Charles-Irénée Castel, abbé de Saint-Pierre (18 February 1658 – 29 April 1743) was a French author whose ideas were novel for his times. His proposal of an

international organisation An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...

to maintain peace was perhaps the first in history, with the possible exceptions of

George of Poděbrady George of Kunštát and Poděbrady (23 April 1420 – 22 March 1471), also known as Poděbrad or Podiebrad ( cs, Jiří z Poděbrad; german: Georg von Podiebrad), was the sixteenth King of Bohemia, who ruled in 1458–1471. He was a leader of the ...

's '' Tractatus'' (1462–1464) and

Émeric Crucé Émeric Crucé (1590–1648) was a French political writer, known for the ''Nouveau Cynée'' (1623), a pioneer work on international relations. He advocated for an international pacific body of representatives of many countries. Life Little spec ...

. He influenced

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

and

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemolo ...

Biography

Saint-Pierre was born at the château of

Saint-Pierre-Église Saint-Pierre-Église () is a Communes of France, commune in the Manche Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in north-western France. A market takes place in Saint-Pierre-Église every Wednesday. Inter ...

near

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

, where his father, the Marquis de Saint-Pierre, was ''grand

bailli A bailiff (french: bailli, ) was the king's administrative representative during the ''ancien régime'' in northern France, where the bailiff was responsible for the application of justice and control of the administration and local finances in h ...

'' of

Cotentin The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...

. He was educated by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. The youngest of five children and unsuited to a military career owing to poor health, he became a priest. He was introduced by family connections into the

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

s of

Madame de la Fayette Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette ( baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and on ...

and the Marquise de Lambert in Paris. He was elected to the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

in 1695, although he had previously produced no notable work; his election was an episode in the

Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns The quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns (french: link=no, querelle des Anciens et des Modernes) began overtly as a literary and artistic debate that heated up in the early 17th century and shook the ''Académie Française''. Origins of the ...

, Saint-Pierre being a clear representative of the latter. The same year he gained a footing at court as

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

Madame Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

, the king's sister-in-law. From 1703 to his death, he was abbot of Tiron. Contrary to a widely believed opinion, it is not while working as a negotiator of the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne o ...

(1712–13) that he developed his project of universal peace. Saint-Pierre worked on the idea from 1708 and published early versions from 1712. In 1718, he published ''Discours sur la polysynodie'', where he proposed that appointed ministers be replaced by elected councils. As a consequence of his criticism of the policy of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

(died 1715) he was expelled from the Académie later the same year. In 1723, with

Pierre-Joseph Alary Pierre-Joseph Alary (19 March 1689, Paris – 15 December 1770) was a French ecclesiastic and writer. Biography Prior of Gournay-sur-Marne and sous-précepteur to Louis XV, he attended the salon of Madame de Lambert, was elected to the Acad� ...

he founded the

Club de l'Entresol The Club de l'Entresol (, "Mezzanine Club") was a discussion group and early think tank in Paris, active from 1723 to 1731, created and primarily led by Abbot Pierre-Joseph Alary. Name and background The club's name came from the fact that a ...

, an early modern

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

in Paris; the club was closed for political reasons in 1731. He died in Paris on 29 April 1743 aged 85.

Ideas

Saint-Pierre's works are centered on an acute and visionary criticism of

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and social institutions. He had a great influence on

, who left elaborate examinations of some of them, and was a forerunner of

's 1795 essay on

perpetual peace ''Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch'' (german: Zum ewigen Frieden. Ein philosophischer Entwurf) is a 1795 book authored by German philosopher Immanuel Kant. In the book, Kant advances ideas that have subsequently been associated with demo ...

. He can be seen as an early proponent of the ideas of the Enlightenment. His which was destined to exercise considerable influence on the development of the various schemes for securing universal peace which culminated in the

Holy Alliance The Holy Alliance (german: Heilige Allianz; russian: Священный союз, ''Svyashchennyy soyuz''; also called the Grand Alliance) was a coalition linking the monarchist great powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. It was created after ...

, was published in 1713 in Utrecht, where he was acting as secretary to the French plenipotentiary, the Abbé de Polignac, and his contained severe strictures on the government of Louis XIV, with projects for the administration of France by a system of councils for each department of government. His works include a number of memorials and projects for stopping duelling, equalizing taxation, treating

mendicancy A mendicant (from la, mendicans, "begging") is one who practices mendicancy, relying chiefly or exclusively on alms to survive. In principle, mendicant religious orders own little property, either individually or collectively, and in many inst ...

, reforming education and spelling, etc. It was not, however, for his suggestions for the reform of the constitution that he was disgraced, but because in the he had refused to Louis XIV the title of . Saint-Pierre was one of the first to mention the possibility of a European union made by independent and autonomous states. His work on a European community directly inspired the idea of an international order based on the principle of collective self-defense, and was important to the creation of the

Concert of Europe The Concert of Europe was a general consensus among the Great Powers of 19th-century Europe to maintain the European balance of power, political boundaries, and spheres of influence. Never a perfect unity and subject to disputes and jockeying f ...

, and later the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

, whose successor is the

United Nations Organisation The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizin ...

. Friederich the Great of Prussia wrote to Voltair on the 'Projet pour rendre la paix perpétuelle en Europe': "The Abbe de Saint-Pierre has sent me a fine work on how to re-establish peace in Europe. The thing is very practicable. All it lacks to be successful, is the consent of all Europe and a few other such small details." Ideas contributed by Saint-Pierre include: * an equitable tax system, including a graduated income tax, * free public education, for women as well as men, * state improvement of transportation to further commerce, * an

international court International courts are formed by treaties between nations or under the authority of an international organization such as the United Nations and include ''ad hoc'' tribunals and permanent institutions but exclude any courts arising purely under n ...

and league of states (''Projet de paix perpétuelle'' 1713), * a

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

, aided by a system of councils and an academy of experts (''Discours sur la polysynodie'' 1718).

Works

Printed books

*
Ouvrages de morale et de politique
'. Rotterdam: J.-D. Beman ; Paris: Briasson, 1733–1740 *
Projet pour rendre la paix perpétuelle en Europe
'. Utrecht: A. Schouten, 1713 *
A lasting peace through the federation of Europe; and, The state of war English translation
' *
Discours sur la polysynodie
'. Amsterdam: Du Villard & Changuion, 1719 * ''Projet pour perfectionner l'éducation''. Paris: Briasson, 1728 * ''Abrégé du projet de paix perpétuelle''. Rotterdam: J.-D. Bernan, 1729. ** ''An Abridged Version of the Project for Perpetual Peace'', ed. Roderick Pace, trans. Carmen Depasquale. Valletta: Midsea Books, 2009. *
De la douceur
'. Amsterdam: Briasson, 1740 * André Robinet (ed.), ''Correspondance G. W. Leibniz, Ch. I. Castel de Saint-Pierre'', Paris: Centre de philosophie du droit, 1995.

Correspondence

Saint-Pierre exchanged letters with a number of luminaries of his time, including

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

. His letters often ended with the formula "Paradise to those who do good"."Le paradis aux bienfaisants!"

References

External links

Saint-Pierre’s biography at the Académie française
– Includes a portrait. * Franco Spoltore
Abbé de Saint-Pierre
In ''The Federalist''. Year XXXVI (1994) Number 3 - Page 221. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Pierre, Charles-Irenee Castel de 1658 births 1743 deaths Expelled members of the Académie Française French nobility French political philosophers People from Manche