Jacques Bongars (155429 July 1612) was a French

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

Life

Bongars was born at

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Reformed faith Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...

. He obtained his early education at

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

and

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

, and returning to France continued his studies at Orléans and

Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...

. After spending some time in Rome he visited eastern Europe, and subsequently made the acquaintance of Ségur

Pardaillan Pardaillan (), the name of an old French family of Armagnac, of which several members distinguished themselves in the service of the kings of France in the 16th and 17th centuries. Antoine Arnaud de Pardaillan, maréchal de camp, served Henry IV i ...

, a representative of Henry, king of Navarre, afterwards

Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

. He entered the service of Pardaillan, and in 1587 was sent on a mission to many of the princes of northern Europe, after which he visited England to obtain help from Queen Elizabeth for Henry of Navarre. He continued to serve Henry as a diplomatist, and in 1593 became the representative of the French king at the courts of the imperial princes. Vigorously seconding the efforts of Henry to curtail the power of the house of

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

, he spent health and money ungrudgingly in this service, and continued his labors until the king's murder in 1610. He then returned to France, and died at Paris. Bongars wrote an abridgment of

Justin Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...

's abridgment of the history of

Trogus Pompeius Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus also anglicized as was a Gallo-Roman historian from the Celtic Vocontii tribe in Narbonese Gaul who lived during the reign of the emperor Augustus. He was nearly contemporary with Livy. Life Pompeius Trogus's grandfathe ...

under the title ''Justinus, Trogi Pompeii Historiarum Philippicarum epitoma de manuscriptis codicibus emendatior et prologis auctior'' (Paris, 1581). He collected the works of several French writers who as contemporaries described the crusades, and published them under the title ''Gesta Dei per Francos'' (Hanover, 1611). Another collection made by Bongars is the ''Rerum Hungaricarum scriptores varii'' (Frankfort, 1600). his ''Epistolae'' were published at Leiden in 1647, and a French translation at Paris in 1668–1670. Many of his papers are preserved in the Burgerbibliothek at

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

, to which they were presented in 1632, and a list of them was made in 1634. Other papers and copies of instructions are now in several libraries in Paris; and copies of other instructions are in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Notes

References

*H. Hagen, ' (Berne, 1874) * Léonce Anquez, ' (Paris, 1887) * Andrist Patrick, ''Strassburg - Basel - Bern. Bücher auf der Reise. Das Legat der Bibliothek von Jacques Bongars, die Schenkung von Jakob Graviseth und das weitere Schicksal der Sammlung in Bern'', in Berner Hans (ed.), ''Scriptorium und Offizin : Festgabe für Martin Steinmann zum 70. Geburtstag'', Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde 110 (2010), 249-268.

Bibliography

Gesta Dei per Francos

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bongars, Jacques French diplomats French scholars 1554 births 1612 deaths Writers from Orléans 16th-century French diplomats 16th-century French writers 16th-century male writers 17th-century French writers 17th-century male writers French scholars of Roman history