Jacques-Auguste de Thou
Jacques-Auguste de Thou (born October 8, 1553 in Paris , † May 7, 1617 in Paris) was a French historian and statesman.
Live and act
Jacques Auguste de Thou Latinized, Thuanus , was born in Paris, where his father Christopher de Thou first parliamentary speaker was and in the church on the day of his birth Saint-André-des-Arts baptized . He studied in Orléans and Valence the law, was by Henry III. entrusted with several important missions, including negotiations with the Protestant leaders in Guienne in 1576 , and appointed spiritual councilor at the Paris Parliament.
After the death of his two brothers, he gave up his intended entry into the clergy, became master of requets in 1584 , followed by Heinrich III in 1586. to Chartres , led him to form an alliance with Henry of Navarre in 1588 and traveled to Germany and Italy to raise money to continue the fight against the League. He was on friendly terms with Michel de Montaigne .
After Henry III. Assassination he entered the service of Henry IV. In 1594 he became Vice President of Parliament and Grand Master of the Royal Library.
As a tolerant, free-thinking Catholic, he played an essential role in drafting the Edict of Nantes . After Henry IV's assassination (1610), the regent Maria de Medici did not give him the promised position of first President of Parliament, but appointed him one of the three general directors of finance; therefore he soon withdrew from public life. He died May 7, 1617.
His main work is the Historia mei temporis , 1543-1607, which he in 1591, the death of Francis I. ' starting began. The first 18 books were published in 1604. In 1606 a new edition appeared up to the 49th book, in 1614 a third, comprising 80 books, up to 1584. According to his plan, the work should comprise 138 books and last until the death of Henry IV; only when the next edition was organized, he was surprised by death, which is why it did not appear until 1620, worried by his relative Pierre Dupuy (1582–1651) and his friend Nicolas Rigault (1577–1654).
The work appeared in full in the original text and continued by Rigault from Thousands of Materials to the final destination at London in 1733 in 7 volumes. The French translation (16 vols.) Published in Paris in 1734 (printed in London) is based on this edition. The work, written in the splendid Latin style, is extremely important for the history of that time, especially that of France, and for the appreciation of the religious quarrels of the time, since Thou was an eyewitness to many events and sought impartial truth. Nevertheless, he was attacked as hostile to the church and partisan for the Huguenots . To justify him, T. wrote from 1616: Thuani commentarius de vita sua, libri IV "(Orleans 1620, German in Seybold's autobiographies of famous men ). A collection of excellent poetry in Latin appeared under the title: Posteritati; poematum opus notis perpetuis illustratum a J. Melanchthone (Amsterdam. 1678).
His son François Auguste, French. Council of State, b. 1607 in Paris, like his father in talents and knowledge as well as in nobility of character, was beheaded at a very young age, councilor of parliament, master of requets, also grand master of the royal library and later councilor of state, but as an accomplice to the conspiracy of Cinq-Mars on September 12, 1642 in Lyon .
Works (selection)
- Hieracosophiou, sive De Re Accipitraria Libri Tres. Paris, Mamert Patisson, 1584.
- Histoire universelle. 1543-1607.
literature
- Philarète Chasles : Discours sur la vie et les oeuvres de Jacques Auguste de Thou. Firmin Didot père et fils, Paris 1824.
- Heinrich Düntzer : Jacques Auguste de Thous life, writings and historical art compared with that of the ancients. A price font. Leske, Darmstadt 1837.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Edoardo Costadura: The nobleman at the desk: On the self- image of aristocratic writers between renaissance and revolution. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-4845-5046-5 , p. 31
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thou, Jacques-Auguste de |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Thou, Jacques Auguste de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French historian and statesman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 8, 1553 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 7, 1617 |
| Place of death | Paris |