten and professor of humanities at Feldkirch (1635), from which on the approach of the Swedish army he was forced to flee to Vienna, Venice, and finally
Admont
Admont is a town in the Austrian state of Styria. It is historically most notable for Admont Abbey, a monastery founded in 1074.
Gesäuse National Park, in which Admont lies, is an area of outstanding beauty. The town is situated in the middle of ...
(1646). There he was appointed prior of St. John's monastery, Feldkirch (1651), where he remained until a few months before his death, when he returned to Weingarten.
Works
Bucelin was a universal scholar and a very prolific writer, being the author of some fifty-three works on genealogy, world history, hagiography and church history. He also drew maps and plans. A large number of his works are still in manuscript in the state library at
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
. Many of his works remained unpublished, perhaps because of the disruptions of war. His chief claim to contemporary fame lies in the fact that he was, if not the first, at least among the first authors to deal with the ecclesiastical history of Germany. Of his published works the most important are:
*''Germania sacra'' (Augsburg, 1655), containing accounts of the principal ecclesiastics, archbishops, abbots, etc., as well as a list of the most important monasteries of Germany
*''Germaniae topo-chrono-stemmatographia sacra et profana'' (1655–78), treating, as its name implies, of the genealogy of the most distinguished members of the clergy and the nobility
*''Constantia sacra et profana'' (Frankfort, 1667)
*''Rhaetia etrusca, romana, gallica, germanica'' (Augsburg, 1661)
*''Nuclei Historiae universalis cum sacrae...'' (Ulm, 1650, 1654; carried from 1650 to 1735 by Schmier, ''Apparatum ad theologiam scholastico-polemico-practicam''), of great importance to scholars interested in ancient charts, bulls, diplomata, etc.
Bucelin was also the author of many works on the Benedictine Order and its most illustrious members, among them ''Aquila imperii benedictina'' (Venice, 1651), ''Annales Benedictini'' (Vienna 1655, Augsburg 1656) and ''Menologium benedictinum'' (Feldkirch, 1655).
References
* Claudia Maria Neesen: ''Gabriel Bucelin OSB (1599-1681). Leben und historiographisches Werk''. Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2003,
* Thomas J. Stump: ''Mit Stift und Zirkel. Gabriel Bucelinus, 1599-1681, als Zeichner und Kartograph, Architekt und Kunstfreund''. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1976,
''This article incorporates text from the 1913 ''
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...
'' article
Gabriel Bucelin by F.M. Rudge, a publication now in the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
.''
External links
His work as a cartographer*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucelin, Gabriel
1599 births
1681 deaths
German Benedictines
17th-century German historians
German Renaissance humanists
People from Frauenfeld District
German male non-fiction writers