Louis Moréri (25 March 1643 – 10 July 1680) was a French

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

and

encyclopedist An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...

. Moreri was the author of '' Le Grand Dictionaire historique, ou le mélange curieux de l'histoire sacrée et profane'' (literally, ''The Great Historical Dictionary or Curious Anthology of Sacred and Secular History''). At least 24 editions of the encyclopedia were published between 1674 and 1759 and the encyclopedia was translated into a number of languages, including English, German, Dutch and Spanish.

Life

Moréri was born in 1643 in Bargemon, a village in the ancient

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

. His great-grandfather, Joseph Chatranet, a native of

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

, had settled in

under King

Charles IX of France Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) was List of French monarchs, King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II of France, Francis II in 1560, an ...

and taken the name of the village of Moréri, which he acquired through marriage. Louis Moréri studied humanities in

Draguignan Draguignan (; ) is a commune in the Var department in the administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (formerly Provence), southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department and self-proclaimed "capital of Artillery" an ...

and later

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the

Jesuit 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 ...

College of

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

. He then studied theology, obtaining his doctoral degree, and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

a priest in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. During his stay in Lyon, he published several works, among them ''La pratique de la perfection chrétienne et religieuse'' (1667), a translation of the work of the Spanish Jesuit

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, Alonso Rodriguez. It was probably in Lyon that he met Samuel Chappuzeau, who claimed to have first given him the idea of writing his encyclopedia. In 1675, shortly after publishing the first edition of his encyclopedia, Moréri accompanied his bishop to Paris, where he became acquainted with Simon Arnauld, Marquis de Pomponne, then the minister of foreign affairs. Three years later, he was hired to be a tutor for Pomponne's children. During this time, he worked on a second edition of his encyclopedia. In 1680, midway through the printing of the second edition, he died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

Legacy

Moréri's encyclopedia, '' Le Grand Dictionaire historique, ou le mélange curieux de l'histoire sacrée et profane'' (literally, ''The Great Historical Dictionary, or Curious Anthology of Sacred and Secular History'', although it was translated differently into English at the time) was first published in

in 1674. The encyclopedia focused almost exclusively on historical and biographical articles. Moréri dedicated it to Gaillard de Longjumeau, the Bishop of Apt, to whom he had been appointed

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

. Moréri's one-volume edition of 1674 and posthumous two-volume edition of 1681 were revised and expanded by others after his death. At least twenty-four editions were published between 1674 (one volume) and 1759 (ten volumes). The encyclopedia was also translated and adapted into English, German, Dutch and Spanish.Miller, "Louis Moréri's ''Grand Dictionnaire historique''," 48-50. Moréri's ''Grand Dictionaire historique'' gave rise to a more famous encyclopedia,

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. He is best known for his '' Historical and Critical Dictionary'', whose publication began in 1697. Many of the more controversial ideas ...

's ''The Historical and Critical Dictionary'' (1697). Bayle conceived his work as correcting and making up for deficiencies of Moréri's work.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moreri, Louis 1643 births 1680 deaths 17th-century French Roman Catholic priests 17th-century deaths from tuberculosis 17th-century French translators 17th-century French educators French encyclopedists Catholic clergy scientists People from Provence French male non-fiction writers Tuberculosis deaths in France

Life

Legacy

References

See also

References

External links