Charles Piguet

Charles E. Piguet (17 April 1859 – 24 September 1918) was a Swiss tutor. He tutored the sons of Nicholas I of Montenegro and served as the honorary consul of the Kingdom of Montenegro in Switzerland until 1918.

Charles Piguet
Piguet, circa 1900
Born(1859-04-17)17 April 1859
Geneva, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland
Died24 September 1918(1918-09-24) (aged 59)
Eaux-Vives, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland
NationalitySwiss
OccupationTutor
Known forTutor to sons of Nicholas I of Montenegro

Life

Piguet was born in Geneva in 1859. He studied medicine.[1]

From 1881 to 1901, Piguet lived in the Montenegrin capital of Cetinje. Here, he tutored the sons of Nicholas I of Montenegro, Princes Danilo, Mirko and Peter.

In 1916, Montenegro established a consular mission in Geneva, and Piguet was considered for the position of honorary consul.[2] He held the position until his death, after which it became vacant. He was the sole consul of Montenegro in Switzerland, since the kingdom was absorbed into the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes shortly after his death.

Piguet also worked as a translator and translated Gordana by the Serbian writer Laza Kostić into French.[3]

Honors

In 1893, Piguet became an Officer of the French Legion of Honour. He was awarded the Order of the Crown of Italy, Commander class in 1894.[4]

Mentions
Piguet with Prince Mirko (left) and Peter (right)

Piguet was mentioned in several travelogues by authors who visited Cetinje.

In her Twenty Years Of Balkan Tangle, Edith Durham recalls Piguet as a "truly tactful man" who would often defuse heated altercations between the Foreign Ministers Plenipotentiary.[5] Henrik Angell describes him in Gjennem Montenegro paa Ski as a "diligent man, working all day despite the cold", as well as a "huge, handsome fellow, naturalized Montenegrin".[6]

In his memoir Bilješke jednog pisca, Simo Matavulj writes of his friendship with Piguet, who he says had a "poetic soul and extensive literary education". He describes Piguet as a "mystic and convinced spiritist", which he preached with "proselytizing zeal".[1]

The Swiss painter William Ritter also mentions Piguet in his travelogue.[7]

Works
  • Le Monténégro, 1905[8]

References
  1. Matavulj, Simo (1923). Bilješke jednog pisca. Belgrade: Vreme. p. 46. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  2. Steffen Gerber, Therese: Montenegro in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  3. Piguet, Ch. (1891). Gordane : comédie en quatre actes. Corbeil: Imprimerie J. Crété. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  4. "Inventaire du Fonds Walter Weideli déposé aux Archives littéraires suisses". ead.nb.admin.ch. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  5. Durham, Mary Edith (1920). Twenty Years Of Balkan Tangle. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., Ruskin House. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  6. Angell, Henrik (1895). Gjennem Montenegro paa ski (PDF). Kristiania: Aschehoug. p. 26. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  7. Bankowski, Monika; Brang, Peter (1991). Fakten und Fabeln: Schweizerisch-slavische Reisebegegnung vom 18. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert. Basel. p. 346.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. Mandere, Henri Charles Glaude Jacob (1913). Montenegro Van reizen en trekken. Uitgegeven door de Maatschappij voor Goede en Goedkoope Lectuur. p. 196. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
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