Franciscus Junius (the younger)

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Franciscus Junius (January 29, 1591 – 1677)^[1] also known as François du Jon, was a pioneer of Germanic philology. As a collector of ancient manuscripts, he published the first modern editions of a number of important texts.

Contents 1 Life 2 Works 3 Notes 4 References

[edit] Life

Junius was born in Heidelberg, but brought up at Leiden in The Netherlands: his father, also called Franciscus Junius, was appointed professor of Hebrew at Leiden University in 1592. In 1602 his parents died, and he went to live with the theologian Gerhard Johann Vossius in Dordrecht. He studied theology at Leiden and Middelburg.

In 1617 he became a pastor at Hillegersberg. He resigned this position the following year, after it became untenable due to factionalism in the Dutch Reformed Church, and elected to travel instead: he visited first France, and then moved to England, where in 1620 he was employed by Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel, as a tutor to his son, and later as librarian. He remained resident in England for most of the rest of his life, though he returned to the Netherlands between 1651 and 1675.

Junius died in November 1677 at the house of Isaac Vossius in Windsor, Berkshire; he was buried there at St George's Chapel. In his life he had amassed a large collection of ancient manuscripts, and in his will he bequeathed these to the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. Among the works included in this bequest were a major manuscript of Anglo-Saxon poetry, commonly known as the Junius manuscript after him, and the unique manuscript of the Ormulum.

[edit] Works

Junius devoted himself to the study of Anglo-Saxon, and afterwards of the cognate old Teutonic languages. His work, while intrinsically valuable, is particularly important as having aroused interest in a subject that at the time was often neglected. When in 1651 he returned to Holland, he resided for two years in Friesland in order to study the old dialect.

Major works include:

• 1637, De pictura veterum or On the Painting of the Ancients

An English edition, translated by Junius himself, was published in 1638 with the latter title; an enlarged and improved edition, edited by J. G. Graevius, was published in 1694, with a life of Junius included as a preface.

• 1655, Observationes in Willerami Abbatis Francicam paraphrasin Cantici Canticorum

"Notes on Abbot Williram's French paraphrase of the Song of Songs"

• 1655, Annotationes in harmoniam latino-francicam quatuor evangelistarum, latine a Tatiano confectam

"Annotations on the Latin-French synthesis of the four gospels, with the Latin of Tatian" (i.e. the Diatessaron)

• 1655, Caedmonis monachi paraphrasis poetica Genesios ac praecipuarum sacrae paginae historiarum, abhinc annos M.LXX. Anglo-Saxonice conscripta, et nunc primum edita

"The poetical paraphrase by the monk Caedmon of Genesis and the other principal pages of sacred history, composed in Anglo-Saxon 1070 years ago, and now edited for the first time".

The first edition of the important poetical codex now designated British Library MS Junius 11. While it is no longer believed that Caedmon wrote the poems it contains, it is still commonly known as the Caedmon manuscript.

• 1664, Gothicum Glossarium, quo Argentii Codicis Vocabula explicantur

"A glossary of words of the Gothic language as found in the Codex Argenteus"

• 1665, Quatuor DNIC Evangeliorum Versiones perantiquae duae, Gothica scilicet et Anglo-Saxonica

"The Four Gospels of Our Lord Jesus Christ in two ancient versions, namely the Gothic and the Anglo-Saxon"

The Gothic version is Ulfilas' translation, and was edited by Junius from the Codex Argenteus. The Anglo-Saxon version is from an edition by Thomas Marshall. Junius' Gothic glossary (above) was included, along with Marshall's notes.

• 1743, Etymologicum anglicanum

"English Etymology"

Published posthumously in an edition by Edward Lye, who included a life of Junius and George Hickes's Anglo-Saxon grammar.

[edit] Notes

1. ^  Junius' date of birth has been variously estimated as 1589, 1590, and 1591. The precise date given here was established by Johan Kerling, cited by Rademaker (1998:3). For the original article, see Johan Kerling, 'Franciscus Junius, 17th-century Lexicography and Middle English' in: Lexeter '83 Proceedings, edited by R.R.K. Hartmann, Max Niemeyer Verlag Tubingen 1984, pp. 92-100.

[edit] References

• Bremmer, Rolf H., ed (1998). Franciscus Junius F.F. and His Circle. Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi.
• Dekker, Cornelis (1999). The Origins of Old Germanic Studies in the Low Countries. Leiden, Boston: Brill.
• Rademaker, C.S.M. (1998). 'Young Franciscus Junius: 1591–1621', in Bremmer (1998), pp.1–18
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The article is available here.