CHARLES

See also:

• ETIENNE, CHARLES GUILLAUME (1778-1845)

ETIENNE BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURG (1814-1874)  , Belgian ethnographer, was born at Bourbourg, near Dunkirk, on the 8th of September 1814 . He entered the Roman Catholic priesthood, was professor of ecclesiastical history in the Quebec seminary in 1845, vicar-general at Boston in 1846, and from 1848 to 1863 travelled as a missionary, chiefly in Mexico and Central America . He gave great attention to Mexican antiquities, published in 1857–1859 a history of Aztec civilization, and from 1861 to 1864 edited a collection of documents in the indigenous languages . In 1863 he announced the discovery of a key to Mexican hieroglyphic writing, but its value is very questionable . In 1864 he was archaeologist to theFrench military expedition in Mexico, and his Monuments anciens du Mexique was published by the French Government in 1866 . Perhaps his greatest service was the publication in 1861 of a French translation of the Popol Vuh, a sacred book of the Quiche Indians, together with a Quiche grammar, and an essay on Central American mythology . In 1871 he brought out his Bibliotheque Mexico-Guatemalienne, and in 1869-187o gave the principles of his decipherment of Indian picture-writing in his Manuscrit Troano, etudes sur le systeme graphique et la langue des Mayas . He died at Nice on the 8th of January 1874 . His chief merit is his diligent collection of materials; his interpretations are generally fanciful .