Gottfried Bessel

Johann Franz Bessel (in religion Gottfried) (b. 5 September 1672, at Buchen, in the Grand Duchy of Baden; d. at Göttweig, 22 January 1749) was a German Benedictine abbot and historian.

He made his course in the humanities at Aschaffenburg, Würzburg, and Bamberg, and in 1690 entered the University of Salzburg, conducted by the Benedictines, where he specialized in philosophy, also attending lectures on theology and jurisprudence. He entered the Benedictine Order at Göttweig on the Danube, Lower Austria, 15 June 1692. After making his vows (21 June 1693), he completed his theological course at Vienna, was ordained (21 March 1696), and on 23 May was granted the degree of Doctor of Theology, being shortly afterwards appointed Lector in philosophy and theology in the monastery of Seligenstadt on the River Main.

In 1699 he was summoned to the electoral court of Mainz by Archbishop Lothar Franz von Schonborn, who immediately sent him to Rome to study the curial practice of the Rota Romana. Having completed a two years' course in law, he obtained the degree of Doctor Juris Utriusque, and on his return to Mainz (1703) he was appointed vicar general and supreme judge of the ecclesiastical court of the archdiocese of Mainz. He was also employed on various diplomatic missions, as, for instance, to the court of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in connection with the conversion of Duke Anton Ulrich and his granddaughter, the Princess Elisabeth Christine, later the wife of Emperor Charles VI.

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