Jean Bertaut

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Jean Bertaut.

Jean Bertaut (* 1552 in Caen ; † June 8, 1611 in Sées ) was a French bishop and writer in the transition from the baroque to the classical period .

life and work

Bertaut was under King Heinrich III. of France educator of Charles de Valois, duc d'Angoulême , then secretary to the king and as such present at his murder in 1589. In 1594, King Henry IV made him Commendatabab of the wealthy Cistercian monastery Aulnay in Aunay-sur-Odon and later chaplain to Queen Maria de 'Medici . In 1606 Heinrich IV., In whose conversion to the Catholic faith he had helped, appointed him Bishop of Sées . At the intercession of the influential Cardinal Jacques-Davy Duperron , Pope Paul V Bishop Bertaut issued the appointment documents in 1607 without the usual tax. On June 1, 1607, Bertaut took possession of the diocese by procurationem (through the Grand Cantor Jean Gautier) and on September 14, assisted in the baptism of the future King Louis XIII. On March 1, 1608, he personally moved into Sees. After King Henry's murder, on June 30, 1610, he and the Abbot of Saint-Corneille in Compiègne buried the body in the burial place of the French kings in the cathedral of Saint-Denis and gave the funeral sermon.

Bertaut died on June 8, 1611 in Sées and was buried in the cathedral choir. While preparing for the funeral of his successor Turgot de Saint Clair in 1727, his coffin was found and opened. The well-preserved corpse of a tall man with a long beard, dressed in episcopal robes, and a wooden bishop's cross at his side was found. In his will he bequeathed his actual bishop's cross to the chapter of Sées, which was supposed to sing the Responsorium Libera me from the liturgy of the dead for the salvation of his soul every year on the day of his death . Bertaut's coffin was closed again and reburied together with that of Mgr Turgot.

Bertaut's poems, which identify him as a student of Pierre de Ronsard and Philippe Desportes , clearly belonged to the 16th century, but they also found favor with the strict judgment of his contemporary François de Malherbe , the pioneer of classical music. The critic Sainte-Beuve praised the following lines (from Élégie ):

Corn read! Pourquoi faut-il que les arbres sauvages / Qui vêtent les coteaux ou bordent les rivages, / Qui n'ont veine ni sang qu'amour puisse allumer, / Observent mieux que nous les lois de bien aimer!

Works (selection)

  • Recueil des oeuvres poétiques. Mamert Patisson, Paris 1601, 1605; Chez Tovssainct dv Bray, Paris 1620, 1633.
    • Les œuvres poétiques de M. Bertaut, Évesque de Sees, Abbé d'Aunay, Premier Aumosnier de la Royne. Edited by Adolphe Chenevière (1855–1917). E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie, Paris 1891; Kraus, Nendeln 1972; Kraus, Millwood 1982.
  • Recueil de quelques vers amoureux , Paris, Mamert Patisson, imprimeur ordinaire du Roy, 1602.
    • Recueil de quelques vers amoureux. Critical ed. by Louis Terreaux (1921-2015). M. Didier, Paris 1970.

literature

Biographies and individual studies

  • Fisquet H [onoré Jean Pierre]: La France pontificale (Gallia Christiana): histoire chronologique et biographique des Archevêques & Évêques de tous les Diocèses de France, depuis l'établissement du Christianisme jusqu'à nos jours, divisée en 18 provinces ecclésiastiques. Repos, Paris 1864–1871.
  • Georges Grente : Jean Bertaut, abbé d'Aunay, premier aumônier de la reine, évêque de Séez (1552-1611). V. Lecoffre, Paris 1903; Slatkine, Geneva 1969.
  • Terence Allott: The love poetry of Jean Bertaut. Diss. Oxford 1968 (1052 pages).
  • Albert Jean Gosse: Le Surprenant Manuscrit de Lyon. Roland Furieux (1607). L'Harmattan, Paris 2014 (author of the manuscript is Jean Bertaut).

Manual information

  • Maurice Allem (Ed.): Anthologie poétique française. XVIe siècle. 2 Vols. Garnier-Flammarion, Paris 1965, Vol. 2, pp. 365-374.
  • Laffont-Bompiani. Le nouveau dictionnaire des auteurs de tous les temps et de tous les pays. Bouquins series, Paris 1994, p. 341.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bertaut, Jean
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French writer in the transition from baroque to classical
DATE OF BIRTH 1552
PLACE OF BIRTH Caen
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 1611
Place of death Sées