MAUREL, VICTOR (1848- ), French singer, was born at Marseilles, and educated in music at the Paris Conservatoire. He made his début in opera at Paris in 1868, and in London in 1873, and from that time onwards his admirable acting and vocal method established his reputation as one of the finest of operatic baritones. He created the leading part in Verdi’s Otello, and was equally fine in Wagnerian and Italian opera.
MAURENBRECHER, KARL PETER WILHELM (1838-1892), German historian, was born at Bonn on the 21st of December, 1838, and studied in Berlin and Munich under Ranke and Von Sybel, being especially influenced by the latter historian. After doing some research work at Simancas in Spain, he became professor of history at the university of Dorpat in 1867; and was then in turn professor at Königsberg, Bonn and Leipzig. He died at Leipzig on the 6th of November, 1892.
Many of Maurenbrecher’s works are concerned with the Reformation, among them being England im Reformationszeitalter (Düsseldorf, 1866); Karl V. und die deutschen Protestanten (Düsseldorf, 1865); Studien und Skizzen zur Geschichte der Reformationszeit (Leipzig, 1874); and the incomplete Geschichte der Katholischen Reformation (Nördlingen, 1880). He also wrote Don Karlos (Berlin, 1876); Gründung des deutschen Reiches 1859-1871 (Leipzig, 1892, and again 1902); and Geschichte der deutschen Königswahlen (Leipzig, 1889). See G. Wolf, Wilhelm Maurenbrecher (Berlin, 1893).
MAUREPAS, JEAN FRÉDÉRIC PHÉLYPEAUX, Comte de (1701-1781), French statesman, was born on the 9th of July 1701 at Versailles, being the son of Jérôme de Pontchartrain, secretary of state for the marine and the royal household. Maurepas succeeded to his father’s charge at fourteen, and began his functions in the royal household at seventeen, while in 1725 he undertook the actual administration of the navy. Although essentially light and frivolous in character, Maurepas was seriously interested in scientific matters, and he used the best brains of France to apply science to questions of navigation and of naval construction. He was disgraced in 1749, and exiled from Paris for an epigram against Madame de Pompadour. On the accession of Louis XVI., twenty-five years later, he became a minister of state and Louis XVI.’s chief adviser. He gave Turgot the direction of finance, placed Lamoignon-Malesherbes over the royal household and made Vergennes minister for foreign affairs. At the outset of his new career he showed his weakness by recalling to their functions, in deference to popular clamour, the members of the old parlement ousted by Maupeou, thus reconstituting the most dangerous enemy of the royal power. This step, and his intervention on behalf of the American states, helped to pave the way for the French revolution. Jealous of his personal ascendancy over Louis XVI., he intrigued against Turgot, whose disgrace in 1776 was followed after six months of disorder by the appointment of Necker. In 1781 Maurepas deserted Necker as he had done Turgot, and he died at Versailles on the 21st of November 1781.
Maurepas is credited with contributions to the collection of facetiae known as the Étrennes de la Saint Jean (2nd ed., 1742). Four volumes of Mémoires de Maurepas, purporting to be collected by his secretary and edited by J. L. G. Soulavie in 1792, must be regarded as apocryphal. Some of his letters were published in 1896 by the Soc. de l’hist. de Paris. His éloge in the Academy of Sciences was pronounced by Condorcet.
MAURER, GEORG LUDWIG VON (1790-1872), German statesman and historian, son of a Protestant pastor, was born at Erpolzheim, near Dürkheim, in the Rhenish Palatinate, on the 2nd of November 1790. Educated at Heidelberg, he went in 1812 to reside in Paris, where he entered upon a systematic study of the ancient legal institutions of the Germans. Returning to Germany in 1814, he received an appointment under the Bavarian government, and afterwards filled several important official positions. In 1824 he published at Heidelberg his Geschichte des altgermanischen und namentlich altbayrischen öffentlich-mündlichen Gerichtsverfahrens, which obtained the first prize of the academy of Munich, and in 1826 he became professor in the university of Munich. In 1829 he returned to official life, and was soon offered an important post. In 1832, when Otto (Otho), son of Louis I., king of Bavaria, was chosen to fill the throne of Greece, a council of regency was nominated during his minority, and Maurer was appointed a member. He applied himself energetically to the task of creating institutions adapted to the requirements of a modern civilized community; but grave difficulties soon arose and Maurer was recalled in 1834, when he returned to Munich. This loss was a serious one for Greece. Maurer was the ablest, most energetic and most liberal-minded member of the council, and it was through his enlightened efforts that Greece obtained a revised penal code, regular tribunals and an improved system of civil procedure. Soon after his recall he published Das griechische Volk in öffentlicher, kirchlicher, und privatrechtlicher Beziehung vor und nach dem Freiheitskampfe bis zum 31 Juli 1834 (Heidelberg, 1835-1836), a useful source of information for the history of Greece before Otto ascended the throne, and also for the labours of the council of regency to the time of the author’s recall. After the fall of the ministry of Karl von Abel (1788-1859) in 1847, he became chief Bavarian minister and head of the departments of foreign affairs and of justice, but was overthrown in the same year. He died at Munich on the 9th of May 1872. His only son, Conrad von Maurer (1823-1902), was a Scandinavian scholar of some repute, and like his father was a professor at the university of Munich.