Roger Gougenot des Mousseaux

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Roger Gougenot des Mousseaux in 1863

Roger Gougenot des Mousseaux, also known as Chevalier Gougenot des Mousseaux (22 April 1805 – 5 November 1876), was a French writer and political journalist.

Biography

He was born at Coulommiers, a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France, the son of Apolline Françoise Oudan de Blanzy and of chevalier Adrien Gougenot, lord of Ile, Valet de chambre of the House of the kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII and captain in the noble corps of men-at-arms (Army of the Princes). He was the grand-nephew of the abbot Louis Gougenot, of Georges Gougenot de Croissy and the nephew by marriage of Jacques de Chambray.

After his humanities studies at the Collège Stanislas in Paris, an orphan while still a minor, Gougenot des Mousseaux succeeded his father in the position of gentleman of the chamber of King Charles X. Destined for diplomacy, he finished his education by traveling and became familiar with several languages.

After the July Revolution, he remained faithful to the fallen monarchy, but refused to rally to the Orleans dynasty and decided to devote himself entirely to study, more particularly to the demonstration of the supernatural influence in everyday life. He maintained contact with specialists, including David Paul Drach, before putting down on paper the fruit of his meditations. On the other hand, married to Miss Marie-Elisabeth-Constance Gossey de Pontalery, he managed the estate and shared the care of the children's education: two daughters, one of whom became a nun at the Visitation Monastery in Paris and the other, Marie-Françoise-Sarah, married Philippe-Arthur, Marquis de Saint-Phalle.

A devout Catholic, Gougenot des Mousseaux devoted several works to the history of magic, esotericism, and the denunciation of secret societies and freemasonry. He is considered as one of the precursors of anti-Semitism as practiced, for example, by Édouard Drumont (who recognized his influence). His Christian anti-Judaism had a certain posterity with the Abbé Ernest Jouin and several polemicists of the turn of the 19th century.

It was translated into German in the late 1910s by Alfred Rosenberg.

Roger Gougenot des Mousseaux is a character in Umberto Eco's novel The Prague Cemetery.

Works

• Étude sur les Beth-El (1843)
• L'émancipation aux Antilles françaises (1844)
• Le Monde avant le Christ. Influence de la religion dans les États, ou Séparation et harmonie entre les institutions religieuses et les institutions politiques (1845; 2005)
• Des Prolétaires, nécessité et moyens d'améliorer leur sort (1846)
• Dieu et les dieux, ou Un voyageur chrétien devant les objets primitifs des cultes anciens, les traditions et la fable, monographie des pierres dieux et de leurs transformations (1854; 2005)
• Mœurs et pratiques des démons ou des esprits visiteurs, d'après les autorités de l'Église, les auteurs païens, les faits contemporains, etc. (1854; 2005)
• Essai généalogique sur la maison de Saint-Phalle, d'après monuments et d'après titres existant encore (1860)
• La Magie au dix-neuvième siècle, ses agents, ses vérités, ses mensonges (1860)
• Les Médiateurs et les moyens de la magie, les hallucinations et les savants ; le fantôme humain et le principe vital (1863; 2005)
• Les Hauts Phénomènes de la magie, précédés du Spiritisme antique (1864; 2005)
• Mœurs et pratiques des démons ou des esprits visiteurs, d'après les autorités de l'Église, les auteurs païens, les faits contemporains, etc. (1865)
• Le Juif, le judaïsme et la judaïsation des peuples chrétiens (1869; 1886; 2015)
• La Question des princes d'Orléans (1872)

External links

• Works by Roger Gougenot des Mousseaux at Gallica