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Count of St. Germain

18th-century European adventurer and intellectual

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ158208
Source-derived summary

The Count of St. Germain (French: Comte de Saint Germain; French pronunciation: [kɔ̃t də sɛ̃ ʒɛʁmɛ̃]; 1691 or 1712 – 27 February 1784), whose real name and origins remain unknown, was a European adventurer who had interests and achievements in science, alchemy, philosophy, and the arts. He rose to prominence in the European high society of the mid-18th century due to his works and interests. He associated himself with some of the most prominent figures of the era, including Giacomo Casanova, Voltaire and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The count used a variety of names and titles, including the Marquess of Montferrat (Fr. Marquis de Montferrat), Count Bellamarre (Fr. Comte Bellamarre), Knight Schoening (Fr. Chevalier Schoening), Count Weldon, Count Soltikoff (Fr. Comte Soltikoff), Manuel Doria, Graf Tzarogy, and Prince Ragoczy (De. Prinz Ragoczy).

Editorial summary

“Count of St. Germain” enters the record as 18th-century European adventurer and intellectual. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Count, Germain and 18th-century can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1691, 1712, 1784—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1712, 1691, 1696-05-26, 1701-08-08—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Count, Germain and 18th-century.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Count of St. Germain” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Count, Germain and 18th-century provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q158208. The Library of Congress control number is n79063824. 7 of 7 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1691, 1712 and 1784.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Three-step research path

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  2. Expand the search: follow Count of St. Germain primary sources, Count of St. Germain archive and Count research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Count of St. Germain” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.