Andreas Birch

Andreas Birch (November 6, 1758 – October 25, 1829) was a professor from Copenhagen. Birch was sent in 1781–1783 by the king of Denmark, Christian VII, to examine manuscripts in Italy, Germany, and other European countries.

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 to continue his theological and philological studies under the guidance of Johann David Michaelis' and Christian Gottlob Heyne. 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. His way home went through Florence, Bologna, Parma, Venice, Vienna, Prague, Dresden, and Leipzig 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.

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