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BERNARD DE MONTFAUCON (1655-1741)

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 780 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BERNARD DE See also:MONTFAUCON (1655-1741)  , See also:French See also:scholar and critic, was See also:born at the See also:chateau of Soulage (now Soulatge, in the See also:department of See also:Aube, See also:France), on the 13th of See also:January 1655 . Belonging to a See also:noble and See also:ancient See also:line, and destined for the See also:army, he passed most of his See also:time in the library of the See also:family See also:castle of Roquetaillade, devouring books in different See also:languages and on almost every variety of subject . In 1672 he entered the army, and in the two following years served in See also:Germany under See also:Turenne . But See also:ill-See also:health and the See also:death of his parents brought him back to his studious See also:life, and in 1675 he entered the See also:cloister of the See also:Congregation of St Maur at La Daurade, See also:Toulouse, taking the vows there on the 13th of May 1676 . He lived successively at various abbeys—at Soreze, where he specially studied See also:Greek and examined the numerous See also:MSS. of the See also:convent library, at La See also:Grasse, and at See also:Bordeaux; and in 1687 he was called to See also:Paris, to collaborate in an edition of See also:Athanasius and See also:Chrysostom, contemplated by the Congregation . From 1698 to 1701 he lived in See also:Italy, chiefly in See also:Rome in See also:order to consult certain See also:manuscripts, those available in Paris being insufficient for the edition of Chrysostom . After a stay of three years he returned to Paris, and retired to the See also:abbey of St-Germain-See also:des-Pres, devoting himself to the study of Greek and Latin MSS. and to the See also:great See also:works by which he established his reputation . He died suddenly on the 21st of See also:December 1741 . His first publication, in which he was assisted by Jacques Loppin and See also:Antoine Pouget, was the first See also:volume of a never-completed See also:series of previously unpublished Analecta graeca (1688) . In 1690 appeared La Write de l'histoire de See also:Judith . Athanasii See also:opera omnia, still the best edition of that See also:Father, was issued with a See also:biography and See also:critical notes in 1698 . In connexion with this may be mentioned Collectio nova patrum et scriptorum graecorum (1706), containing some newly discovered works of Athanasius, See also:Eusebius of Caesarea, and the Topographia christiana of See also:Cosmas Indicopleustes .

His copious Diarium italicum (1702) gives an See also:

account of the See also:principal See also:libraries of Italy and their contents; this See also:work has been translated into See also:English by J . See also:Henley (1725) . The Palaeographia graeca (1708), illustrating the whole See also:history of Greek See also:writing and the See also:variations of the characters, has not yet been superseded; in its own See also:field it is as See also:original as the De re diplomatica of See also:Mabillon . In 1713 See also:Montfaucon edited Hexaplorum origenis quae supersunt, not superseded till the work of Field (1875); and between 1718 and 1738 he completed his edition of Joannis Chrysostomi opera omnia . His L'Antiquite expliquee et representee en figures (1719) laid the See also:foundation of archaeological knowledge . It was continued by him in See also:Les Monumens de la monarchic frangoise, 1729-1733 . Both these works have been translated into English . Montfaucon's Bibliotheca bibliothecarum manuscriptarum (1739) is a See also:list of the works in MS. in the libraries with which he was acquainted . A list of his works will be found in Bibliotheque des ecrivains de la congregation de See also:Saint-Maur, by C. de Lame (1882), and in the See also:article in the Nouvelle biographie generale, which gives an account of their See also:scope and See also:character; see also See also:Emmanuel de See also:Broglie, La Societe de l'abboye de St-Germain-des-Pres au 18° siecle: See also:Bernard de Montfaucon et les bernardins (2 vols., Paris, 1891) .

End of Article: BERNARD DE MONTFAUCON (1655-1741)
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