Caius Coriolanus Robert Ralph Bolgar (2 June 1913 – 23 June 1985), sometimes spelt Bolgár, was an English classical scholar of Hungarian origins, a Fellow of

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

. Known as Robert, he published most of his work as R. R. Bolgar. Bolgar gained an international reputation with his book ''The Classical Heritage and its Beneficiaries'' (1954), his contributions to the '' Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature'', and in editing the proceedings of symposia on "Classical Influences on European Culture".

Early life

Bolgar was born in London in June 1913, the son of Ernest Joseph Bolgar, who had begun life as Ernst Johann von Brokl, and his wife Erna Edith Szibenliszt. His father was an

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

of Sudeten-German origin who spoke both Hungarian and German. He had changed his name after being cheated out of an inheritance, and Bolgar said in later life that but for this misfortune of his father's, instead of becoming a

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

, he might well have been a landowner in

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

who supported the Nazis and been

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

by the Russians in 1945."DR ROBERT BOLGAR" (obituary) in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 26 June 1985, p. 14 At the time of his birth, Bolgar’s father had a job at the Austro-Hungarian consulate in London, but at the age of one year Bolgar was taken to live in Hungary, later in Germany and France, where until the age of eleven he had his early education.

In 1925, his father returned to London, and Bolgar was sent to the

Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School , established = , closed = , type = Comprehensive, academy , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head ...

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road ...

. From there, he won a classical scholarship to

, entering the college in 1932. In 1939, Bolgar graduated PhD and was awarded a Fellowship at King's.

Second World War

When the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

began in September 1939, Bolgar's father was Second Secretary at the Hungarian Legation in London, and the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

was one of the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

. He was allowed to stay in England to look after the legation building, but was nevertheless an

enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...

. Bolgar's parents were then living at 94,

Philbeach Gardens Philbeach Gardens is a communal garden square in the Earl's Court district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The communal garden at the centre of the development is in size and was previously the site of tennis club and courts. ...

, in

Earl's Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

. Bolgar, born in England, applied to join the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, but due to the status of his father he could not be commissioned. He was able to join the

Suffolk Regiment The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, before bein ...

as an enlisted man, and after two years was transferred to the

Army Educational Corps The Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC) was a corps of the British Army tasked with educating and instructing personnel in a diverse range of skills. On 6 April 1992 it became the Educational and Training Services Branch (ETS) of the Adjutant Gene ...

. For eighteen months he was posted to

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

in the

Bihar Province Bihar Province was a province of British India, created in 1936 by the partition of the Bihar and Orissa Province. History In 1756, Bihar was part of Bengal. On 14 October 1803, Orissa was occupied by the British Raj. On 22 March 1912, both Biha ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, in command of an educational centre which suffered from many sudden transfers of its instructors. He returned to civilian life in 1946.

''The Classical Heritage and its Beneficiaries''

After returning from India, Bolgar spent eight years as a research fellow at King's, developing the work for his thesis into a book, ''The Classical Heritage and its Beneficiaries'', which was finally published in 1954. This deals with a process lasting a thousand years and includes sections on classical studies in Ireland and Britain 450–600, the Anglo-Saxon schools 650–800, the educational reforms of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

, a chapter on Byzantine culture,

Douglas Bush John Nash Douglas Bush (1896–1983) was a literary critic and literary historian. He taught for most of his life at Harvard University, where his students included many of the most prominent scholars, writers, and academics of several generation ...

, "R. R. Bolgar, ''The Classical Heritage and its Beneficiaries''. Cambridge: At the University Press, 1954. vii + 592 pp." in ''Renaissance News'' Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring, 1955)
pp. 14-19
/ref> and appendices which list the translations from Greek and Roman classical authors before 1600 and the Greek manuscripts in Italy during the fifteenth century. Published by the Cambridge University Press in 599 pages,

called it a "massive book" and

John Guillory John David Guillory (born 1952) is an American literary critic best known for his book ''Cultural Capital'' (1993). He is the Julius Silver Professor of English at New York University. Life Guillory gained his BA at Tulane University, and a PhD ...

"an encyclopedic account of the transmission of classical literature from late antiquity through the end of the Renaissance", Bolgar notes in it that his aim was "to show the impact of the dominant ideologies of each period upon general education". It brought him to the attention of scholars in the United States when re-published in New York in both hardback and paperback editions.

Academic career

From 1954 to 1956, Bolgar was a research fellow in education at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

, based in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. He then returned to King's as a fellow and college lecturer in Modern Languages, in 1958 becoming the college's Director of Studies and Supervisor in French. He was also appointed as a governor of

Impington Village College Impington Village College is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Impington in the English county of Cambridgeshire. The buildings of 1938/9 by Walter Gropius and Maxwell Fry are Grade I listed. The school opened in 1939, two we ...

and the

Bottisham Village College Bottisham Village College is a mixed secondary school located in Bottisham, Cambridgeshire, England. The school opened in 1937 as the second village college in part of the Local Director of Education Henry Morris' vision for providing educatio ...

. At the time of the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

, King's and

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

agreed to take in twenty-five Hungarian student refugees, and

Robert Rattenbury Robert Mantle Rattenbury (9 December 1901 – 29 July 1970) was an English classical scholar and Registrary of the University of Cambridge. His most important publication was an edition of the ''Aethiopica'' of Heliodorus of Emesa, in three volu ...

, the

Registrary The Registrary is the senior administrative officer of the University of Cambridge. The term is unique to Cambridge, and uses an archaic spelling. Most universities in the United Kingdom and in North America have administrative offices entitled "reg ...

of the University, gave Bolgar the task of escorting them from London and helping them to settle in. Bolgar invited them to his own house, where they met his mother and were astonished at the survival of a refined form of Hungarian society dating from the early years of the 20th century.Magda Czigány, ''"Just Like Other Students": Reception of the 1956 Hungarian Refugee Students in Britain'' (2009)
p. 70
/ref> Bolgar gained a greater international reputation by his contributions to the '' Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature'', and by editing the proceedings of three international conferences on "Classical Influences on European Culture" which he organized with Patrick Wilkinson. The first, in 1969, covered the period from 500 to 1500; the second, in 1974, that from 1500 to 1700; the third, in 1977, that from 1650 to 1870. Bolgar's lectures, sponsored by three faculties, Classical Studies, Modern Languages, and English, were stimulating and entertaining, but as they cut across the faculties they were mostly supported until 1973 by King's College; the university then created an ''ad hominem'' Readership for him.

Personal life

In the summer of 1943, at

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, Bolgar married Elizabeth Rowley or Adcock, with whom he had two daughters and a son. They lived in the villages of Girton and

Great Wilbraham Great Wilbraham is a small village situated in a rural area some seven miles (11 km) to the east of Cambridge, between the edge of an area of low-lying drained fens to the west and north, and higher ground beyond the A11 to the east. The a ...

, both near

, where Bolgar developed an interest in local history as a recreation. Bolgar’s father died in

Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, south-west of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, in March 1953, leaving a modest estate to his widow, Erna Edith Bolgar."BOLGAR Ernest Joseph of 10 Norman-road Cheam Surrey died 1 March 1953… £690." in ''Wills and Administrations (England and Wales) 1953'' (1953), p. 774; "BOLGAR Robert Ralph of Lufters 52 Church St Gt Wilbraham Cambridge died 23 June 1985… £34,691" in ''Wills and Administrations (England and Wales) 1985'' (1986), p. 833 She then went to live with her son in Cambridge and died there in 1971, aged 81. "Erna Edith Bolgar"
in ''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007'', ancestry.co.uk, accessed 12 December 2022 Bolgar died at Great Wilbraham in June 1985, leaving an estate valued at £34,691. An obituary in ''

'' reported that his students forgave him for his chronic forgetfulness and lack of punctuality.

Selected publications

* R. R. Bolgar, "Rabelais's edition of the ''Aphorisms'' of Hippocrates" in ''

Modern Language Review ''Modern Language Review'' is the journal of the Modern Humanities Research Association ( MHRA). It is one of the oldest journals in the field of modern languages. Founded in 1905, it has published more than 3,000 articles and 20,000 book reviews. ...

'' Vol. 35, No. 1 (January 1940)
pp. 62-66
* R. R. Bolgar, ''The Classical Heritage and its Beneficiaries: from the Carolingian Age to the End of the Renaissance'' (Cambridge University Press, 1954) * R. R. Bolgar, ed., ''Classical Influences on European Culture, A.D. 500-1500: Proceedings of an international conference held at King’s College, Cambridge, April 1969'' (Cambridge University Press, 1971, ) *R. R. Bolgar, ed., ''Classical Influences on European Culture, A.D. 1500–1700: Proceedings of an International Conference Held at King's College, Cambridge, April 1974'' (Cambridge University Press, 1976) * R. R. Bolgar, ed., ''Classical Influences on Western Thought, A.D. 1650–1870: proceedings of an international conference held at King's College, Cambridge, March 1977 (Cambridge University Press, 1979) * R. R. Bolgar, "The Near-Christian" in ''Theology'', Vol. 70, Issue 565 (July 1967),
pp. 299–302
* R. R. Bolgar, "Humanist education and its contribution to the Renaissance" in ''The Changing Curriculum'' (Routledge, 1971, )

Notes

External links

Bolgar, Robert (Caius Coriolanus Robert Ralph), 1913–1985

Virtual International Authority File The Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) is an international authority file. It is a joint project of several national libraries and operated by the OCLC, Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). History Discussion about having a c ...

Robert Ralph Bolgar
by

Antony Barrington Brown Antony Barrington Brown FRPS (13 July 1927 – 24 January 2012) was a British designer, photographer, and explorer. He was known to many colleagues as BB. Barrington Brown was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, and following National Servi ...

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

R. R. Bolgar (1913–1985)
at

LibraryThing LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by authors, individuals, libraries, and publishers. Based in Portland, Maine, LibraryThing was developed by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolgar, Robert Ralph 1913 births 1985 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge British educators Fellows of King's College, Cambridge People educated at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School British classical scholars Suffolk Regiment soldiers British military personnel of World War II