Philippe de Courcillon de Dangeau

Philippe de Courcillon, Marquis de Dangeau (21 September 1638 – 9 September 1720) was a French officer and author.

Born in Dangeau, he is most remembered for keeping a diary from 1684 until the year of his death. These Memoirs, which, as Saint-Simon said "of an insipidity to make you sick", contain many facts about the reign of Louis XIV.

Brother of Louis de Courcillon de Dangeau, he was born into a Calvinist family but converted very early in his life to Catholicism. He first gained repute for his skill at playing cards, to the extent that “jouer à la Dangeau” became an expression in the language of the time and he attracted the attention of Louis XIV. In 1665, he was named colonel of the king’s regiment, and accompanied him as an aide de camp in all of his campaigns. He became, in 1667, governor of Touraine and undertook several diplomatic missions to Trier, Mainz and Modena.

A patron of men of letters, he became friends with Boileau, who dedicated his Satire on the Nobility (Satire sur la noblesse) to him. La Bruyère depicted him in his Caractères through the traits of “Pamphile”.

He was elected a member of the Académie française in 1668, despite not having published anything, and in 1704 he became an honorary member of the Académie des sciences, of which he became president in 1706.

From 1684 to 1720, he kept a journal on daily life at the court of Versailles. Extracts from it were published by Voltaire in 1770, by Madame de Genlis in 1817 and by Pierre-Édouard Lémontey in 1818. It was whilst writing notes on these memoirs that Saint-Simon undertook to write his own Mémoires. The 19 volumes of the complete edition of Journal de la cour de Louis XIV appeared for the first time between 1854 and 1860.

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