Jean-Noël Paquot (1722–1803) was a Belgian

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, historian,

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

scholar and

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 ''bibliograph ...

Life

Paquot was born in

Florennes Florennes (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Namur Province, province of Namur, Belgium. As of 1 January 2006, Florennes has a total population of 10,754. The total area is 133.55 km2 which gives a pop ...

in 1722. In 1738 he enrolled at the University of Louvain, graduating Licentiate of Theology in 1751. From 1755 to 1771 he taught Hebrew at the

Collegium Trilingue The Collegium Trilingue, often also called Collegium trium linguarum, or, after its creator Collegium Buslidianum (, ), is a university that was founded in 1517 under the patronage of the humanist, Hieronymus van Busleyden. The three languages tau ...

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

, where he was also librarian. He was stripped of his position after a sodomy trial. In subsequent years he lived in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and

Gembloux Gembloux (; ; ) is a municipality and city of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006, the municipality had 21,964 inhabitants. The total area is 95.86 km2, yielding a population density of 229 inhabitants per ...

. In 1782 he was stripped of his pension as court historiographer to

Empress Maria Theresa Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position in her own right. She was the sovereig ...

, for having denied that the Austrian government had a historical claim to Saint-Hubert. On 1 February 1769 he was elected to the Société littéraire de Bruxelles, a precursor of the

Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium ( , sometimes referred to as ' ) is the independent learned society of science and arts of the French Community of Belgium. One of Belgium's numerous academies, it is the French-speak ...

. In 1787 he moved to Liège to collaborate on an abortive project to found a university there. He died in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

in 1803.

Works

He wrote a book encompassing the entire literary history of the Low Countries, in all languages, entitled ''Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire littéraire des dix-sept provinces des Pays-Bas, de la principauté de Liège et de quelques contrées voisines'' ("Memoirs for the literary history of the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands, the Principality of Liege, and some neighboring countries"), Leuven, 1763-1770, 18 volumes in octavo or in three folio volumes, Leuven, 1765-1770. He estimated that the polymath

Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Phili ...

wrote no fewer than 262 works on different subjects.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paquot, Jean-Noel 1722 births 1803 deaths Belgian bibliographers Belgian Hebraists Historians from the Austrian Netherlands Academic staff of the Old University of Leuven People from Florennes Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium