Paul Jean Etienne Charles Marie Bergmans (1868–1935) was a librarian in chief of the

University of Ghent Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

, and musical historian.

Life

Bergmans was born in Ghent on 23 February 1868. He began work at

Ghent University Library Ghent University Library ( nl, Universiteitsbibliotheek Gent) is located in the city of Ghent, Belgium. It serves the university community of students and scholarly researchers. History After Ghent University was founded in 1817, books confiscated ...

on a voluntary basis, aged thirteen, while studying at Ghent's athenaeum. His first publication, in the ''

Messager des sciences historiques ''Messager des sciences historiques'', published in Ghent from 1839 to 1896, was the most important Belgian history journal of the 19th century. Most of the contents related to the history of the medieval Low Countries. The initial editorial team w ...

'' (1884), came out when he was sixteen. In 1887, he graduated

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

and

Candidate of Law Candidate of Law (Latin: ''candidatus/candidata juris/iuris'') is both a graduate law degree awarded to law students in the Nordic region as well as an academic status designation for advanced Law School students in German-speaking countries. N ...

.Ch. van den Borren, "Bergmans, Paul", ''

Biographie Nationale de Belgique The ''Biographie nationale de Belgique'' ( French; "National Biography of Belgium") is a biographical dictionary of Belgium. It was published by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 44 volumes between 1866 and 1986. A continuation series, entitled the ' ...

''
vol. 32
(Brussels, 1964), 53-58. In 1892, he was appointed assistant librarian to Ghent university library. By 1912, he had been promoted to first under-librarian, and in that year he became a corresponding member of the

Académie Royale de Belgique The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) is a non-governmental association which promotes and organises science and the arts in Belgium by coordinating the national and international activities of its constituent academies su ...

. After the end of the First World War, he became the university's head librarian and a full member of the royal academy. In the meantime, he had become the first person to hold a chair in

Music History Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history o ...

at a Belgian university. When Ghent University became a Dutch-language institution in 1929, Bergmans was no longer able to lecture. He began teaching history and heraldry at the Ecole des Hautes Études de Gand. In 1933, he retired from the library and was awarded the status of professor emeritus by the university. He was a contributor to the ''

'', serving as secretary to the Commission for National Biography from 1915 to 1935. In 1913, together with

Alphonse Roersch Alphonse Roersch (1870–1951) was a Belgian philologist, professor at the University of Ghent.Louis BakelantsNécrologie: Alphonse Roersch (1870-1951) '' Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire'', 29 (1951), pp. 999-1001. Life Roersch was born in ...

, he took up the editorship of the ''

Bibliotheca belgica Bibliotheca may refer to: * ''Bibliotheca'' (Pseudo-Apollodorus), a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends * ''Bibliotheca historica'', a first century BC work of universal history by Diodorus Siculus * ''Bibliotheca'' ( ...

'' after Ferdinand van der Haeghen's death. He was also a member of the Royal Academy of Archaeology of Belgium. He died in Ghent on 14 November 1935.

Works

* ''Analectes belgiques'' (1896) * ''Les imprimeurs belges à l'étranger'' (1896 and 1922) * with Joseph Casier, ''L'art ancien dans les Flandres'' (3 vols., 1914, 1921 and 1922) * ''Variétés musicologiques'' (3 vols., 1891, 1901 and 1919) * ''La typographie musicale en Belgique au XVIe siècle'' (1929) * ''Armorial de Flandre au XVIe siècle'' (1919).

Honours

* Member of the

Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, sometimes referred to as ') is the independent learned society of science and arts of the French Comm ...

. * 1929: Officer in the Order of Leopold. * 1933: Commander in the Order of the Crown. * 1929: Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

References

Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium 1868 births 1935 deaths {{Belgium-bio-stub