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FESSLER, IGNAZ AURELIUS (1756-1839)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 294 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FESSLER, IGNAZ AURELIUS (1756-1839) , Hungarian ecclesiastic, historian and freemason, was See also:born on the 18th of May 1756 at the See also:village of Zurany in the See also:county of Moson. In 1773 he joined the See also:order of See also:Capuchins, and in 1779 was ordained See also:priest. He had meanwhile continued his classical and philological studies, and his liberal views brought him into frequent conflict with his superiors. In 1784, while at the monastery of See also:Modling, near See also:Vienna, he wrote to the See also:emperor See also:Joseph II., making suggestions for the better See also:education of the See also:clergy and See also:drawing his See also:attention to the irregularities of the monasteries. The searching investigation which followed raised up against him many implacable enemies. In 1784 he was appointed See also:professor of See also:Oriental See also:languages and See also:hermeneutics in the university of See also:Lemberg, when he took the degree of See also:doctor 294 of divinity; and shortly afterwards he was released from his monastic Vows on the intervention of the emperor. In 1788 he brought out his tragedy of See also:Sidney, an expose of the tyranny of See also:James II. and of the fanaticism of the papists in See also:England. This was attacked so violently as profane and revolutionary that he was compelled to resign his See also:office and seek See also:refuge in See also:Silesia. In See also:Breslau he met with a cordial reception from G. W. Korn the publisher, and was, moreover, subsequently employed by the See also:prince of Carolath-Schonaich as See also:tutor to his sons. In 1791 Fessler was converted to Lutheranism and next See also:year contracted an unhappy See also:marriage, which was dissolved in 1802, when he married again.

In 1796 he went to See also:

Berlin, where he founded a humanitarian society, and was commissioned by the See also:free-masons of that See also:city to assist See also:Fichte in reforming the statutes and See also:ritual of their See also:lodge. He soon after this obtained a See also:government See also:appointment in connexion with the newly-acquired See also:Polish provinces, but in consequence of the See also:battle of See also:Jena (18o6) he lost this office, and remained in very needy circumstances until 1809, when he was summoned to St See also:Petersburg by See also:Alexander I., to fill the See also:post of See also:court councillor, and the professorship of oriental languages and See also:philosophy at the Alexander-Nevski See also:Academy. This office, however, he was soon obliged to resign, owing to his alleged atheistic tendencies, but he was subsequently nominated a member of the legislative See also:commission. In 1815 he went with his See also:family to Sarepta, where he joined the Moravian community and again became strongly orthodox. This cost him the loss of his See also:salary, but it was restored to him in 1817. In See also:November 182o he was appointed consistorial See also:president of the evangelical communities at See also:Saratov and subsequently became See also:chief See also:superintendent of the Lutheran communities in St Petersburg. Fessler's numerous- See also:works are all written in See also:German. In recognition of his important services to See also:Hungary as a historian, he was in 1831 elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He died at St Petersburg on the 15th of See also:December 1839. Fessler was a voluminous writer, and during his See also:life exercised See also:great See also:influence; but, with the possible exception of the See also:history of Hungary, none of his books has any value now. He did not pretend to any See also:critical treatment of his materials, and most of his See also:historical works are practically historical novels. He did much, however, to make the study of history popular.

His most important works are—Die Geschichten der Ungarn and ihrer Landsassen (10 vols. See also:

Leipzig, 1815–1825); See also:Marcus Aurelius (3 vols., Breslau, 1790–1792; 3rd edition, 4 vols., 1799); See also:Aristides and Themistokles (2 vols., Berlin, 1792; 3rd edition, 1818); See also:Attila, See also:Konig der Hunnen (Breslau, 1794); Mathias See also:Corvinus (2 vols., Breslau, 1793–1794); and See also:Die drei grossen Konige der Hungarn aus dem Arpadischen Stamme (Breslau, 18o8). See Fessler's Riickblicke auf See also:seine siebzigjahrige Pilgerschaft (Breslau, 1824; 2nd edition, Leipzig, 1851).

End of Article: FESSLER, IGNAZ AURELIUS (1756-1839)

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