JOST, ISAAK MARKUS (1793-1860), Jewish historical writer, was born on the 22nd of February 1793 at Bernburg, and studied at the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. In Berlin he began to teach, and in 1835 received the appointment of upper master in the Jewish commercial school (called the Philanthropin) at Frankfort-on-the-Main. Here he remained until his death, on the 22nd of November 1860. The work by which he is chiefly known is Geschichte der Israeliten seit der Zeit der Maccabäer, in 9 vols. (1820-1829), which was afterwards supplemented by Neuere Geschichte der Israeliten von 1815-1845 (1846-1847), and Geschichte des Judenthums und seiner Sekten (1857-1859). He also published an abridgment under the title Allgemeine Geschichte des israelitischen Volkes (1831-1832), and an edition of the Mishna with a German translation and notes (6 vols., 1832-1834). The Israelitische Annalen were edited by him from 1839 to 1841, and he contributed extensively to periodicals.
See Zirndorf, Isaak Markus Jost und seine Freunde (Cincinnati, 1886).
JOTUNHEIM, or Jotun Fjelde, a mountainous region of southern Norway, lying between Gudbrandsdal on the east and Jostedalsbrae and the head of the Sogne fjord on the west. Within an area of about 950 sq. m. it contains the highest mountain in the Scandinavian Peninsula—Galdhöpiggen (8399 ft.)—and several others but little inferior. Such are Glittertind or Glitretind (8380), and Memurutind (7966), which face Galdhöpiggen across the northward-sloping Visdal; Knutshulstind (7812) and several other peaks exceeding 7000 ft., to the south, between lakes Gjende and Bygdin, and Skagastölstind (7723) in the west of the region, above the Utladal, the chief summit of the magnificent Horunger. The upper parts of the main valleys are of characteristic form, not ending in lofty mountain-walls but comparatively low and level, and bearing lakes. The name Jotunheim (giants’ home) is a modern memorial of the mountain-dwelling giants of Norse fable; the alternative name Jotun Fjelde was the first bestowed on the region, when it was explored in 1820 by the geologist Balthasar Matthias Keilhau (1797-1858). In modern times the region has attracted mountaineers and many visitors accustomed to rough lodging and difficult travelling.
JOUBERT, BARTHÉLEMY CATHERINE (1769-1799), French general, the son of an advocate, was born at Pont de Vaux (Ain) on the 14th of April 1769. In 1784 he ran away from school to enlist in the artillery, but was brought back and sent to study law at Lyons and Dijon. In 1791 he joined the volunteers of the Ain, and was elected by his comrades successively corporal and sergeant. In January 1792 he became sub-lieutenant, and in November lieutenant, having in the meantime made his first campaign with the army of Italy. In 1793 he distinguished himself by the brilliant defence of a redoubt at the Col di Tenda, with only thirty men against a battalion of the enemy. Wounded and made prisoner in this affair, Joubert was released on parole by the Austrian commander-in-chief, Devins, soon afterwards. In 1794 he was again actively engaged, and in 1795 he rendered such conspicuous service as to be made general of brigade. In the campaign of 1796 the young general commanded a brigade under Augereau, and soon attracted the special attention of Bonaparte, who caused him to be made a general of division in December, and repeatedly selected him for the command of important detachments. Thus he was in charge of the retaining force at the battle of Rivoli, and in the campaign of 1799 (invasion of Austria) he commanded the detached left wing of Bonaparte’s army in Tirol, and fought his way through the mountains to rejoin his chief in Styria. He subsequently held various commands in Holland, on the Rhine and in Italy, where up to January 1799 he commanded in chief. Resigning the post in consequence of a dispute with the civil authorities, Joubert returned to France and married (June) Mlle de Montholon. But he was almost immediately summoned to the field again. He took over the command in Italy from Moreau about the middle of July, but he persuaded his predecessor to remain at the front and was largely guided by his advice. The odds against the French troops in the disastrous campaign of 1799 (see [French Revolutionary Wars]) were too heavy. Joubert and Moreau were quickly compelled to give battle by their great antagonist Suvorov. The battle of Novi was disastrous to the French arms, not merely because it was a defeat, but above all because Joubert himself was amongst the first to fall (Aug. 15, 1799). Joubert died before it could be shown whether his genius was of the first rank, but he was at any rate marked out as a future great captain by the greatest captain of all ages, and his countrymen intuitively associated him with Hoche and Marceau as a great leader whose early death disappointed their highest hopes. After the battle his remains were brought to Toulon and buried in Fort La Malgue, and the revolutionary government paid tribute to his memory by a ceremony of public mourning (Sept. 16). A monument to Joubert at Bourg was razed by order of Louis XVIII., but another memorial was afterwards erected at Pont de Vaux.
See Guilbert, Notice sur la vie de B. C. Joubert; Chevrier, Le Général Joubert d’après sa correspondance (2nd ed. 1884).
JOUBERT, JOSEPH (1754-1824), French moralist, was born at Montignac (Corrèze) on the 6th of May 1754. After completing his studies at Toulouse he spent some years there as a teacher. His delicate health proved unequal to the task, and after two years spent at home in study Joubert went to Paris at the beginning of 1778. He allied himself with the chiefs of the philosophic party, especially with Diderot, of whom he was in some sort a disciple, but his closest friendship was with the abbé de Fontanes. In 1790 he was recalled to his native place to act as juge de paix, and carried out the duties of his office with great fidelity. He had made the acquaintance of Mme de Beaumont in a Burgundian cottage where she had taken refuge from the Terror, and it was under her inspiration that Joubert’s genius was at its best. The atmosphere of serenity and affection with which she surrounded him seemed necessary to the development of what Sainte-Beuve calls his “esprit ailé, ami du ciel et des hauteurs.” Her death in 1803 was a great blow to him, and his literary activity, never great, declined from that time. In 1809, at the solicitation of Joseph de Bonald, he was made an inspector-general of education, and his professional duties practically absorbed his interests during the rest of his life. He died on the 3rd of May 1824. His manuscripts were entrusted by his widow to Chateaubriand, who published a selection of Pensées from them in 1838 for private circulation. A more complete edition was published by Joubert’s nephew, Paul de Raynal, under the title Pensées, essais, maximes et correspondance (2 vols. 1842). A selection of letters addressed to Joubert was published in 1883. Joubert constantly strove after perfection, and the small quantity of his work was partly due to his desire to find adequate and luminous expression for his discriminating criticism of literature and morals.
If Joubert’s readers in England are not numerous, he is well known at second hand through the sympathetic essay devoted to him in Matthew Arnold’s Essays in Criticism (1st series). See Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du lundi, vol. i.; Portraits littéraires, vol. ii.; and a notice by Paul de Raynal, prefixed to the edition of 1842.