Jean-Louis Giraud-Soulavie
Abbé Jean-Louis Giraud-Soulavie , also Giraud Soulavie , (born July 8, 1751 in Largentière , † March 11, 1813 in Paris ) was a French diplomat, historian, geographer and geologist.
Life
Giraud-Soulavie came from a rural bourgeois family from Antraigues . He attended the Collège Saint-Nicolas in Avignon and the seminary from 1771 until he was ordained in 1776 . Then he was vicar in Antraigues. He was interested in natural history and published his unfinished main work between 1780 and 1784, a natural history of southern France in 8 volumes. It is based primarily on his own observations in the Ardèche department (then Vivarais ) and made him a pioneer in geology and physical geography. It contains basic ideas such as the dating using key fossils and thus stratigraphy , current ideas (such as the erosion of river valleys) and continuous stratification as a picture of the earth's history and vegetation levels . Since this ran counter to the ideas of the Bible, he was exposed to violent attacks in the 1780s by the Abbé Barruel . But he had the backing of the Archbishop of Narbonne , who also tolerated his stay in Parisian salons, enabled a spa stay in Normandy in 1787 (necessary not least because of the intensity of the conflict with Barruel) and promoted his further career. In 1788 he became vicar general of Châlons-sur-Marne (without going there). From the mid-1780s he lost his interest in natural history and turned to contemporary history. Even before that he was an avid manuscript and stamp collector. In the years 1789 to 1792 he continued to publish and then again from 1799, mainly memoirs from the 18th century, partly authentic, partly as was customary at the time with his own additions, i.e. from today's perspective falsifications (for example in the memoirs of Marshal von Richelieu and von Maurepas ). In 1789, he joined the ideas of the French Revolution , gave up his priesthood and married three years later. He also published political articles in magazines. He entered the diplomatic service in 1793 and was French ambassador in Geneva from June 1793 to September 1794 . There he supported the local revolutionaries who were demanding the connection to France, which led to a diplomatic scandal (the Geneva ambassador complained in Paris). After Robespierre was deposed , he was imprisoned for a year as his supporter. Then he tried again for employment in the diplomatic service, which was not successful. He left behind a considerable fortune, the origin of which is unclear, and finally reconciled himself with the Church (and with Abbé Barruel) and publicly regretted what he now saw as "errors" against the Catholic Church in his books.
Giraud-Soulavie was one of the few people in France who recognized the cause of the significant cooling of 1783 (see winter 1783/84 ) in the fissure eruption of the Laki on Iceland .
In Richelieu's memoirs , he also included his reflections on the identity of the man with the iron mask . German published in Thalia of 1790. He was a supporter of the hypothesis that it would have been the twin brother of Louis XIV .
Because of his natural history work, he became a member of the Académie royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris, the Russian Academy of Sciences and that of Hesse-Kassel.
Fonts
Works on natural history:
- Histoire naturelle de la France méridionale . 7 volumes. JF Quillau, Mérigot l'aîné, Belin 1780–1784.
- Chronology physique des éruptions des volcans éteints de la France méridionale: depuis celles qui avoisinent la formation de la terre, jusques à celles qui sont décrites dans l'histoire . Quillau, 1781.
- Recent observations about the volcanoes in Italy and on the Rhine in letters from Sir Wilhelm Hamilton ... along with strange remarks by Abbot Giraud Soulavie . Frankfurt / Leipzig 1789.
Historical works:
- (Edited with Jean-Benjamin de Laborde): Correspondance du cardinal de Tencin, ministre d'État, et de Madame de Tencin sa sœur, avec le duc de Richelieu, sur les intrigues de la Cour de France depuis 1742 jusqu'en 1757, et surtout pendant la faveur des dames de Mailly, de Vintimille, de Lauraguais, de Châteauroux et de Pompadour . Paris 1790.
- Histoire de la convocation et des élections aux États-Généraux en 1789, pour servir de préliminaire à l'histoire de la révolution . Lavillette, Paris 1790; New edition 1791.
- Mémoires historiques et politiques du règne de Louis XVI depuis son mariage jusqu'à sa mort . 6 volumes. Treuttel et Würtz, 1801.
- Mémoires historiques et anecdotes de la cour de France pendant la faveur de la marquise de Pompadour . Arthus-Bertrand, 1802.
- Histoire de la décadence de la monarchie française […]. 1803, 3 volumes plus atlas volume
- La Chronique scandaleuse de Philippe duc d'Orléans . Léopold Collin, Paris 1809.
literature
- L. Aufrère: Soulavie et son secret. Un conflit entre l'actualisme et le creationnisme . Le temps géomorphologique, Paris 1952.
- Michel Chevalier: L'abbé Soulavie, précurseur ardéchois de la geographie modern (1752-1813) . In: Revue du Vivarais , Volume 90, No. 2, 1986, pp. 81-100.
- Albin Mazon: Histoire de Soulavie (naturaliste, diplomate, historien) . 2 volumes. Paris 1893, additional volume 1901 (Appendice à l'histoire de Soulavie)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Giraud-Soulavie, Jean-Louis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French diplomat, historian and geologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 8, 1751 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Largentière |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 11, 1813 |
| Place of death | Paris |