Duc de Saint-Simon

Duc de Saint-Simon
Duc de Saint-Simon
    Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon
     Catholic_Encyclopedia Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon
    Born 16 January, 1675; died in Paris, 2 March, 1755. Having quitted the military service in 1702, he lived thereafter at the Court, becoming the friend of the Ducs de Chevreuse and de Beauvilliers, who, with Fenelon, were interested in the education of the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV. At the death of Louis XIV, he was named a member of the council of regency of the young king, Louis XV, and in 1721 was sent as ambassador to Madrid. When the Duke of Bourbon became minister, December, 1723, Saint-Simon went into retirement. It was principally between 1740 and 1746 that he wrote his celebrated "Memoirs". As a history of the reign of Louis XIV they are an extremely precious document. The edition with commentary by Boislisle, and of which twenty-two volumes have already appeared (1911), is an incomparable monument of learning. Saint-Simon aired his hatreds, which were bitter and numerous; he was an adversary of equality, which he described as "leprosy"; he dreamt of a kind of chamber of dukes and peers which would control and paralyze royal despotism, and allow the States-General to assemble every five years to present the humble remonstrances of the people.
    Whatever the historical value of the "Memoirs" may be, they are, by their sparkling wit, one of the most original monuments of French literature; and the "Parallele des trots premiers rois Bourbons", written by Saint-Simon in 1746, the year in which he finished the record of the reign of Louis XIV, is an admirable piece of history. On all religious questions he should be read with great precaution. Very hostile to the Jesuits, and favorable to the Jansenists, he contributed greatly to the creation of legends concerning personages such as Mme de Maintenon and Michel Le Tellier. These legends had a long existence. The reproach, historically false, of having instigated the violent measures of persecutions against the Jansenists, which he hurled against Le Tellier, was all the more strange coming from his pen, since Saint-Simon himself, on the day following the death of Louis XIV, was one of the most rabid in demanding of the regent severe measures against Le Tellier and other Jesuits. Father Bliard has shown how much care is necessary in judging Saint-Simon's assertions regarding the religious questions of his day. The historian Emile Bourgeois, who can not be charged with prejudice in favor of religion, wrote in his turn, in 1905: "History has given up the habit, too hastily acquired, of pinning her faith to the word of Saint-Simon." And Bourgeois proved how inaccurate were the statements of Saint-Simon by showing what use the latter made in his "Memoirs" of documents of the diplomatist Torcy.
    SAINT-SIMON, Memoires, ed. BOISLISLE (22 vols., Paris 1876-1911); SAINT-SIMON, Ecrits inedits, ed. FAUGERE (6 vols. Paris, 1880-3); SAINT-SIMON, Lettres et depeches sur l'ambassade d'Espagne, 1721 1722, ed. DRUMONT (Paris, 1880); BASCHET, Le duc de Saint-Simon, son cabinet et ses manuscrits (Paris, 1874); CHERUEL, Saint-Simon considere comme historien de Louis XIV (Paris, 1865); BOISSIER, Saint-Simon (Paris, 1892); BLIARD, Les memoires de Saint-Simon et le Pere Le Tellier (Paris, 1891); BOURGEOIS, La collaboration de Saint-Simon et de Torcy, etude critique sur les Memoires de Saint-Simon in Revue historique, LXXXVII (1905; PILASTRE, Lexique de la langue de Saint-Simon (Paris, 1905).
    GEORGES GOYAU
    Transcribed by Joseph E. O'Connor

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


Catholic encyclopedia.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Duc de Saint-Simon — Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint Simon Pour les articles homonymes, voir Saint Simon. Le duc de Saint Simon. Portrait par Perrine Viger Duvigne …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Louis De Rouvroy, Duc De Saint-Simon — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Saint Simon. Le duc de Saint Simon. Portrait par Perrine Viger Duvigne …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon — Pour les autres membres de la famille, voir : Maison de Rouvroy de Saint Simon. Pour les articles homonymes, voir Saint Simon. Saint Simon …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Louis de rouvroy, duc de saint-simon — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Saint Simon. Le duc de Saint Simon. Portrait par Perrine Viger Duvigne …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon — Louis Duke of Saint Simon Spouse(s) Marie Gabrielle de Durfort Detail Issue Charlo …   Wikipedia

  • Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon — Claude de Rouvroy de Saint Simon Pour les articles homonymes, voir Saint Simon. Claude de Rouvroy, comte de Rasse puis duc de Saint Simon (16 août 1607 3 mai 1693) fut un favori du roi Louis XIII. Sommaire 1 Biograph …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon — (* 16. Januar 1675 in Versailles; † 2. März 1755 in Paris) war ein französischer Politiker und Schriftsteller …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon — (August 1607 – 3 May 1693), French courtier, was the second son of Louis de Rouvroy, seigneur du Plessis (died 1643), who had been a warm supporter of Henry of Guise and the Catholic League. With his elder brother he entered the service of Louis… …   Wikipedia

  • SAINT-SIMON (L. de) — « Tout m’avoit préparé à me survivre à moi même, et j’avois tâché d’en profiter. » Cette déclaration qui surgit vers la fin des célèbres Mémoires nous autorise à voir l’œuvre de Saint Simon comme une immense opération de survie. Il s’agit d’abord …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Saint-simon — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Simon. Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Famille La famille de Rouvroy de Saint Simon, originaire de Picardie, compte plusieurs membres célèbres : De …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”