BUNSEN, Christian Karl Josias, baron von, popularly known as Chevalier Bunsen, a German scholar and diplomatist, born at Korbach, Waldeck, Aug. 25, 1791, died in Bonn, Nov. 28, 1860. His grandfather was a lawyer, but his remoter ancestors were farmers, and in after life Bunsen often proudly referred to his
from that kernel of the nation, the cultivated
and cultivating class of society. He was
the only child of his father by his second
marriage with a former governess in the family of
the countess of Waldeck. He attended the
gymnasium from 1806 to 1808, afterward studied
theology at Marburg, and in 1809 entered
the university of Göttingen. Here Heyne showed
him great attention, and recommended him
as a German teacher to young William B. Astor of New York, whose travelling companion he afterward became. In 1811 he went with Arthur Schopenhauer to Gotha, Jena, and Weimar. In April, 1812, he became teacher of Hebrew and Greek in Göttingen. The university awarded a prize to his first literary attempt in Latin, De Jure Atheniensium Hereditario. In 1813 he received the diploma of doctor of philosophy from the university of Jena. Subsequently he travelled extensively with Mr. Astor in Germany and Italy. At Vienna he met Friedrich von Schlegel; at Munich, Schelling and Thiersch; and he joined the latter in studying Persian, and read law with Feuerbach. On his return to Göttingen, he and his friends formed the nucleus of a philological and philosophical society, and he pursued a vast system of kindred studies, including Semitic and Sanskrit philology, and perfecting his knowledge of the Scandinavian languages on a visit to Denmark and Sweden. He spent the winter of 1815 and the year 1816 in Berlin, where the preaching of Schleiermacher greatly impressed him, and where he conceived a profound admiration for Niebuhr. He continued his studies of Persian and Arabic in Paris under Sylvestre de Sacy, joined Mr. Astor at Florence, and after the return of the latter to the United States became the French teacher of Mr. Cathcart, an English gentleman. On July 1, 1817, he married at Rome Fanny Waddington, the daughter of an English clergyman, and the plan of an improved German translation of the Bible was first suggested to him by his young wife. Cornelius, Overbeck, Brandis, and Platner were the inseparable companions of the Bunsens, and their modest lodgings in the palazzo Caffarelli on the Capitoline hill, where they lived 22 years, became a resort of many distinguished persons. When Brandis, Prussian secretary of legation, fell ill, Bunsen replaced him, and in August, 1818, was officially appointed to that post. From this time his influence began to be felt alike in the scientific and literary world, and in the political affairs of his time. Frederick William III. of Prussia, visiting Rome in 1822, was pleased with the secretary, and to Bunsen's influence are ascribed several reforms in the state church of Prussia which were decreed by the king during his stay at Rome. Bunsen held that there could be no real church without a liturgy, and no liturgy without a church; and he prepared a Protestant liturgy for public worship, which was approved by the king. In 1824, on Niebuhr's resignation, Bunsen was made chargé d'affaires,