Symphorien Champier (1471–1539) was a doctor and writer from
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 ...
. Born in
Saint-Symphorien,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, Champier was a relation of the
Chevalier de Bayard through his wife, Marguerite Terrail.
Life
A doctor of medicine at
Montpellier
Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...
, Champier was the personal physician of
Antoine, Duke of Lorraine
Antoine (4 June 148914 June 1544), known as the Good, was Duke of Lorraine from 1508 until his death in 1544. Raised at the French court, Antoine would campaign in Italy twice: once under Louis XII and the other with Francis I. During the G ...
, whom he followed to
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
with
Louis XII
Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), also known as Louis of Orléans was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples (as Louis III) from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves, he succeeded his second ...
, attending to several battles, and finally settling in Lyon. He worked in Lyon alongside
François Rabelais
François Rabelais ( , ; ; born between 1483 and 1494; died 1553) was a French writer who has been called the first great French prose author. A Renaissance humanism, humanist of the French Renaissance and Greek scholars in the Renaissance, Gr ...
(who wrote satirically of him in ''
Gargantua and Pantagruel
''The Five Books of the Lives and Deeds of Gargantua and Pantagruel'' (), often shortened to ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'' or the (''Five Books''), is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. It tells the advent ...
''), where he established the College of the Doctors of Lyon. There he fulfilled the duties of an alderman and contributed to numerous local foundations, in particular ''L'École des médecins de Lyon'' ("The School of the Doctors of Lyon").
His fame was considerable in Lyon, which in the 16th century was the greatest manufacturer of medical books in France, with editors such as
Sébastien Gryphe. In addition to medicinal science, Champier studied
Greek scholars and
Arab medicine and composed a great number of historical works, including ''Chroniques de Savoie'' in 1516 and ''Vie de Bayard'' in 1525. During his last years in Lyon, he printed several medicine books against Arab medicine, a falsification of Greek science according to his judgment.
He is most famous today for his pro-woman tract ''La nef des dames vertueuses''
he Ship of Virtuous Ladies one of the first 'feminist' tracts written in French. This book, first published in 1503, is composed of four books. Book 4 essentially imports neoplatonism
rom Marsilio Ficinoto France for pro-woman ends.
He was an extreme opponent to
Renaissance occultism, and wrote in 1532 an ''Epistola campegiana de tranmutatione metallorum contra alchimistas''.
Champier added a
codicil to his
last will
A will and testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person (executor) is to manage the property until its final distribut ...
in May 1539, and he is not noticed in any document after this date, so historians believe that he died in the second part of 1539.
See also
*
Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard
Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (c. 1476 – 30 April 1524) was a French knight and military leader at the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, generally known as the Chevalier de Bayard. Throughout the centuries since his ...
*
François Rabelais
François Rabelais ( , ; ; born between 1483 and 1494; died 1553) was a French writer who has been called the first great French prose author. A Renaissance humanism, humanist of the French Renaissance and Greek scholars in the Renaissance, Gr ...
References
* Champier, Symphorien. ''
Dictionnaire Bouillet
''Dictionnaire Bouillet'' () is the informal title of the ''Dictionnaire universel d'histoire et de géographie'' ("Universal Dictionary of History and Geography"), a French reference work in the public domain. The first edition was published i ...
''.
* Copenhaver, Brian. ''Symphorien Champier and the Reception of the Occultist Tradition in Renaissance France.'' The Hague: Mouton, 1979.
* Reeser, Todd, ''The Ship of Virtuous Ladies'' (Toronto, 2018). Translation of three books of the text.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Champier, Symphorien
16th-century French physicians
16th-century French historians
16th-century French male writers
1471 births
1539 deaths