Charles de Saint-Évremond
| Charles de Saint-Évremond | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Charles de Saint-Évremond by Jacques Parmentier, circa 1701
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| Born |
1 April 1613 Saint-Denis-le-Guast, near Coutances, in Normandy, France |
| Died | 29 September 1703 (aged 90) London, England |
| Occupation | Essayist, critic, soldier |
| Nationality | French |
Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis, seigneur de Saint-Évremond (1 April 1613 – 29 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. 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.
He was born at Saint-Denis-le-Guast, near Coutances, the seat of his family in Normandy. He was a pupil of the Jesuits at the College de Clermont (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand), Paris; then a student at Caen. 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 great part of the Thirty Years' War, 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, 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 he has left a very severe portrait) gave him a command in Guienne, and Saint-Évremond, who had reached the grade of maréchal de camp, is said to have saved 50,000 livres in less than three years. He was one of the numerous victims involved in the fall of Fouquet. His letter to Marshal Créqui on the Peace 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.
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