Marie-Félicité Brosset (24 January 1802 – 3 September 1880) was a French
orientalist who specialized in
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
and
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
n studies. He worked mostly in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
Early life and first works
Marie-Félicité Brosset was born in Paris into the family of a poor merchant, who died a few months after his birth. His mother destined him to the Church. He attended the theological seminaries in
Orléans
Orléans (;["Orleans"](_blank)
(US) and [Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...]
,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
,
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
.
Back in Paris, he attended lectures delivered at the
Collège de France
The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...
by
Carl Benedict Hase
Carl Benedict Hase (french: Charles Benoît Hase; 11 May 1780 – 21 March 1864) was a French Hellenist, of German extraction.
Life
Hase was born at Bad Sulza, Sulza near Naumburg. Having studied at University of Jena, Jena and University of H ...
(Greek),
Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy (Arabic), and
Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat
Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (5 September 1788 – 2 June 1832) was a French sinologist best known as the first Chair of Sinology at the Collège de France. Rémusat studied medicine as a young man, but his discovery of a Chinese herbal treatise ...
(Chinese). He was elected to the
Asiatic Society
The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...
in 1825. His son, Laurent, reported "...after five years of unceasing effort, he suddenly gave up.." and he burned all the material he had created.
From 1826 he devoted himself to the Armenian and Georgian languages, as well as their history and culture. He had finally found his true vocation. Books, texts, teachers, and documents were all scarce, however. For his work in Armenian, he was helped by
Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin
Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin (17 January 1791 – 17 July 1832) was a French academic, orientalist, and pioneer in the field of what would be known as Armenian Studies.
Biography
Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin was born in Paris on 17 January 1791, th ...
. For his Georgian work, he had to create his own dictionary from the Georgian translation of the Bible, which was faithful to the Greek text.
Russia
Invited to
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in 1837 by the president of the
Imperial Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
, Count
Sergey Uvarov
Count Sergey Semionovich Uvarov (russian: Граф Серге́й Семёнович Ува́ров; 5 September Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._25_August.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/> O.S._25_August">O ...
, Brosset was elected a member a year later. He journeyed to the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
in 1847–48. Brosset translated—and commented on—the major medieval and
early-modern Georgian chroniclers. He published his work in seven volumes from 1849 to 1858. His
magnum opus
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
, ''Histoire de la Géorgie'', was a long-standing authority on the history of Georgia. Brosset also published the correspondence between the
czar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the t ...
s and the
kings of Georgia
This is a list of kings and queens regnant of the kingdoms of Georgia before Russian annexation in 1801–1810.
For more comprehensive lists, and family trees, of Georgian monarchs and rulers see Lists of Georgian monarchs.
Kings of Iberia ...
that occurred from 1639 to 1770.
From 1861 to 1868, Brosset focused on his series regarding Armenian historians, but continued to work on them until 1876. Brosset wrote over 250 works on Georgian and Armenian history and culture overall.
Brosset left Russia in May 1880 and retired to his daughter's residence in
Châtellerault
Châtellerault (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Châteulrô/Chateleràud''; oc, Chastelairaud) is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. It is located in the northeast of the former province Poitou, and the re ...
. He died there several months later, on 3 September. His son, Laurent, contributed heavily to the knowledge of his life and works.
Works
Lists of works
* Brosset, Laurent. ''
Bibliographie analytique'' — 271 titles, not counting supplements. Alphabetical index: p. 585-704
* in ''Bulletin de l'Académie impériale des sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg''. Vol. 27, 1880, p. 1 — 237 titles
Selected works
* (1837) . Paris: Imprimerie royale — Reprint: Osnabrück: Biblio, 1974, LVI, 366 p.
* (1848–58) , 7 volumes,
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, 694 p.
** , 1858
** ''Histoire de la Géorgie depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIX
e siècle'', Introduction, CCXIV p., and Tables of contents, XCVI p., Saint Petersburg:
Académie impériale des sciences, 1858.
** , 1849
** , Partie 2: ''Histoire moderne. Livraison 2'', 1857
** , Saint Petersburg: Académie impériale des sciences, 1851, 494 p.
* (1851) , Saint Petersburg: Académie impériale des sciences, 64 p.
* (1860–61) ''Les ruines d’
Ani
Ani ( hy, Անի; grc-gre, Ἄνιον, ''Ánion''; la, Abnicum; tr, Ani) is a ruined medieval Armenian city now situated in Turkey's province of Kars, next to the closed border with Armenia.
Between 961 and 1045, it was the capital of the ...
, capitale de l'Arménie sous les
rois bagratides aux X
e et XI
e siècles'', 2 volumes, Saint Petersburg .
Online
/ref>
* (1862) in ''Mémoires de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg'', vol. 4, issue 9, 30 p.
* ''Collection d'historiens arméniens: dix ouvrages sur l'histoire de l'Arménie et des pays adjacents du Xe au XIXe siècle'', reprinted by APA-Philo Press, 1978 .
Notes and references
Bibliography
* Bouatchidzé, Gaston. ''La Vie de Marie Brosset'', Nantes: Éditions du Petit Véhicule, 1996, 195 p.
* (Written by his son Laurent Brosset; includes
biography
* Khintibidze, Elguja.
'
* Rapp, Stephen H. ''Studies in medieval Georgian historiography: early texts and Eurasian contexts'', Peeters Publishers, 2003, 522 p.
* Шилов, Л. А
– Detailed biography, Russian National Library
The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brosset, Marie-Felicite
Writers from Paris
1802 births
1880 deaths
19th-century French historians
French orientalists
Kartvelian studies scholars
Armenian studies scholars
Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Translators from Armenian
Translators from Georgian
Translators to French
Historians of Georgia (country)
Explorers of the Caucasus
Members of the Société Asiatique
19th-century French writers
19th-century translators