François-Eudes de Mézeray
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
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He was born at Rye near Argentan, where his father was a surgeon.
He had two brothers, one of whom, Jean-Eudes, was the founder of the order of the Eudists
Eudists
The Congregation of Jesus and Mary , commonly referred to as the Eudists is a Society of Apostolic Life in the Roman Catholic Church.-History:...
. François studied at the University of Caen, and completed his education at the College of Ste Barbe at 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...
. His Histoire de France depuis Faramond jusqu'au règne de Louis le juste (3 vols., 1643–1651), is a fairly accurate summary of French and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
chronicle
Chronicle
Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...
s.
Mézeray was appointed to a committee that supervised the 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...
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Mézeray won the favor of Pierre Séguier
Pierre Séguier
-Early years:Born in Paris, France of a prominent legal family originating in Quercy. His grandfather, Pierre Séguier , was président à mortier in the parlement of Paris from 1554 to 1576, and the chancellor's father, Jean Séguier, a seigneur d'Autry, was civil lieutenant of Paris at the time of...
and was given the title "Historiographer to the King of France". In 1649, on the death of Vincent Voiture
Vincent Voiture
Vincent Voiture , French poet, was the son of a rich merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him to Brussels and Lorraine on diplomatic missions.Although a follower of Gaston, he won the favour of Cardinal...
, was admitted to the Académie Française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
. His Abrégé chronologique (3 vols., 1667–1668) went through fifteen editions between 1668 and 1717; and he used it to attack the financiers, with the result that his salary as historiographer was diminished by Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert was a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister. He achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing...
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Mézeray succeeded Valentin Conrart
Valentin Conrart
Valentin Conrart was a French author, and as a founder of the Académie française, the first occupant of seat 2.-Biography:He was born in Paris of Calvinist parents, and was educated for business. However, after his father's death in 1620, he began to move in literary circles, and soon acquired a...
as permanent secretary to the Académie Française (1675), and died at Paris. He translated Grotius
Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius , also known as Huig de Groot, Hugo Grocio or Hugo de Groot, was a jurist in the Dutch Republic. With Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili he laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law...
's Traité de la religion chretienne (1640), and a Histoire des Turcs depuis 1612 jusqu'en 1649 (1650), which is an addition to a continuation of Demetrius Chalcondyles
Demetrius Chalcondyles
Demetrios Chalkokondyles, latinized as Demetrius Chalcocondyles and found variously as Demetricocondyles, Chalcocondylas or Chalcondyles , was a Greek humanist, scholar and Professor who taught the Greek language in Italy for over forty years; at Padua, Perugia, Milan and Florence...
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