Guillaume du Vair (7 March 1556 – 3 August 1621) was a French author and lawyer.
Life
He was born in Paris. After taking holy orders, he exercised only legal functions for most of his career. However, from 1617 till his death he was
Bishop of Lisieux
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
. His reputation is that of a lawyer, a
statesman
A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level.
Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
* ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...
and a man of letters. In 1584, he became counsellor of the ''
parlement
A ''parlement'' (), under the French Ancien Régime, was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the oldest and most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While both the modern Fre ...
'' of Paris, and as deputy for Paris to the Estates of the League he pronounced his most famous politico-legal discourse, an argument nominally for the
Salic law
The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...
, but in reality directed against the alienation of the crown of France to the Spanish
infanta
''Infante'' (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as Infant or translated as Prince, is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to th ...
, which was advocated by the extreme Leaguers. King
Henry IV of France
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...
acknowledged his services by entrusting him with a special commission as magistrate at
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, and made him master of requests.
In 1595, Vair published his treatise ''De l'éloquence française et des raisons pour quoi elle est demeurée si basse'', in which he criticizes the orators of his day, adding examples from the speeches of ancient orators, in translations which reproduce the spirit of the originals. He was sent to England in 1596 with the marshal de Bouillon to negotiate a league against Spain; in 1599 he became first president of the ''parlement'' of
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
(
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
); and in 1603 was appointed to the see of Marseille, which he soon resigned in order to resume the presidency. In 1616 he received the highest promotion open to a French lawyer and became
keeper of the seals
The title keeper of the seals or equivalent is used in several contexts, denoting the person entitled to keep and authorize use of the great seal of a given country. The title may or may not be linked to a particular cabinet or ministerial offi ...
. He died at Tonneins (
Lot-et-Garonne
Lot-et-Garonne (, oc, Òlt e Garona) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the rivers Lot and Garonne, it had a population of 331,271 in 2019.Charles Cotton; ''De la constance et consolation ès calamités publiques'', which was composed during the siege of Paris in 1589, and applied the Stoic doctrine to present misfortunes; and ''La Sainte Philosophie'', in which religion and philosophy are intimately connected.
Pierre Charron
Pierre Charron (; 1541 – 16 November 1603, Paris), French Catholic theologian and major contributor to the new thought of the 17th century. He is remembered for his controversial form of skepticism and his separation of ethics from religion as ...
drew freely on these and other works of Du Vair.
Ferdinand Brunetière
Ferdinand Brunetière (19 July 1849 – 9 December 1906) was a French writer and critic.
Personal and public life
Early years
Brunetière was born in Toulon, Var, Provence. After school at Marseille, he studied in Paris at the Lycée Louis-le-G ...
points out the analogy of Du Vair's position with that afterwards developed by
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer.
He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pa ...
, and sees in him the ancestor of
Jansenism
Jansenism was an early modern theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. It was declared a heresy by t ...
. Du Vair had a great indirect influence on the development of style in French, for in the south of France he made the acquaintance of
François de Malherbe
François de Malherbe (, 1555 – 16 October 1628) was a French poet, critic, and translator.
Life
He was born in Le Locheur (near Caen, Normandie), to a family of standing, although the family's pedigree did not satisfy the heralds in terms of ...
, who conceived a great admiration for Du Vair's writings. The reformer of French poetry learned much from the treatise ''De l'éloquence française'', to which the counsels of his friend were no doubt added.
Du Vair died at
Tonneins
Tonneins (; oc, Tonens) is a town in the Lot-et-Garonne department of south-western France. It stands above the river Garonne, between Marmande to the west and Agen to the east, and is the first major town below the confluence of the Lot and ...
, and his works were published in folio at Paris in 1641.