Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Caen
Encyclopedia
The Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Caen was founded in Caen
(Normandy
) by Jacques Moisant de Brieux
in 1652
.
The Académie de Caen was the first academy of literature to be founded in France, after the French Academy. It also was the first French Academy of Physics (Académie de Physique
) in France (1662
), four years before the founding of the French Academy of Sciences
in Paris
. Samuel Bochart
, Pierre-Daniel Huet, Jean Regnault de Segrais and Antoine Garaby de La Luzerne
were some of its first members.
was in the habit of conversing about public affairs at the Place St. Pierre on Mondays, on the day when the mail would arrive. Being frequently disturbed by the inclement weather, Moisant de Brieux endeavored to remedy their problem by opening them his hotel d'Escoville.
In its beginnings, the assembly merely read La Gazette
and discussed current news. Soon, it was to debate about literary and scientific subjects. Starting from 1652, the Academy of Caen had become a learned society chaired by Moisant de Brieux until his death in 1674. Jean Regnault de Segrais then take over, welcoming in turn the Academy in his home, from 1685 onward until his own death in March 1701.
The Academy then underwent a four-year hiatus until 1705, when Jean-Claude Croisilles, Jean Regnault de Segrais' very brother-in-law, sheltered it in his house. On that year, the existence of the Academy's legal existence, as "Académie royale des Belles-Lettres", was confirmed by patent letters from the king.
Having experienced another interruption, owing to a disagreement with its host, the Academy had to wait for the Paul d'Albert de Luynes, bishop of Bayeux's hospitality. Now free to meet again in the hall of the bishop's palace, the Academy was to suffer yet another interruption. Upon learning it had elected Protestants, the bishop bent over backwards to put his dissatisfaction with the Academy across with a serious affront: after convening a special meeting regarding a critical matter, he failed to show up. It turned out the matter in question was a simple chess game.
When the French Revolution
did away with all Academies, the Academy of Caen was no exception, and it would not to be restored until 12 December 1800, when General Dugua
, then prefect of Calvados, brought it back to life under the name of "Lycée de Caen". It then became "Société académique", and finally "Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres" in 1801.
A decree dated 10 August 1853 has granted the Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Caen public utility status.
- Samuel Bochart
- Jean-Jacques Boisard
- Adolphe Brongniart - Jacques de Callières - Pierre Chaunu
- François Coppée
- J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur - Pierre Daru - Paul Deschanel
- René-Nicolas Dufriche Desgenettes
- Jules Dumont d'Urville
- Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours
- Léonce Élie de Beaumont - Charles-Michel de l'Épée
- Octave Feuillet
- Camille Flammarion
- Augustin Fresnel - Antoine Galland
- Henri Joseph Eugène Gouraud - Georges Goyau
- Émile Guimet - François Guizot
- Claude-Adrien Helvétius - François Honorat de Beauvilliers - Pierre-Daniel Huet - Gervais de La Rue - Bernard Germain de Lacépède - Alphonse de Lamartine
- Pierre-Simon Laplace
- Urbain Le Verrier - François Magendie
- Étienne-Jules Marey
- Henri Poincaré
- Jean Regnault de Segrais - Jean II Restout
- Léopold Sédar Senghor
- Jules Simon
- Alexis de Tocqueville
- Raymond Triboulet
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
(Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
) by Jacques Moisant de Brieux
Jacques Moisant de Brieux
Jacques Moisant de Brieux was a French poet and historian.Born at Caen in an aristocratic Huguenot family on 13 May 1611, Moisant de Brieux had Antoine Halley as his first preceptor before continuing his studies in the best Protestant institutions of his time...
in 1652
1652 in literature
The year 1652 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* John Milton loses the last of his eyesight during the year. His wife Mary dies on May 5.-New books:*Anonymous - Eliza's Babes, or the Virgin's Offering...
.
The Académie de Caen was the first academy of literature to be founded in France, after the French Academy. It also was the first French Academy of Physics (Académie de Physique
Académie de Physique
The Academie de Physique was established in Caen, Normandy, France, in 1662. It was the first provincial academy of sciences to be granted a royal charter, and one of the first academies in France to promote both empiricism and scholarly cooperation as the basis for its programs...
) in France (1662
1662 in science
The year 1662 in science and technology involved some significant events.-Botany:* February 16 - John Evelyn presents the basic text of his Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber to the College for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematical Experimental Learning, probably...
), four years before the founding of the French Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Samuel Bochart
Samuel Bochart
Samuel Bochart was a French Protestant biblical scholar, a student of Thomas Erpenius and the teacher of Pierre Daniel Huet...
, Pierre-Daniel Huet, Jean Regnault de Segrais and Antoine Garaby de La Luzerne
Antoine Garaby de La Luzerne
Antoine de Garaby, sieur de Pierrepont, de La Luzerne et d'Étienville was a French moralist.Garaby de La Luzerne was born in the family manor of La Besnardière at Montchaton near Coutances. He was the son of Bernard de Garaby and Françoise de Pierrepont, the sister of Hervé de Pierrepont,...
were some of its first members.
History
The well-read public of CaenCaen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
was in the habit of conversing about public affairs at the Place St. Pierre on Mondays, on the day when the mail would arrive. Being frequently disturbed by the inclement weather, Moisant de Brieux endeavored to remedy their problem by opening them his hotel d'Escoville.
In its beginnings, the assembly merely read La Gazette
La Gazette
La Gazette , originally Gazette de France, was the first weekly magazine published in France. It was founded by Théophraste Renaudot and issued its first number on May 30, 1631. It progressively became the mouthpiece of one royalist faction, the Legitimists...
and discussed current news. Soon, it was to debate about literary and scientific subjects. Starting from 1652, the Academy of Caen had become a learned society chaired by Moisant de Brieux until his death in 1674. Jean Regnault de Segrais then take over, welcoming in turn the Academy in his home, from 1685 onward until his own death in March 1701.
The Academy then underwent a four-year hiatus until 1705, when Jean-Claude Croisilles, Jean Regnault de Segrais' very brother-in-law, sheltered it in his house. On that year, the existence of the Academy's legal existence, as "Académie royale des Belles-Lettres", was confirmed by patent letters from the king.
Having experienced another interruption, owing to a disagreement with its host, the Academy had to wait for the Paul d'Albert de Luynes, bishop of Bayeux's hospitality. Now free to meet again in the hall of the bishop's palace, the Academy was to suffer yet another interruption. Upon learning it had elected Protestants, the bishop bent over backwards to put his dissatisfaction with the Academy across with a serious affront: after convening a special meeting regarding a critical matter, he failed to show up. It turned out the matter in question was a simple chess game.
When the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
did away with all Academies, the Academy of Caen was no exception, and it would not to be restored until 12 December 1800, when General Dugua
Charles Dugua
Charles Francis Joseph Dugua was a general of the French Revolution.He was present during Napoleon's 1798 campaign in Egypt. Before departing for Syria, Napoleon gave Dugua to command Cairo...
, then prefect of Calvados, brought it back to life under the name of "Lycée de Caen". It then became "Société académique", and finally "Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres" in 1801.
A decree dated 10 August 1853 has granted the Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres de Caen public utility status.
Venues
- 1652-1682: Hôtel d'Escoville
- 1685-1701: Regnault Segrais Townhouse
- 1701-1714: Jean-Claude de Croisilles Townhouse
- 1731-1753: Palace of the bishops of Bayeux
- 1753-1792: Hôtel d'Escoville
- Prefecture
- Pavillon des sociétés savantes
- Current headquarters: Hôtel d'Escoville
Members of the Academy of Caen
André-Marie AmpèreAndré-Marie Ampère
André-Marie Ampère was a French physicist and mathematician who is generally regarded as one of the main discoverers of electromagnetism. The SI unit of measurement of electric current, the ampere, is named after him....
- Samuel Bochart
Samuel Bochart
Samuel Bochart was a French Protestant biblical scholar, a student of Thomas Erpenius and the teacher of Pierre Daniel Huet...
- Jean-Jacques Boisard
Jean-Jacques Boisard
Jean-Jacques François Marius Boisard was a French fabulist.French fabulist born in 1743 in Caen, a historical town located in Normandie, North-West France, about 150 kilometers from Paris...
- Adolphe Brongniart - Jacques de Callières - Pierre Chaunu
Pierre Chaunu
Pierre Chaunu was a French historian. His specialty was Latin American history; he also studied French social and religious history of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries...
- François Coppée
François Coppée
François Edouard Joachim Coppée was a French poet and novelist.-Biography:He was born in Paris to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis he became a clerk in the ministry of war, and won public favour as a poet of the Parnassian school. His first printed verses date from 1864...
- J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur - Pierre Daru - Paul Deschanel
Paul Deschanel
Paul Eugène Louis Deschanel was a French statesman. He served as President of France from 18 February 1920 to 21 September 1920.-Biography:...
- René-Nicolas Dufriche Desgenettes
René-Nicolas Dufriche Desgenettes
René-Nicolas Dufriche, baron Desgenettes was a French military doctor. He was chief doctor to the French army in Egypt and at Waterloo.-Early life:...
- Jules Dumont d'Urville
Jules Dumont d'Urville
Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville was a French explorer, naval officer and rear admiral, who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica.-Childhood:Dumont was born at Condé-sur-Noireau...
- Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours was a French nobleman, writer, economist, and government official, who was the father of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, the founder of E.I...
- Léonce Élie de Beaumont - Charles-Michel de l'Épée
Charles-Michel de l'Épée
Abbé Charles-Michel de l'Épée was a philanthropic educator of 18th-century France who has become known as the "Father of the Deaf".-Overview:...
- Octave Feuillet
Octave Feuillet
Octave Feuillet was a French novelist and dramatist.- Overview :Octave Feuillet was born at Saint-Lô, Manche . His father Jacques Feuillet was a prominent lawyer and Secretary-General of La Manche, but also a hypersensitive invalid. His mother died when he was an infant...
- Camille Flammarion
Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction novels, and several works about Spiritism and related topics. He also published the magazine...
- Augustin Fresnel - Antoine Galland
Antoine Galland
Antoine Galland was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of The Thousand and One Nights...
- Henri Joseph Eugène Gouraud - Georges Goyau
Georges Goyau
Georges Goyau was a French historian and essayist specializing in religious history.-Biography:He was born in Orléans, where he went to school before moving on to Lycée Louis-le-Grand and then École Normale Supérieure both in Paris. Then he became lecturer at the French School of Rome, an...
- Émile Guimet - François Guizot
François Guizot
François Pierre Guillaume Guizot was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, a conservative liberal who opposed the attempt by King Charles X to usurp legislative power, and worked to sustain a constitutional...
- Claude-Adrien Helvétius - François Honorat de Beauvilliers - Pierre-Daniel Huet - Gervais de La Rue - Bernard Germain de Lacépède - Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...
- Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace was a French mathematician and astronomer whose work was pivotal to the development of mathematical astronomy and statistics. He summarized and extended the work of his predecessors in his five volume Mécanique Céleste...
- Urbain Le Verrier - François Magendie
François Magendie
François Magendie was a French physiologist, considered a pioneer of experimental physiology. He is known for describing the foramen of Magendie. There is also a Magendie sign, a downward and inward rotation of the eye due to a lesion in the cerebellum...
- Étienne-Jules Marey
Étienne-Jules Marey
Étienne-Jules Marey was a French scientist and chronophotographer.His work was significant in the development of cardiology, physical instrumentation, aviation, cinematography and the science of labor photography...
- Henri Poincaré
Henri Poincaré
Jules Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science...
- Jean Regnault de Segrais - Jean II Restout
Jean II Restout
Jean II Restout was a French painter, whose late baroque classicism rendered his altarpieces, such as the Death of Saint Scholastica an "isolated achievement" that ran counter to his rococo contemporaries.-Biography:...
- Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor was a Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist who for two decades served as the first president of Senegal . Senghor was the first African elected as a member of the Académie française. Before independence, he founded the political party called the Senegalese...
- Jules Simon
Jules Simon
Jules François Simon was a French statesman and philosopher, and one of the leader of the Opportunist Republicans faction.-Biography:Simon was born at Lorient. His father was a linen-draper from Lorraine, who renounced Protestantism before his second marriage with a Catholic Breton. Jules Simon...
- Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...
- Raymond Triboulet
Raymond Triboulet
Raymond Triboulet was a French politician. He was a leading World War II resistance fighter who helped U.S., Canadian, and British troops invade France, which was then occupied by Nazi Germany.-Biography:...