Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen
Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen | |
---|---|
Prussian Envoy to Bern | |
In office 1835–1841 | |
Preceded by | Theodor von Rochow |
Succeeded by | Karl von Werther |
Prussian Envoy to Rome | |
In office 1827–1838 | |
Preceded by | Barthold Georg Niebuhr |
Succeeded by | Ludwig August von Buch |
Personal details | |
Born | Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen 25 August 1791 |
Died | 28 November 1860 |
Spouse | Frances Waddington |
Children | 10 |
Signature | |
Christian Charles Josias, Baron von Bunsen (German: Christian Karl Josias Freiherr von Bunsen; 25 August 1791 – 28 November 1860), was a German diplomat and scholar. He worked in the Papal States and England for a large part of his career.
Life
Early life
Bunsen was born at
During 1813 he traveled extensively with Astor in Germany and Italy.
Rome
Historian
In July 1817 he married
As secretary to Niebuhr, Bunsen was brought into contact with the
Though not within the scope of the great plan of his life, Bunsen contributed largely to the Beschreibung der Stadt Rom (3 vols., 1830–43) the greater part of the topographical communications on ancient Rome, and all the investigations into the early history of Christian Rome. The first visit of the Egyptologist
Owing partly to the wise statesmanship of
England
After leaving
The special mission of Bunsen to England, from June to November 1841, was completely successful, in spite of the opposition of English
During his stay in England Bunsen had made himself very popular among all classes of society, and he was selected by
With the visionary schemes of Frederick William, whether that of setting up a strict episcopal organization in the
Retirement
Bunsen's life as a public man was now practically at an end. He retired first to a villa on the Neckar near Heidelberg and later to Bonn. He refused to stand for a seat, in the Liberal interest, in the Lower House of the Prussian diet, but continued to take an active interest in politics, and in 1855 published in two volumes a work, Die Zeichen der Zeit: Briefe, etc., which exercised an immense influence in reviving the Liberal movement which the failure of the revolution had crushed. In September 1857 Bunsen attended, as the king's guest, a meeting of the Evangelical Alliance at Berlin; and one of the last papers signed by Frederick William, before his mind gave way in October, was that which conferred upon him the title of baron and a peerage for life. In 1858, at the special request of the regent (afterwards the emperor) William, he took his seat in the Prussian House of Lords, and, though remaining silent, supported the new ministry, of which his political and personal friends were members.[6]
Literary work was, however, his main preoccupation during all this period. Two discoveries of ancient manuscripts made during his stay in London, the one containing a shorter text of the
He now concentrated all his efforts upon a translation of the Bible with commentaries, the Bibelwerk. While this was in preparation he published his God in History, in which he contends that the progress of mankind marches parallel to the conception of God formed within each nation by the highest exponents of its thought. At the same time he carried through the press, assisted by Samuel Birch, the concluding volumes of his work (published in English as well as in German) Egypt's Place in Universal History. This work contained a reconstruction of Egyptian chronology, together with an attempt to determine the relation in which the language and the religion of that country stand to the development of each among the more ancient non-Aryan and Aryan races. His ideas on this subject were most fully developed in two volumes published in London before he left England.[6][a]
His greatest work, Bibelwerk für die Gemeinde,[b] the first part of which was published in 1858, was intended to be completed in 1862. It had occupied his attention for nearly 30 years, as the grand center-point to which all his literary and intellectual energies were to be devoted, but he died before he could finish it. Three volumes of the Bibelwerk were published at his death.[c] The work was completed in the same spirit with the aid of manuscripts under the editorship of Hollzmann and Kamphausen.[d][10]
Death
In 1858 Bunsen's health began to fail; visits to Cannes in 1858 and 1859 brought no improvement, and he died on 28 November 1860, in Bonn. One of his last requests having been that his wife would write down recollections of their common life, she published his Memoirs in 1868, which contain much of his private correspondence. The German translation of these Memoirs has added extracts from unpublished documents, throwing a new light upon the political events in which he played a part. Baron Humboldt's letters to Bunsen were printed in 1869.[6]
Family
Bunsen's English connection, both through his wife (d. 1876) and through his own long residence in London, was further increased in his family. He had ten children, including five sons,[6]
- Henry (1818–1855)[6] became a clergyman and a naturalised Englishman.
- Ernest (1819–1903), in 1845 married an Englishwoman, Miss Gurney, subsequently resided and died in London. He was a scholarly writer, who published various works both in German and in English, notably on Aryan origins, Biblical chronology, and other questions of comparative religion. Ernest's son, Sir Maurice de Bunsen (b. 1852), entered the English diplomatic service in 1877; and after a varied experience became minister at Lisbon in 1905.[11] His youngest grand daughter through Maurice was Mary de Bunsen, World War Two Air Transport Auxiliarypilot and author.
- Karl (Charles; 1821–1887) had a career in the German diplomatic service.[11]
- Georg (1824–1896)Sheraton Hotelschain.
- Theodor (1832–1892) had a career in the German diplomatic service.[11]
- Emilie (1827-1911).[1]
Works
- Beschreibung der Stadt Rom, 3 Bände 1840–43.
- Die Basiliken des christlichen Roms, 1843.
- Die Verfassung der Kirche der Zukunft. 1845 (online)
- Ägyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte, 5 Bände, 1844–57.
- Vol. 1, 1845 vol. 1, pp. 0-173, vol. 1, pp. 174-371, vol. 1, pp. 372-583, vol. 1, pp. 584-end
- Vol. 2, 1844 vol. 2, pp. 0-229, vol. 2, pp. 230-pannel
- Vol. 3, 1845 vol. 3, together with vol. 4.
- Vol. 4, Catalogue vol. 4, Catalogue
- Vol. 5, in two parts, 1857 vol. 5.1, pp. 0-299, vol. 5.1, pp. 300-end, vol. 5.2, pp. 0-281, vol. 5.2, pp. 282-529, vol. 5.2, pp. 530-end
- Ignatius von Antiochien und seine Zeit, 1847.
- Die Deutsche Bundesverfassung und ihr eigenthümliches Verhältniß zu den Verfassungen Englands und der Vereinigten Staaten. Sendschreiben an die zum Deutschen Parlamente berufene Versammlung, 1848.
- Vorschlag für die unverzügliche Bildung einer Vollständigen Reichsverfassung während der Verweserschaft, zur Hebung der inneren Anstände und zur kräftigen Darstellung des Einen Deutschlands dem Auslande gegenüber. Zweites Sendschreiben an die zum Deutschen Parlamente berufene Versammlung, 1848.
- Hippolytus und seine Zeit, 2 Bände, 1852/53 (engl. Hippolytus and his age : or, The beginnings and prospects of Christianity)
- Christianity and Mankind. 7 Bde 1855
- Die Zeichen der Zeit, 2 Bände, 1855. (engl: Signs of the Times 1856)
- Gott in der Geschichte oder Der Fortschritt des Glaubens an eine sittliche Weltordnung, 3 Bände, Leipzig 1857/58.
- Allgemeines evangelisches Gesang- und Gebetbuch zum Kirchen- und Hausgebrauch, 1833.
- Vollständiges Bibelwerk für die Gemeinde, 9 Bände, 1858–70.
- The Law of Slavery in the United States, 1863 (online)
Notes
- ^ Outlines of the Philosophy of Universal History as applied to Language and Religion (2 vols., 1854); (Chisholm 1911, p. 800)
- ^ “Bible Commentary for the Community”
- ^ these were the first, second and fifth
- ^ in nine volumes (1858–70)
- ^ a b "Karl Baron von Bunsen". Eine Große Familie - Your Online Genealogie. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
- ^ The American Cyclopædia.
- ^ New International Encyclopedia(1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911, pp. 799.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 799–800.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Chisholm 1911, p. 800.
- ^ John Theodore Merz, A History of European Thought in the Nineteenth Century (1896) Vol. 1, footnote, p. 244.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-5326-1656-3.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
- ^ Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). Encyclopedia Americana. .
- ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911, pp. 800–801.
- ^ Bunsen 1878.
References
- Bunsen, Georg von (1878), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 521–525 , in Baynes, T. S. (ed.),
- Bunsen, Baroness Frances (1869). Memoirs of Baron Bunsen. London.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - L. von Ranke (1873). Aus dem Briefwechsel Friedrich Wilhelms IV. mit Bunsen. Berlin.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Joan M Richmond. (2015) Nine Letters from an Artist The Families of William Gillard, Porphyrogenitus, ISBN 978-1-871328-19-6. Amazon
Attribution:
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Bunsen, Christian Charles Josias", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 4 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 799–801 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the