Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis, seigneur de Saint-Évremond (1 April 16139 September 1703) was a French soldier, hedonist, essayist and literary critic. After 1661, he lived in exile, mainly in England, as a consequence of his attack on French policy at the time of the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659). He is buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. He wrote for his friends and did not intend his work to be published, although a few of his pieces were leaked in his lifetime. The first full collection of his works was published in London in 1705, after his death.

Life

He was born at Saint-Denis-le-Guast, near Coutances, the seat of his family in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

. He was a pupil of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

at the College de Clermont (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand), Paris; then a student at

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

. For a time he studied law in Paris at the College d'Harcourt (now Lycée Saint-Louis). He soon, however, took to arms, and in 1629 went with Marshal Bassompierre to Italy. He served through a great part of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, distinguishing himself at the siege of Landrecies (1637), when he was made captain. During his campaigns he studied the works of Montaigne and the Spanish and Italian languages. In 1639 he met Gassendi in Paris, and became one of his disciples. He was present at the battles of

Rocroi Rocroi () is a Communes of France, commune in the Ardennes (département), Ardennes Departments of France, department in northern France. The central area is a notable surviving example of a bastion fort. Population History Rocroi was forti ...

, Nördlingen, and at Lerida. For a time he was personally attached to Condé, but offended him by a satirical remark and was deprived of his command in the prince's guards in 1648. During the Fronde, Saint-Évremond was a steady royalist. The Duke of Candale, of whom Saint-Évremond has left a very severe portrait, gave him a command in Guienne after he had reached the grade of ''maréchal de camp'', and he is said to have pocketed 50,000 livres in less than three years from this office. He was one of the numerous victims involved in the fall of Fouquet in 1661. His letter to Marshal Créquy on the Treaty of the Pyrenees, which is said to have been discovered by Colbert's agents at the seizure of Fouquet's papers, seems a very inadequate cause for his disgrace. Saint-Évremond fled to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and to

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, where he was kindly received by Charles II and was pensioned. After James II's flight to France, Saint-Évremond was invited to return, but he declined. Hortense Mancini, the most attractive of Cardinal Mazarin's group of attractive nieces, came to England in 1670, and set up a

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

for flirtation, gambling, and witty conversation, and here Saint-Évremond was for many years at home. He died aged ninety on 9 September 1703 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where his monument is in Poets' Corner, close to that of

Prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

Literary work

Saint-Évremond never authorised the printing of any of his works during his lifetime, though Barbin in 1668 published an unauthorised collection but he empowered Pierre des Maizeaux to publish his works after his death, and they were published in London (2 volumes, 1705), and often reprinted. His masterpiece in irony is the so-called ''Conversation du maréchal d'Hocquincourt avec le père Canaye'' (the latter a Jesuit and Saint-Évremond's master at school), which has been frequently classed with the '' Lettres provinciales''. His ''Œuvres meslées'', edited from the manuscripts by Silvestre and Maizeaux, were printed by Jacob Tonson (London, 1705, 2 volumes; 2nd edition, 3 volumes, 1709), with a notice by Maizeaux. His correspondence with Ninon de l'Enclos, whose fast friend he was, was published in 1752; ''La Comédie des académistes'', written in 1643, was printed in 1650. Modern editions of his works are by Hippeau (Paris, 1852), C. Giraud (Paris, 1865), and a selection (1881) with a notice by M. de Lescure. Among his plays is one called ''Politick Would-be'', modelled on a character from

Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

's '' Volpone''.

Partial bibliography

* ''Œuvres mêlées'' (1643–1692), * ''Les Académistes'' (1650) * ''Retraite de M. le duc de Longueville en Normandie'' * ''Lettre au marquis de Créqui sur la paix des Pyrénées'' (1659) * ''Conversation du maréchal d’Hocquincourt avec le Père Canaye'' * ''Réflexions sur les divers génies du peuple romain'' (1663) * ''Seconde partie des œuvres meslées'' (1668), * ''Sur nos comédies'' * ''De quelques livres espagnols, italiens et français'' * ''Réflexions sur la tragédie ancienne et moderne'' * ''Défense de quelques pièces de Corneille'' * ''Parallèle de M. le Prince et de M. de Turenne'' * ''Discours sur Épicure'' * ''Pensées sur l’honnêteté'' * ''Considérations sur Hannibal'' * ' * ''L’idée de la femme qui ne se trouve point'' * ' * ''Dissertation sur la tragédie d’Alexandre'' * ''Fragment d’une lettre écrite de La Haye'' * ''De la seconde guerre punique'' * ''De l’éloquence, tirée de Pétrone'' * ''La matrone d’Éphèse''

Publications

* ''Les Opéra'', Éd. Robert Finch et Eugène Joliat, Genève, Droz, 1979. * ''Œuvres en prose'', Éd. René Ternois, Paris, Didier, 1962. * ''La Comédie des académistes'', Éd. Louis d'Espinay Ételan, Paolo Carile et al., Paris, Nizet, 1976. * ''Entretiens sur toutes choses'', Éd. David Bensoussan, Paris, Desjonquères, 1998. * ''Écrits philosophiques'', Éd. Jean-Pierre Jackson, Paris, Alive, 1996. * ''Réflexions sur les divers génies du peuple romain dans les divers temps de la république'', Napoli, Jovene, 1982. * ''Conversations et autres écrits philosophiques'', Paris, Aveline, 1926. * ''Lettres'', Éd. intro. René Ternois, Paris, Didier, 1967. * ''Maximes et œuvres diverses'', Paris, Éditions du Monde Moderne, 1900–1965. * ''Pensées d’Épicure précédées d'un Essai sur la morale d’Épicure'', Paris, Payot 1900.

References

* http://frenchphilosophes.weebly.com/saint-evremond.html
''Discours sur Épicure''
Paris: Claude Barbin, 1684.
''Œuvres meslées de M. D. *** de S. Évremont''
Paris: Claude Barbin, 1693.
''Œuvres meslées'' Tome I
Paris: Claude Barbin, 1670.
''Œuvres meslées'' Tome II
Paris: Claude Barbin, 1671.
''Œuvres meslées'' Tome III
''missing''.
''Œuvres meslées'' Tome IV
Paris: Claude Barbin, 1681.
''Œuvres meslées'' Tome V
Paris, Claude Barbin, 1678.
''Œuvres meslées'' Tome VI
Paris: Claude Barbin,

683 __NOTOC__ Year 683 (Roman numerals, DCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 683 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevale ...

''Œuvres meslées'' Tome VII
Paris: Claude Barbin, 1684.
''Œuvres meslées'' Tome VIII
Paris: Claude Barbin, 1684.
''Œuvres meslées'' Tome IX
Paris: Claude Barbin, 1684.
''Œuvres meslées'' Tome X
Paris: Claude Barbin, 1684.
''Œuvres meslées'' Tome XI
Paris: Claude Barbin, 1684.
''Les Académiciens : comédie''
Paris: Charavay frères, 1879.

Print

* Antoine Adam, ''Les libertins au XVII^e'', Paris, Buchet/Chastel 1964 * Patrick Andrivet, ''Saint-Évremond et l'histoire romaine'', Orléans, Paradigme, 1998 * H.T. Barnwell, ''Les idées morales et critiques de Saint-Évremond : essai d'analyse explicative'', Paris, PUF, 1957 * Patrice Bouysse, ''Essai sur la jeunesse d'un moraliste : Saint-Évremond (1614–1661)'', Seattle, Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature, 1987 * Gustave Cohen, ''Le séjour de Saint-Évremond en Hollande'', Paris, Champion, 1926 * Walter Daniels, ''Melville Saint-Évremond en Angleterre'', Versailles, L. Luce, 1907 * Soûad Guellouz, ''Entre baroque et lumières : Saint-Évremond (1614–1703) : colloque de Cerisy-la-Salle (25–27 septembre 1998)'', Caen : Presses universitaires de Caen, 2000 * Suzanne Guellouz, ''Saint-Évremond au miroir du temps : actes du colloque du tricentenaire de sa mort, Caen – Saint-Lô (9-11 octobre 2003)'', Tübingen, Narr, 2005 * Célestin Hippeau, ''Les écrivains normands au XVII^e : Du Perron, Malherbe, Bois-Robert, Sarasin, P. Du Bosc, Saint-Évremond'', Genève, Slatkine Reprints, 1970 * Mario Paul Lafargue, ''Saint-Évremond ; ou, Le Pétrone du XVII^e'', Paris, Société d'éditions extérieures et coloniales, 1945 * Gustave Merlet ''Saint-Évremond : étude historique morale et littéraire; suivie de fragments en vers et en prose'', Paris, A. Sauton, 1870 * Luigi de Nardis, ''Il cortegiano e l’eroe, studio su Saint-Évremond'', Firenze, La Nuova Italia Editrice, 1964 * Léon Petit, ''La Fontaine et Évremond : ou, La tentation de l'Angleterre'', Toulouse, Privat, 1953 * Jacques Prévot, ''Libertins du XVII^e'', v. 2, Paris, Gallimard, 1998–2004 * Gottlob Reinhardt, ''Saint-Évremonds Urteile und Gedanken üer die alten Griechen und Römer'', Saalfeld am Saale, 1900 * Leonard Rosmarin, ''Saint-Évremond : artiste de l'euphorie'', Birmingham, Summa Publications, 1987 * Albert-Marie Schmidt, ''Saint-Évremond ; ou, L'humaniste impur'', Paris, Éditions du Cavalier, 1932 * K. Spalatin, ''Saint-Évremond'', Zagreb, Thèse de doctorat de l’Université de Zagreb, 1934 * Claude Taittinger, ''Saint-Évremond, ou, Le bon usage des plaisirs'', Paris, Perrin, 1990 {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Evremond, Charles De 1613 births 1703 deaths People from the Province of Normandy Writers from Normandy Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni Lycée Saint-Louis alumni French military leaders French literary critics 17th-century French writers 17th-century French male writers 18th-century French male writers Burials at Westminster Abbey French male essayists 18th-century French essayists