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HONTHEIM, JOHANN NIKOLAUS VON (1701-1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 663 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HONTHEIM, JOHANN NIKOLAUS VON (1701-1790) , See also:German historian and theologian, was See also:born on the 27th of See also:January 1701 at See also:Trier. He belonged to a See also:noble See also:family which had been for many generations connected with the See also:court and See also:diocese of the See also:archbishop-See also:electors, his See also:father, Kaspar von Hontheim, being See also:receiver-See also:general of the archdiocese. At the See also:age of twelve See also:young Hontheim was given by his maternal See also:uncle, See also:Hugo See also:Friedrich von Anethan, See also:canon of the collegiate See also:church of St See also:Simeon (which at that See also:time still occupied the See also:Roman See also:Porte. See also:Nigra at Trier), a prebend in his church, and on the 13th of May 1713 he received the See also:tonsure. He was educated by the Jesraits at Trier and at the See also:universities of Trier, See also:Louvain and See also:Leiden, taking his degree of See also:doctor of See also:laws at Trier in 1724. During the following years he travelled in various See also:European countries, vending some time at the German See also:College in See also:Rome; in 1728 he wasordained See also:priest and, formally admitted to the See also:chapter of St Simeon in 1732, he became a See also:professor at the university of Trier. In 1738 he went to See also:Coblenz as See also:official to the archbishop-elector. In this capacity he had plentiful opportunity of studying the effect of the interference of the Roman See also:Curia in the See also:internal affairs of the See also:Empire, notably in the negotiations that preceded the elections of the emperors See also:Charles VII. and See also:Francis I. in which Hontheim took See also:part as assistant to the electoral See also:ambassador. It appears that it was the extreme claims of the papal See also:nuncio on these occasions and his interference in the affairs of the electoral college that first suggested to Hontheim that See also:critical examination of the basis of the papal pretensions, the results of which he afterwards published to the See also:world under the See also:pseudonym of " Febronius." In 1747, broken down by overwork, he resigned his position as official and retired to St Simeon's, of which he was elected See also:dean in the following See also:year. In May 1748 he was appointed by the archbishop-elector Francis See also:George (von Schonborn) as his See also:suffragan, being consecrated at See also:Mainz, in See also:February 1749, under the See also:title of See also:bishop of Myriophiri in partibus. The See also:arch-bishop of Trier was practically a See also:great See also:secular See also:prince, and upon Hontheim as suffragan and See also:vicar-general See also:fell the whole spiritual See also:administration of the diocese; this See also:work, in addition to that of See also:pro-See also:chancellor of the university, he carried on single-handed until 1778, when See also:Jean See also:Marie Cuohot d'Herbain was appointed his coadjutor. On the 21st of See also:April 1779 he resigned the deanery of St Simeon's on the ground of old age.

He died on the and of See also:

September 1790 at his See also:chateau at Montquentin near Orval, an See also:estate which he had See also:purchased. He was buried at first in St Simeon's; but the church was ruined by the See also:French during the revolutionary See also:wars and never restored, and in 1803 the See also:body of Hontheim was transferred to that of St Gervasius. As a historian Hontheim's reputation rests on his contributions to the See also:history of Trier. He had, during the See also:period of his activity as official at Coblenz, found time to collect a vast See also:mass of printed and MS. material which he afterwards embodied in three See also:works on the history of Trier. Of these the Historia Trevirensis diplomatica et pragmatica was published in 3 vols. See also:folio in 1750, the Prodromus historiae Trevirensis in 2 vols. in 1757. They give, besides a history of Trier and its constitution, a large number of documents and references to published authorities. A third work, the Hisioriae scriptorum et monumentarum Trevirensis amplissima collectio, remains in MS. at the See also:city library of Trier. These books, the result of an enormous labour in See also:collation and selection in very unfavourable circumstances, entitle Hontheim to the fame of a See also:pioneer in See also:modern See also:historical methods. It is, however, as " Febronius " that Hontheim is best remembered. The See also:character and effect of his See also:hook on " the See also:state of the Church and the lawful See also:power of the Roman pontiff is described else-where (see See also:FEBRONIANISM), The author of the See also:book was known at Rome almost as soon as it was published; but it was not till some years afterwards (1778) that he was called on to retract. The terrors of the spiritual power were reinforced by a See also:threat of the archbishop-elector to deprive not only him but all his relations of their offices, and Hontheim, after much wavering and See also:correspondence, signed a submission which was accepted at Rome as satisfactory, though he still refused to admit, as demanded, ut proinde rnerito monarchicum ecclesiae regimen a catholicis doctoribus appelletur. The removal of the censure followed (1781) when Hontheim published at See also:Frankfort what purported to be a See also:proof that his submission had been made of his own See also:free will (Jz.istini Febronii acti commentarius in suam retractationent, &c.).

This book, however, which caret* avoided all the most burning questions, rather tended to show --as indeed his correspondence proves—that Hontheim had not essentially shifted his standpoint. But Rome See also:

left him thenceforth in See also:peace. See See also:Otto Mejer, Febronius, Weihbischof Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim and sein Widerruf (See also:Tubingen, 188o), with many See also:original letters. Of later date is the See also:biography by F. X. Kraus in the Allgemeine deutsche Biographic (1881), which gives numerous references.

End of Article: HONTHEIM, JOHANN NIKOLAUS VON (1701-1790)

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