Nicolas de Malézieu (or Malézieux) (or Malesieu) (7 September 1650, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 4 March 1727, in Paris) was a French intellectual, Greek scholar and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

Life and career

Nicolas de Malézieu was a

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. Terminology ''Squire'' ...

and lord of Chatenay. He later became chancellor of

Dombes The Dombes (; ) is an area in eastern France, once an independent municipality, formerly part of the provinces of France, province of Burgundy (region), Burgundy, and now a district comprised in the department of France, department of Ain, and b ...

and secretary-general to the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

and

Grisons The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; *Romansh language, Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...

of France. He was the tutor of

Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine (31 March 1670 – 14 May 1736) was an illegitimate son of Louis XIV and his maîtresse-en-titre, official mistress, Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan, Madame de Montespan. The kin ...

(to whom he introduced Bossuet) and he declaimed the plays of

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

and

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

to the

duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...

who had made her chateau of Sceaux into a literary salon. Here he became a member of the light-hearted fraternity she founded, the (fr) Knights of the Bee, and organised the festivals she loved, the :fr:Grandes Nuits de Sceaux. Later tutor to duc de Bourgogne, he was appointed to the

Académie royale des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific d ...

in 1699 and to the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 1701. Malézieu collected and published the lessons in mathematics that he gave to the duc de Bourgogne over four years in 1705 as ''Élémens de géométrie de Mgr le duc de Bourgogne''. Le '' Journal des savants'' reported in detail the observations he made in this work on geometry and infinitely small numbers. In 1713, this work was translated into Latin as ''Serenissimi Burgundiae Ducis Elementa Geometrica, ex Gallico Semone in Latinum translata ad Usum Seminarii Patavini''. A third (posthumous) edition, with corrections and a supplemental treatise on logarithms, appeared 1729. Nicolas de Malézieu also translated

’ ''

Iphigenia in Tauris ''Iphigenia in Tauris'' (, ''Iphigeneia en Taurois'') is a drama by the playwright Euripides, written between 414 BC and 412 BC. It has much in common with another of Euripides's plays, ''Helen (play), Helen'', as well as the lost play ''Andromed ...

'' as well as poems, songs and sketches, which were published in 1712 in ''Les Divertissements de Sceaux'' and in 1725 in the ''Suite des Divertissements''. Among these pieces are ''Philémon et Baucis'', ''Le Prince de Cathay'', ''Les Importuns de Chatenay'', ''La Grande Nuit de l'éclipse'', ''L'Hôte de Lemnos'', ''La Tarentole'' and ''L'Heautontimorumenos''. Often written in a single day, these pieces were set to music and staged for the amusement of the duchess, to whom Malézieu also gave courses in astronomy. A four-volume work, a ''Histoire des fermes du roi'' (''History of Royal Farms'') survives only a manuscript version dating from 1746. Pierre-Édouard Lémontey said of Malézieu "Knowing a bit about everything, he gathered in his servile person all the advantages of universal mediocrity."

Family

Malézieu was the son of Nicolas de Malézieu (1612-1652) and Marie des Forges (d.1680). His brother Michel Louis de Malézieu married Marie Jérônime Mac Carthy (d.1714) In 1672 Malézieu married Françoise Faudel de Fauveresse (1650-1741) by whom he had the following children: * Nicolas de Malézieu (1674-1748), bishop of Lavaur en 1713. * Pierre de Malézieu (1680-1756), married Louise Marthe Stoppa in 1717 (d.1720), under-secretary to the duc de Maine, secretary-general of the Swiss and Grisons in 1727, brigadier of the infantry, ifnanterie,

maréchal de camp ''Maréchal de camp'' (sometimes incorrectly translated as field marshal) was a general officer rank used by the French Army until 1848. The rank originated from the older rank of sergeant major general ( French: ''sergent-major général'') ...

in 1734, lieutenant general of the artillery and commander of the

Order of Saint-Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis () is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, notable as the fir ...

in 1756. * Charles-François de Malézieu (d.1763), lieutenant-colonel of a brigade of

carabinier A carabinier (also sometimes spelled carabineer or carbineer) is in principle a soldier armed with a carbine, musket, or rifle, which became commonplace by the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. The word is derived from the identical F ...

s, cavalry brigadier in 1745, governor of the harbour and defences of

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

. * Élisabeth de Malézieu (b.1676), married (1699) Antoine des Rioux de Missimy, first president of the parlement and intendant of Dombes * Marie de Malézieu (b.1682), married (1705) Louis de Guiry, seigneur de Noncourt and la Roncière,

mestre de camp Mestre de camp or Maître de camp (; "camp-master") was a military rank in the Ancien Régime of France, equivalent to colonel. A mestre de camp commanded a regiment and was under the authority of a Colonel General, who commanded all the regiments ...

of the cavalry, lieutenant general of

Aunis Aunis () is a historical Provinces of France, province of France, situated in the north-west of the department of Charente-Maritime. Its historic capital is La Rochelle, which took over from Châtelaillon-Plage, Castrum Allionis (Châtelaillon) t ...

and

la Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

External links

''Les Divertissements de Sceaux'', Trévoux, Étienne Ganeau, 1712

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malezieu, Nicolas de 1650 births 1727 deaths Translators to French Translators from Greek French classical scholars French mathematicians Members of the Académie Française Members of the French Academy of Sciences