Jean-Baptiste de La Curne de Sainte-Palaye (June 1697 – 1 March 1781) was a French historian, classicist, philologist and lexicographer.

Biography

From an ancient family, his father Edme had been gentleman of the bedchamber to the Duke of Orléans, brother 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 Ver ...

(a position Jean-Baptiste held for a time under the regent Orléans) and then receiver of the greniers à sel (salt granary tax, or

gabelle The ''gabelle'' () was a very unpopular tax on salt in France that was established during the mid-14th century and lasted, with brief lapses and revisions, until 1946. The term ''gabelle'' is derived from the Italian ''gabella'' (a duty), itself ...

) in Auxerre. La Curne de Sainte-Palaye's health was delicate and so he only began his classical studies aged 15, but he read with such enthusiasm and studied so successfully that his reputation alone (he had not yet published anything) got him elected as a member of the

Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigr ...

in 1724, aged only 27. That same year he took on a study of the medieval

chronicler 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 lo ...

s, which led him to research into the origins of chivalry. He then spent one year (1725) at the court of king Stanislas, in charge of the correspondence between this prince and the French court. After his Polish stay he wrote a

mémoire In French culture, the word ''mémoire'', as in un mémoire ("a memory" – indefinite article), reflects the writer's own experiences and memories. The word has no direct English translation. Up to the 18th century The word appeared in the course ...

on two passages from

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

and Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1727) and numerous other memoirs on

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

history, before moving to work on French history. From then on he almost exclusively devoted himself to the study and recovery of manuscripts relating to the history of France's language and institutions. He began a series of studies on the chroniclers of the Middle Ages for the ''Historiens des Gaules et de la France'' (edited by Martin Bouquet), Raoul Glaber,

Helgaud Helgaud or Helgaldus (d. c. 1048), French historian and biographer, was a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Fleury. Little else is known about him save that he was chaplain to the French king, Robert II the Pious, whose life (''Vita'') he wrote. A ...

, the Gesta of Louis VII, the chronicle of Morigny, Rigord and his

continuator A continuator, in literature, is a writer who creates a new work based on someone else's prior text, such as a novel or novel fragment. The new work may complete the older work (as with the numerous continuations of Jane Austen's unfinished nove ...

, William le Breton, the monk of St. Denis,

Jean de Venette Jean de Venette, or Jean Fillons ( – ) was a French Carmelite friar, from Venette, Oise, who became the Prior of the Carmelite monastery in the Place Maubert, Paris, and was a Provincial Superior of France from 1341 to 1366. He is the au ...

Froissart Jean Froissart ( Old and Middle French: '' Jehan'', – ) (also John Froissart) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meliador'', a long Arthuria ...

and the Jouvencel. He made two journeys into Italy with his brother, the first in 1739–40, accompanied by their compatriot

Charles de Brosses Charles de Brosses (), comte de Tournay, baron de Montfalcon, seigneur de Vezins et de Prevessin (7 February 1709 – 7 May 1777), was a French writer of the 18th century. Life He was president of the parliament of his hometown Dijon from 1741, a ...

, who related many humorous anecdotes about the two brothers, particularly about Jean-Baptiste, whom he called "the bilious Sainte-Palaye!" On returning from this tour he saw one of

Jean de Joinville Jean de Joinville (, c. 1 May 1224 – 24 December 1317) was one of the great chroniclers of medieval France. He is most famous for writing the ''Life of Saint Louis'', a biography of Louis IX of France that chronicled the Seventh Crusade.''V ...

's manuscripts at the house of the senator Fiorentini, well known in the history of the text of this pleasing memorialist. The manuscript was bought for the king in 1741 and is still at the

Bibliothèque nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

. After the second journey (1749) Lacurne published a letter to de Brosses, on ''Le Goût dans les arts'' (1751). In this he showed that he was not only attracted by manuscripts, but that he could see and admire works of art. Whilst there he also reported on 4,000 unpublished or little known sources, taught himself Provençal and formed his vast number of manuscripts into a collection of 23 folio volumes. He was interested in several literary deposits in France. Finally he gathered more than 4,000 summaries of manuscripts and copies of the most precious documents together. His research on the chroniclers and romanciers led him to embark on a vast, three-pronged endeavor – to explain chivalry (adding a history of the

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

s as he went), to compose a dictionary of French antiquities, and to write a full glossary of variants of the French language. In 1758 La Curne de Sainte-Palaye was elected a member of the Académie française (he was also in the academies in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

and Nancy and a corresponding member of the Accademia della Crusca) and in 1759 he published the first edition of his ''Mémoires sur l'ancienne chevalerie, considérée comme un établissement politique et militaire'', for which unfortunately he only used works of fiction and ancient stories as sources, neglecting the heroic poems which would have shown him the nobler aspects of an institution so soon corrupted by "courteous" manners; a second edition appeared at the time of his death (3 vols. 1781, 3rd ed. 1826). He prepared an edition of the works of

Eustache Deschamps Eustache Deschamps (13461406 or 1407) was a French poet, byname Morel, in French "Nightshade". Life and career Deschamps was born in Vertus. He received lessons in versification from Guillaume de Machaut and later studied law at Orleans Univers ...

, which was never published, and also made a collection of more than a hundred volumes of extracts from early authors relating to French antiquities and the French language of the Middle Ages. In 1756, Sainte-Palaye published his ''Projet d’un glossaire françois'', a plan for constructing an historical glossary of Old French from the materials he had been so diligently collecting. Despite the assistance of Antoine Guiroy, Louis-Georges-Oudard Feudrix de Bréquigny, and Georges-Jean Mouchet over many years, his ''Glossaire françoi''s remained unfinished at his death in 1781. A few years later, Mouchet finally began to publish the ''Glossaire françois'', but the French Revolution interrupted before the 1st volume was completely printed. Further decades passed before Léopold Favre at last assembled the manuscripts prepared by Saint-Palaye, Guiroy, Bréquigny, and Mouchet for publication as the ''Dictionnaire historique de l’ancien langage françois'' in 1875. No further editions have appeared. In 1764 a collection of his manuscripts was bought by the government and after his death were placed in the king's library; they are still there (in the fonds Moreau), with the exception of some which were given to the marquess of Paulmy in exchange, and were later placed in the

Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal The Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal (''Library of the Arsenal'', founded 1757) in Paris has been part of the Bibliothèque nationale de France since 1934. History The collections of the library originated with the private library of Marc-René, 3rd ...

. Lacurne de Sainte-Palaye ceased work about 1771; the death of his twin brother was greatly felt by him, he suffered dementia, and died on 1 March 1781.

Critical reception

His life was written for this Académie by

Chamfort Sébastien-Roch Nicolas, known in his adult life as Nicolas Chamfort and as Sébastien Nicolas de Chamfort (; 6 April 1741 – 13 April 1794), was a French writer, best known for his epigrams and aphorisms. He was secretary to Louis XVI's siste ...

and for the Académie des Inscriptions by Dupuy; both works have no value. See, however, the biography of Lacurne, with a list of his published works and those in manuscript, at the beginning of the tenth and last volume of the ''Dictionnaire historique de l'ancien langage françoise, ou glossaire de la langue françoise depuis son origine jusqu'au sieclé de Louis XIV'', published by Louis Favre (1875–1882). See also Lionel Gossman's book, ''Medievalism and the ideologies of the Enlightenment: the world and work of La Curne de Sainte-Palaye'' (Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1968).

Works and collections

His most notable work is the ''Dictionnaire des antiquités françaises'', no less than 40 folio volumes. This work, acquired by M. Moreau, is now in the

, and its dimensions preclude its being published. Some of his other publications include: * ''Letter to M. de Bachaumont on good taste in the arts and letters'' (1751), in-12 ; * an edition of a

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse (poetry), verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphized, and that illustrat ...

, ''les Amours du bon vieux temps'', ''Aucassin et Nicolette'' (Vaucluse

aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...

1756, in-12); * ''Mémoires sur l'ancienne chevalerie, chevalerie considérée comme un établissement politique et militaire''; * a series of Mémoires, inserted into the publication of the

(t. VII, X, XIII, XIV, XV, XVII, XX, XXIV). He also left about a hundred folio volumes of manuscripts, now split between the

and the

, with the latter containing the materials for a ''Glossaire français'', including the self-published ''Projet'' (1756, in-4°) and a description of the execution of Georges-Jean Mouchet: only the first volume of this important ten to twelve volume work was printed during his lifetime, with the final one published in 1875. * ''Letter to M. de Bachaumont on good taste in arts and letters'' (1751), in-12

References

Sources

* *

Gustave Vapereau Louis Gustave Vapereau (4 April 1819 – 18 April 1906) was a French writer and lexicographer famous primarily for his dictionaries, the ''Dictionnaire universel des contemporains'' and the ''Dictionnaire universel des littérateurs''. Biography ...

, ''Dictionnaire universel des littératures'', Paris, Hachette, 1876, p. 1809

External links

Biography on the Académie française site
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Curne De Sainte-Palaye, Jean-Baptiste De 1697 births 1781 deaths People from Auxerre Members of the Académie Française Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres French scholars 18th-century French historians French classical scholars French philologists French lexicographers French medievalists French male non-fiction writers 18th-century French male writers 18th-century lexicographers