Andrew Birch
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Andreas Birch (November 6, 1758 – October 25, 1829) was a professor from
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
.Fr. Nielsen
Biografi
i 1. ''
Dansk biografisk leksikon ''Dansk Biografisk Leksikon'' (usually abbreviated DBL; title of first edition written ''Dansk biografisk Lexikon'') is a Danish biographical dictionary that has been published in three editions. The first edition, ''Dansk biografisk Lexikon, til ...
'', edited by C.F. Bricka, 2. volume, page 280,
Gyldendal Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag A/S, usually referred to simply as Gyldendal (), is a Danish publishing house. Founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal, it is the oldest and largest publishing house in Denmark, offering a wide selection of ...
, 1887–1905
Birch was sent in 1781–1783 by the king of Denmark, Christian VII, to examine manuscripts in Italy, Germany, and other European countries.


Life

Birch had a difficult experience at the age of 4 when in one month he lost both of his parents. His uncle, brewer A. T. Gardenholtz, took care of him, however, and by the year 1774, he was a student. Five years later he finished his theological studies in Copenhagen and travelled to
Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
to continue his theological and philological studies under the guidance of Johann David Michaelis' and
Christian Gottlob Heyne Christian Gottlob Heyne (; 25 September 1729 – 14 July 1812) was a German classical scholar and archaeologist as well as long-time director of the Göttingen State and University Library. He was a member of the Göttingen school of history. ...
. Michaelis, who had big expectations for Birch's scientific abilities, advised him to travel to Italy to study "the hidden and hitherto unused manuscripts of the New Testament." Prime Minister Ove Høegh-Guldberg successfully helped Birch in acquiring the funds for this venture, and in 1781 Birch left Göttingen, through Switzerland and southern France to Italy. The journey went through Turin, Genoa, and Livorno to Rome and from there on to Naples. In Rome he found an invaluable aid in Monsignor Stefano Borgia, secretary of the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, who supposedly gave him "considerable evidence to show his friendship." Before he left Rome, Birch was introduced to
Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...
. His way home went through
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
,
Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
,
Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...
,
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
,
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
,
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, and
Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
to Göttingen, and from there to Copenhagen. Everywhere he went, his time was spent collecting books, collating old manuscripts of the New Testament and the apocryphal gospels, and busying himself with the study of these. In the years 1781–1783 he travelled throughout Italy and Germany for the purpose of examining manuscripts. In the Vatican Library he examined 40, in the library of Barberini 10, in other Roman libraries 17, in Florence and other parts of Italy 38, and in Vienna 12 manuscripts.


New edition of the New Testament

After his return in 1783 the king commanded him to Guldberg's option to attend an edition of the New Testament basic text which was printed at royal expense, it was one of Goldberg's last acts as Prime Minister. This version would be a wonderful edition with a rich critical apparatus, which could show the learned world that Denmark would not be outdone when it was a study of the Christian holy book. The large Royal Library in Copenhagen owned the once considerable variation collections of the New Testament, not only due to general superintendent J. G. C. Adler, who had studied the Syrian Palestinian translation, and then professor in Copenhagen Daniel Gotthilf Moldenhawer who had examined the New Testament manuscripts in the Escorial palace and Professor at Kiel C. G. Hensler, who had compared the Copenhagen manuscripts with the usual text. Based on these processors and its own collections completed Birch preparation of the four gospels, which appeared in 1788 as the first part of the planned magnificent edition, in both folio and quarto. As a kind of introduction to this work he had already three years past where a "critical description of Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament."Fr. Nielsen
Biografi
i 1. ''
Dansk biografisk leksikon ''Dansk Biografisk Leksikon'' (usually abbreviated DBL; title of first edition written ''Dansk biografisk Lexikon'') is a Danish biographical dictionary that has been published in three editions. The first edition, ''Dansk biografisk Lexikon, til ...
'', edited by C.F. Bricka, 2. volume, page 281,
Gyldendal Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag A/S, usually referred to simply as Gyldendal (), is a Danish publishing house. Founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal, it is the oldest and largest publishing house in Denmark, offering a wide selection of ...
, 1887–1905
Birch's large version of the four
Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
s, for which he used John Mill's edition of the New Testament as basis, caused no little stir in the scholarly world, and many thought that the young scholars may be obvious to a university position in his homeland. That same year, as Birch issued the first volume of his magnificent edition, an extraordinary professorship in theology was created, Birch decided to apply but the position eventually went to Friedrich Christian Carl Hinrich Münter instead. Since both competitors' sample lectures were printed, the critical author Niels Ditlev Riegels, as usual, was discontented with the choice, and in one of his writings ("Tanker ved Gjennemlæsningen af Prøveforelæsningerne for det overordentlige theologiske Professorat", "Thoughts inspired by the reading of the test lectures for the extraordinary professorship at the Theological Faculty", 1789) he made the insinuation that Münter was appointed to the position beforehand and that the whole competition was just staged to defend that "the University was again being enriched with a German". An unbiased comparison of the two competitors' lectures shows that the lecture of Münter really was not up to his usual standard, but his later authorship soon proved him to be the right choice for the position.Fr. Nielsen
Biografi
of Münter i 1. ''
Dansk biografisk leksikon ''Dansk Biografisk Leksikon'' (usually abbreviated DBL; title of first edition written ''Dansk biografisk Lexikon'') is a Danish biographical dictionary that has been published in three editions. The first edition, ''Dansk biografisk Lexikon, til ...
'', edited by C.F. Bricka, 12. volume, page 29,
Gyldendal Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag A/S, usually referred to simply as Gyldendal (), is a Danish publishing house. Founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal, it is the oldest and largest publishing house in Denmark, offering a wide selection of ...
, 1887–1905
In 1798 Birch published a collection of various readings to the Acts and Epistles (among them from the
Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...
). Subsequently, in 1800 he published a collection of various readings to the Apocalypse, and in 1801 a collection of various readings to the four Gospels.


Works

* * * * *


See also

* Daniel Gotthilf Moldenhawer


References


Further reading

* Fr. Nielsen
Biografi
i 1. ''
Dansk biografisk leksikon ''Dansk Biografisk Leksikon'' (usually abbreviated DBL; title of first edition written ''Dansk biografisk Lexikon'') is a Danish biographical dictionary that has been published in three editions. The first edition, ''Dansk biografisk Lexikon, til ...
'', edited by C.F. Bricka, 2. volume, pages 280–282,
Gyldendal Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag A/S, usually referred to simply as Gyldendal (), is a Danish publishing house. Founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal, it is the oldest and largest publishing house in Denmark, offering a wide selection of ...
, 1887–1905 {{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Andreas 18th-century Danish clergy 19th-century Danish clergy Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen University of Copenhagen alumni Academics from Copenhagen 1758 births 1829 deaths New Testament scholars