Dr. Noël Golvers
Contact
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Blijde-Inkomststraat 21 (PO Box 3317)
B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
tel.:
+32 16 325046
e-mail Noël Golvers
Biography
Noël Golvers studied Classical Philology
(Latin Section) at the K.U. Leuven (prom. 1975); PhD (KULeuven) on the
ancient geographical names of the Sabine country (from proto-history up
to Medieval times) in 1983; since 1984, he is part-time (70%) lecturer
Latin (linguistics and literature) at the Teacher’s Academy of the Katholieke
Hogeschool Leuven, and a (now senior) researcher (50%) at the Dept. of
Area Studies (Sinology) and the F. Verbiest Institute of the KULeuven.
Since 1986, his current research concerns the (mainly) cultural aspects of the Jesuit Mission in China in the 17th and 18th centuries, on the basis of Western (i.e. Latin, Portuguese, Italian) written sources: this includes (1) the study of source collections in Europe and their history (contents; provenance), esp. in Belgium, Lisbon, Munich, Paris, Rome, etc.; (2) study, translation and annotation of Western key texts (both printed and manuscript) on the same Mission, such as F. Verbiest, Astronomia Europaea (Dilingae, 1687); A. Thomas, Syntaxis Mathematica (Douai, 1685) and F. de Rougemont’s manuscript diary (1676); (c) the circulation of Western books from Europe to China in the same period; (d) the transmission of European science and technology to China; (e) the production of geographical maps etc.
Most significant publications
The Astronomia Europaea of Ferdinand Verbiest, S.J. (Dillingen, 1687). Monumenta Serica Monograph Series, 28, Steyler Verlag, Nettetal, 1993.
‘A Chinese imitation of a Flemish allegorical picture representing the Muses of European scineces’, in: T’oung Pao, 81, 1995, pp. 303-314.
François de Rougemont, S.J., Missionary in Ch’ang-shu (Chiang-nan): a study of the account book (1674-1676) and the Elogium. Leuven Chinese Studies, 7, Leuven (LUP), 1999 (translated into Chinese).
‘Verbiest’s Introduction of Aristoteles Latinus (Coimbra) in China: new Western evidence, in: The Christian Mission in China in the Verbiest Era: some aspects of the missionary approach (Leuven, 1999), pp. 33-53.
‘Jesuit cartographers in China: Francesco Brancati, S.J. and the map (1661?) of Sungchiang prefecture (Shanghai)’, in: Imago Mundi (London), 52, 2000, pp. 30-42.
“Western Sources on Christianity in China (XVIth–XVIIIth Cent.)”, in: N. Standaert (ed.) Handbook of Christianity in China, I, (Leiden: Brill), 2001, pp. 161-237.
Ferdinand Verbiest and the Chinese Heaven. The Composition of the Astronomocal Corpus, its Diffusion and Reception in the European Republic of Letters, Leuven Chinese Studies, 12, Leuven (LUP), Leuven, 2003 (granted by the Royal Academy of Science of Belgium in 2004).
‘The Library catalogue of Diogo Valente’s book collection in Macau (1633): a philological and bibliographical analysis, in: Bulletin of Portuguese Japanese Studies (Lisbon), 13, 2006, pp. 7-43.
The XVIIth Century Jesuit Mission in China and its ‘Antwerp connections’. 2: The 25 China-letters from the original Plantin-Moretus archives, 1669 – 1690”, in Lias 34 (2), 2007, pp. 205-248.
(with E. Nicolaidis) Ferdinand Verbiest and Jesuit Science in 17th Century China. An annotated edition and translation of the Constantinople manuscript (1676), Leuven – Athens, 2009.