François Eudes de Mézeray (1610 – 10 July 1683) was a French

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 st ...

. Mézeray was born at Ri near

Argentan Argentan () is a commune and the seat of two cantons and of an arrondissement in the Orne department in northwestern France. Argentan is located NE of Rennes, ENE of the Mont Saint-Michel, SE of Cherbourg, SSE of Caen, SW of Rouen and N ...

, where his father was a surgeon. He had two brothers, one of whom, Jean-Eudes, was the founder of the order of the

Eudists The Congregation of Jesus and Mary (), abbreviated CIM also known as the Eudists (Latin: ''Congregatio Eudistarum''), is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men in the Catholic Church. It was established in March 25, 1643 by Sai ...

. François studied at the

University of Caen The University of Caen Normandy (French: ''Université de Caen Normandie''), also known as Unicaen, is a public university in Caen, France. History The institution was founded in 1432 by John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, the first rector ...

, and completed his education at the College of Ste Barbe at

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. 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 (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and ...

s. Mézeray was appointed to a committee that supervised '' La Gazette''. Mézeray won the favor of Pierre Séguier and was given the title "Historiographer to the King of France". In 1649, on the death of

Vincent Voiture Vincent Voiture (24 February 1597 – 26 May 1648), French poet and writer of prose, was the son of a rich wine merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him ...

, he was admitted to the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

. 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. Mézeray succeeded Valentin Conrart as permanent secretary to the Académie française (1675), and died at Paris. He translated

Grotius Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright. A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delft ...

'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

Laonikos Chalkokondyles Laonikos Chalkokondyles, Latinized as Laonicus Chalcocondyles ( el, Λαόνικος Χαλκοκονδύλης, from λαός "people", νικᾶν "to be victorious", an anagram of Nikolaos which bears the same meaning; c. 1430 – c. 1470; ...

References

* Daniel de Larroque, ''Vie de François-Eudes de Mezeray'' (1720); vol. xiii. of ''Causeries du lundi'' by

Sainte-Beuve Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (; 23 December 1804 – 13 October 1869) was a French literary critic. Early life He was born in Boulogne, educated there, and studied medicine at the Collège Charlemagne in Paris (1824–27). In 1828, he s ...

* Levasseur's ''Notice sur les trois frères: Jean-Eudes, François-Eudes, et Charles-Eudes'' (1855). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mezeray, Francois Eudes de 1610 births 1683 deaths University of Caen Normandy alumni Members of the Académie Française 17th-century French historians French male non-fiction writers People from Argentan