Jean-Aymar Piganiol de la Force (Aurillac, 1673 – Paris, 1753), son of Pierre and of Marguerite Parisot, dame de La Force, was a French

man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

known above all for works of a descriptive geographical character, for which he travelled extensively in France. He held an appointment as

historiographer royal Historiographer Royal is the title of an appointment as official chronicler or historian of a court or monarch. It was initially particularly associated with the French monarchy, where the post existed from at least 1550, but in the later 16th and 1 ...

, resulting in his ''Description de la France''. He spent his youth at his mother's family château de La Force at

Saint-Simon, Cantal Saint-Simon (; Auvergnat: ''Sant Simon'') is a commune in the Cantal department in south-central France. The medieval town of Belliac, located near the present-day Saint-Simon, was the birthplace (in 946) of the prolific scholar Gerbert d'Auri ...

on the little River Jordanne, near

Aurillac Aurillac (; oc, Orlhac ) is the prefecture of the Cantal department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Aurillacois'' or ''Aurillacoises''. Geography Aurillac is at above sea leve ...

, where he studied. Piganiol de la Force for four decades was the tutor to the young pages of the

comte de Toulouse The count of Toulouse ( oc, comte de Tolosa, french: comte de Toulouse) was the ruler of Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ruled the city of Toulouse and its surroundin ...

, and as a young man wrote a set of ''Mémoires des intendants pour l’instruction du duc de Bourgogne'' (1698)

Selected works

* ''Nouvelle description des châteaux et parcs de Versailles et de Marly'' (1702) * ''Nouvelles descriptions historiques et géographiques de la France'', 1715, in 5 volumes, and 1751-1753, in 15 volumes * ''Nouveau voyage en France'', 1724, 2 volumes * ''Description de la ville de Paris et de ses environs'', 1742, 10 volumes.

References

* Dezobry et Bachelet, ''Dictionnaire général de biographie et d’histoire'', Paris, 1889. * ''Larousse du XXe siècle''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Piganiol de la Force, Jean-Aymar French didactic writers French information and reference writers 1753 deaths 1673 births French male non-fiction writers