Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael Denis, also: ''Sined the Bard'', (27 September 1729 – 29 September 1800) was an Austrian

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

and

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

, who is best known as a poet,

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

, and

lepidopterist Lepidopterology ()) is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian. Origins Post-Renaissance, t ...

Life

Denis was born at

Schärding Schärding ( , Bavarian name: Scharing) is a town in northern Austrian state of Upper Austria, the capital of the district of the same name, and a major port on the Inn River. Historically, it was owned by the Wittelsbach family, which reflects ...

, located on the

Inn River , image = UnterinntalWest.JPG , image_caption = Lower Inn valley from Rattenberg castle , source1_location = Swiss Alps (Lägh dal Lunghin) , source1_elevation = , source1_coordinates= , mouth_location = Danube (Passau) , mo ...

, then ruled by the

Electorate of Bavaria The Electorate of Bavaria (german: Kurfürstentum Bayern) was an independent hereditary electorate of the Holy Roman Empire from 1623 to 1806, when it was succeeded by the Kingdom of Bavaria. The Wittelsbach dynasty which ruled the Duchy of Ba ...

, in 1729, the son of Johann Rudolph Denis, who taught him Latin at an early age. At the age of ten, he was enrolled to be educated by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

at their college in

Passau Passau (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's popu ...

. After completing his studies in 1747, he entered the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

of the Society of Jesus in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1749, following this initial formation period, Denis was sent to carry his period of

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

at Jesuit colleges in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

and

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

in 1757. Two years later, he was appointed professor at the

Theresianum Theresianum (or Theresian Academy; german: Theresianische Akademie) is a private boarding and day school governed by the laws for public schools in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in 1746 by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. History Early h ...

in Vienna, a Jesuit college. After the

suppression of the Jesuits The suppression of the Jesuits was the removal of all members of the Society of Jesus from most of the countries of Western Europe and their colonies beginning in 1759, and the abolishment of the order by the Holy See in 1773. The Jesuits were ...

in 1773, and the subsequent closing of the college, he remained there to maintain its library until 1784, at which time he was made second custodian of the library of the royal court, and seven years later became its chief librarian. Denis died in Vienna in 1800.

Writings

A warm admirer of

Klopstock Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (; 2 July 1724 – 14 March 1803) was a German poet. His best known work is the epic poem ''Der Messias'' ("The Messiah"). One of his major contributions to German literature was to open it up to exploration outsid ...

, Denis was one of the leading members of the group of so-called

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...

s; and his original

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

, published under the title ''Die Lieder Sineds des Barden'' (1772), shows all the extravagances of the bardic movement. He is best remembered as the translator of

Ossian Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora'' (1763), and later combined under t ...

(1768–1769; also published together with his own poems in 5 vols. as ''Ossians und Sineds Lieder'', 1784). More important than either Denis' original poetry or his translations were his efforts to familiarise the Austrians with the literature of

Northern Germany Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...

; his ''Sammlung kürzerer Gedichte aus den neuern Dichtern Deutschlandes'', 3 vols. (1762–1766), was in this respect invaluable. He has also left a number of bibliographical compilations, ''Grundriss der Bibliographie und Bücherkunde'' (1774), ''Grundriss der Literaturgeschichte'' (1776), ''Einleitung in die Bücherkunde'' (1777), and ''Wiens Buchdruckergeschichte bis 1560'' (1782). ''Ossians und Sineds Lieder'' have not been reprinted since 1791; but a selection of Denis' poetry, edited by Richard Hamel, is to found in volume 48 (1884) of ''Kürschners Deutsche Nationalliteratur''. His '' Literarischer Nachlass'' was published by

Joseph Friedrich Freiherr von Retzer Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

in 1802 (2 vols), two years after Denis had died in Vienna, aged 71.

Scientist

In addition to his literary output, working with

Ignaz Schiffermüller Ignaz Schiffermüller (born 2 October 1727 in Hellmonsödt; died 21 June 1806 in Linz) was an Austrian naturalist mainly interested in Lepidoptera. Schiffermüller was a teacher at the Theresianum College in Vienna. His collection was presented ...

, Denis formed an early collection of

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

and

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s, and published the first catalogue of the

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

found around Vienna. His collection was kept at the

Hofburg Palace The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. Located in the centre of Vienna, it was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schönbrunn ...

and was destroyed in course of the

Revolution of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

Works

*''Poetische Bilder der meisten kriegerischen Vorgänge in Europa seit dem Jahr 1756'', Wien 1760 *''Die Gedichte Ossians, eines alten celtischen Dichters, aus dem Englischen übersetzt'', Wien 1768–69 *''Einleitung in die Bücherkunde'', Wien 1777–1778 *''Die Lieder Sineds des Barden'', Wien 1772 (which includes the text to

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's ''

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

). *''Systematisches Verzeichniß der Schmetterlinge der Wienergegend herausgegeben von einigen Lehrern am k. k. Theresianum'' (with

), Wien 1775 *''Grundriß der Bibliographie'', Wien 1777 *''Die Merkwürdigkeiten der k. k. garellischen öffentlichen Bibliothek am Theresiano'', Wien 1780 *''Bibliotheca typographica Vindobonensis ab anno 1482 usque ad annum 1560'', Wien 1782 (auch deutsch ''Wiens Buchdruckergeschichte bis 1560'', Wien 1782–1793) *''Ossian und Sineds Lieder'', 5 Bände, 1784 *''Kurze Erzählung der Streitigkeiten über die alten Urkunden'', Heidelberg 1785 *''Zurückerinnerungen'', Wien 1794 *''Carmina quaedam'', Wien 1794 *''Beschäftigungen mit Gott schon in dem 12. Jahrhundert gesammelt'', Wien 1799

Literature

*Paul von Hofmann-Wellenhof: ''Michael Denis. Ein Beitrag zur deutsch-oesterreichischen Literaturgeschichte des XVIII. Jahrhunderts''. Wagner, Innsbruck 1881

Notes

References

External links

*
Biography and list of selected works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denis, Michael 1729 births 1800 deaths People from Schärding District 18th-century Austrian Jesuits Austrian lepidopterists 18th-century Austrian poets Austrian male poets Austrian bibliographers 18th-century Austrian writers Jesuit scientists 18th-century male writers