Jean-Ignace de La Ville

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Jean-Ignace de La Ville (born September 20, 1702 in Bayonne , † April 15, 1774 in Versailles ) was a French Roman Catholic bishop , diplomat and member of the Académie française .

life and work

Jean-Ignace de La Ville was the son of the notary Jean de La Ville from Sainte-Marie-de-Gosse . He received training from the Jesuits and entered the Society of Jesus. Since then it has been called "abbé La Ville". He became tutor to Gabriel-Jacques de Salignac La Mothe-Fénelon (1688-1746), from 1724 French ambassador to the Netherlands and editor of the collected works of his great-uncle François Fénelon . La Ville left the Society of Jesus by mutual agreement and entered the diplomatic service for the rest of his life. From 1745 to 1749 (initially under Foreign Minister René Louis d'Argenson ) he was (as the successor to La Mothe-Fénelon) ambassador of France to the Netherlands. In 1750 he rose to the position of premier commis au département politique , and in 1774 to directeur général des affaires étrangères .

La Ville went public in 1740 with a considerably expanded and improved new edition of Fénelon's works, which he provided with an introduction of 130 pages. In 1746 he was elected to the Académie française (seat no. 26). From 1755 to 1760 he was involved in documentation for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as a translator from English.

1745–1757 he was Commendatarabb of the Abbey of Saint-Junien in Nouaillé-Maupertuis , then of the Abbey of Lessay . He left the Augustinian Abbey of Saint-Quentin in Beauvais , which was still transferred to him in 1748 , to the responsible bishop of Amiens. In 1771 he was appointed lecturer and secretary to the Dauphin , later Louis XVI. , appointed. In early 1774 he was given the titular bishopric of Tricomia and was ordained bishop on April 10th. He died 5 days later at the age of 71.

The pastelist Jean-Baptiste Gilles, dit Colson (1686–1762) made a portrait of him in 1744, which was exhibited in the Musée Lambinet in Versailles in 2019–2020.

Works (selection)

  • (Ed.) Œuvres spirituelles de feu Monseigneur François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fenelon. 4 vols. Without place 1740.
  • (with Étienne de Silhouette and Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière ) Mémoires des commissaires du Roi et de ceux de Sa Majesté britannique, sur les possessions et les droits respectifs des deux couronnes en Amérique. 4 vols. 1755–1757.
  • (Translator) William Smith: État présent de la Pensilvanie. Brief view of the conduct of Pennsylvania, for the year 1755. Without place 1756. (with introduction by the translator)
  • (Translator) État présent des possessions de Sa Majesté Britannique en Allemagne. Paris 1760. (Dedication signed L'Abbé de L. V *** C. D. L.)

literature

  • Clément Bily: Les hommes et les femmes de l'Ancien Régime, de la Révolution, de l'Empire et de la Restauration vus par leurs contemporains du début du règne de Louis XVI (1774) à la fin de celui de Charles X (1830 ). Muller Éd., Issy-les-Moulineaux 2009.
  • Hugues Du Tems: Le clergé de France, ou tableau historique et chronologique des archevêques, évêques, abbés, abbesses et chefs des chapitres principaux du royaume, depuis la fondation des églises jusqu'à nos jours. Vol. 2. Delalain, Paris 1774, p. 445.
  • Anne Mézin: Les consuls de France au siècle des lumières (1715–1792). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1998, pp. 498–499 A 2.
  • Jean-Pierre Samoyault: Les bureaux du secrétariat d'Etat des Affaires étrangères sous Louis XV: administration, personnel. A. Pedone, Paris 1971, pp. 294-295.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME La Ville, Jean-Ignace de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES La Ville, Abbé de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Roman Catholic bishop, diplomat and member of the Académie française
DATE OF BIRTH September 20, 1702
PLACE OF BIRTH Bayonne
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1774
Place of death Paris