Alexis Muston (11 February 1810 – 6 April 1888) was a French-Italian pastor and historian. He wrote a journal between 1825 and 1887.

Biography

Alexis Muston was born in

Torre Pellice Torre Pellice ( Vivaro-Alpine: ''La Torre de Pèlis'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important bu ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, Italy, on 11 February 1810. He was the son of Georges Muston (1777–1842), a pastor, and his wife Madeleine Jahier (1782–1848). Muston studied theology in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

and

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, graduating in 1834 with a bachelor's thesis about the origins of the

Waldensians The Waldensians, also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi, or Vaudois, are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the l ...

movement. He was consecrated as a priest in 1833. Muston was initially a priest of the Waldensian Evangelical Church in Rodoretto, a hamlet in the municipality of Prali, Italy. In 1835, he was forced to flee to France because his book about the Waldensians contradicted that of the Bishop of Pinerolo. He lived in Bordeaux, where he became pastor of the Reformed Church of Bordeaux. He held this position until his death. Muston died in Bordeaux in April 1888, aged 78.

Relationship with Georg Büchner

In 1831, Muston became friends with the German playwright

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchn ...

, as both were students in Strasbourg. Muston travelled to Darmstadt to research his thesis in 1833, and Büchner served as his translator. Two of the few existing portraits of Büchner were created by Muston; the first in his sketchbook, dated October 1833, the second in a manuscript, date unknown. Muston described Büchner in his diary as being "passionate about freedom", and "above all a poet".

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muston, Alexis 1810 births 1888 deaths Italian historians 19th-century French historians