BONGARS, JACQUES. - French diplomat, born at Orléans in 1554, died at Paris on 29 July 1612. After studying first in Germany and then in France, he went to Rome to perfect his philological studies, where he published, in 1581, an edition of S. Giustino with excellent critical notes. Having returned to France after long travels throughout Europe, he was appointed, in 1586, secretary to Enrico, king of Navarre, and, in 1588, was sent to England and Holland and was finally dispatched to Germany, in 1593, with the title of resident for the king of France at the court of the princes of the Holy Roman Empire. After the assassination of Enrico IV, he obtained recall to Paris and during his last years devoted himself to his preferred studies.
Among his works the following should be remembered: Gesta Dei per Francos (Hannau 1611), which is the first collection of documents concerning the history of the crusades; Collectio Rerum Hungaricarum Scriptorum (Frankfurt 1600), an important source for the history of Hungary, also rich in Latin epigraphic transcriptions. In 1647 two volumes of Epistolae were also published, containing much information concerning the history of his time. B.'s exceedingly rich library is today one of the most precious collections of the Bern Library.