Philippe Berger, born on September 15, 1846, in

Beaucourt Beaucourt () is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in northeastern France. The archivist and palaeographer Élie Berger (1850–1925) was born in Beaucourt. Population Literature ''Beaucourt Revisite ...

(

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (); Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; , . is a department in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine; its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less pop ...

, currently in the

Territoire de Belfort The Territoire de Belfort (; "Territory of Belfort") is a department in the northeastern French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. In 2020 it had a population of 140,120.Lycée Saint-Louis The Lycée Saint-Louis () is a selective post-secondary school located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, 6th arrondissement of Paris, in the Latin Quarter. It is the only state-funded French lycée that exclusively offers ''Classe Préparatoir ...

and the

Lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on Rue Saint-Jacques (Paris), rue Saint-Jacques in central Par ...

. In 1867, he entered the Faculté de théologie protestante de Strasbourg, met

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; ; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, writing on Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote wo ...

and began learning Hebrew. Engaged in the health service of the Loire Army during the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

of 1870, he was awarded the military medal for his conduct during the siege of Paris.

Academia

In 1873, he supported a thesis of theology at the Faculty of

Montauban Montauban (, ; ) is a commune in the southern French department of Tarn-et-Garonne. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, and the sixth most populated of Oc ...

, entitled ''Études des documents nouveaux fournis sur les Ophites par les «Philosophouména» (Studies of new documents provided on the Ophites by the "Philosophouména"),'' which caught Renan's attention. Thanks to him, he was appointed chief librarian of the

Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...

(1874). Becoming Renan's secretary, he worked with him on the publication of the ''

Corpus inscriptionum semiticarum The ("Corpus of Semitic Inscriptions", abbreviated CIS) is a collection of ancient inscriptions in Semitic languages produced since the end of 2nd millennium BC until the rise of Islam. It was published in Latin. In a note recovered after his de ...

'' (in particular on articles dealing with Phoenicia) and was appointed professor of Hebrew at the Faculté de théologie protestante de Paris in 1877. In 1892, Berger joined the

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

in place of Ernest Renan. The following year, he succeeded his master at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

, where he held the chair of Hebrew until 1910.

Politics

Philippe Berger entered politics in 1895, when he was elected general councillor of the canton of Giromagny ( Territory of Belfort). Becoming President of the General Council, he won the by- Senate election of the Territory of Belfort in 1904, succeeding Frédéric Japy. He was re-elected without opposition in 1909. In the Senate, Philippe Berger sat with the democratic left group and participated in several commissions. He died in office.

Family

Coming from a family from Switzerland, settled in

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department. History Montbéliard is ...

since 1660, he was the 3rd son of Eugène Berger, a Protestant pastor, and Louise Caroline Mathilde Pitois (sister of Éléonore, wife of

Oscar Berger-Levrault Oscar François George Berger-Levrault (9 May 1826 in Strasbourg – 24 September 1903 in Nancy) was a French philatelist. The invention of the stamp catalogue is attributed to him and to the Englishman, John Edward Gray. Life Oscar Berger-Levr ...

). He had four brothers and a sister:

GeneaNet Geneanet (previously stylized as GeneaNet) is a Paris-based genealogy website with 4 million members. Since 2021 it is a subsidiary of Ancestry, the largest genealogy company in the world. Its website consists of data added by registered particip ...

''Berger''
/ref> * Samuel Berger (1843-1901), pastor * Paul Berger (1845-1908), surgeon * Théodore Berger (1848-1900), banker *

Élie Berger Élie Berger (1850 in Beaucourt – 1925 in Paris) was a French palaeographer and archivist. Graduated an archivist and palaeographer of the École Nationale des Chartes in 1876, Élie Berger was first a member of the École française de Rome ...

(1850-1925), archivist-paleographer * Marie Berger (1858-1915), married to Edmond Berger-Levrault (son of

)

References

Bibliography

* François Laplanche, « Philippe Berger », in Patrick Cabanel et André Encrevé (dir.), ''Dictionnaire biographique des protestants français de 1787 à nos jours'', tome 1 : A-C, Les Éditions de Paris Max Chaleil, Paris, 2015, * « Philippe Berger », dans le Dictionnaire des parlementaires français (1889-1940), sous la direction de Jean Jolly, PUF, 1960 étail de l’édition {{authority control French orientalists Senators of Territoire de Belfort French senators of the Third Republic Academic staff of the Collège de France 1846 births 1912 deaths