Simon de La Loubère

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Simon de La Loubère (also: Laloubère ) (born April 21, 1643 in Toulouse , † March 26, 1729 in Montesquieu-Volvestre ) was a French diplomat, ethnographer, mathematician, writer and member of the Académie française .

life and work

Diplomat in Siam

Simon de La Loubère's father came from a castle near Montesquieu-Volvestre (towards Rieux-Volvestre), 50 km south of Toulouse. La Loubère was the nephew of the learned Jesuit Antoine de Lalouvère (1600–1664, with a different spelling of the same name). His mother belonged to the family of Cardinal Jean de Bertrand (1482–1560). He attended the Jesuit college in Toulouse. In 1673 he accompanied the ambassador Melchior de Harod de Senevas, marquis de Saint-Romain to Switzerland. The minister Louis Phélipeaux de Pontchartrain (1643-1727) entrusted him with the education of his son Jérôme Phélipeaux de Pontchartrain (1674-1747). In 1687 he sent him together with Alexandre de Chaumont and Guy Tachard as ambassador extraordinary to Siam . The outward journey lasted from March to September 1687, the return journey began on January 3, 1688. La Loubère recorded the experiences of his three-month stay in 1691 in an ethnological book that was translated into English and German and has recently attracted the attention of researchers . In another (secret) mission he was active in Spain.

Honors in Paris and return to Toulouse

In 1693 he was elected to the Académie française (seat no. 16), in 1694 to the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres . As a participant in the poetry competition of the flower games ( Jeux Floraux ) of Toulouse, he reached the elevation of the Compagnie des Jeux floraux in 1694 to the rank of Académie des Jeux floraux , for which he himself wrote the statutes and whose history he researched. He went (homesick) to Toulouse (and Montesquieu-Volvestre) back, married Etiennette de Bertrand de Molleville (1668–1727) there in 1701 and acquired extensive estates in Saverdun , Carla-Bayle and the surrounding area from the king . At the same time he bought up land in Montesquieu-Volvestre, so that he finally owned 231 hectares there. In 1715 he published a mathematical work that was based on a suggestion from Leibniz , whom he had once met. He died childless in 1729 at the age of 85 (two years after his wife) and was buried in the Saint-Victor church of Montesquieu-Volvestre. There the avenue Simon de Laloubère commemorates him. The poetry, praised by his contemporaries, cannot be proven in print.

Works

  • Description du Royaume de Siam . Paris 1691. Amsterdam 1713.
    • (English) A new historical relation of the Kingdom of Siam. London 1693.
    • (English) The Kingdom of Siam . OUP, Oxford 1969, 1986.
    • (German) Description of the Kingdom of Siam . Grattenauer, Nuremberg 1800. Fines Mundi, Saarbrücken 2013.
  • Traité de l'origine des jeux floraux de Toulouse (1–112). Lettres patentes du Roy, portant le rétablissement des jeux floraux en une Académie de Belles Lettres (113–132). Brevet du Roy, qui porte confirmation des chancelier, mainteneurs & maîtres des jeux floraux, & nomination de nouveaux mainteneurs (133–138). Statuts pour les jeux floraux (139–208). Lecamus, Toulouse 1715.
  • (posthumously) De la résolution des equations et de l'extraction de leurs racines . Paris 1732.

Literature (chronological)

  • Claude Sallier : Discours de réception in the Académie française on June 30, 1729 . [1] (with praise of the Siam Book)
  • Jean-Baptiste de Mirabaud  : Réponse au discours de réception de l'abbé Claude Sallier . June 30, 1729 [2] (with praise of the Siam Book)
  • Histoire de l'Académie royale des inscriptions et belles-lettres . Vol. 3. Paris 1740, pp. 84-99.
  • Biography toulousaine . Vol. 1. Paris 1823, pp. 364-367.
  • Jules de Lahondès (1830-1914): "Simon de Laloubère, ambassadeur du roi, régénérateur des jeux floraux, 1642-1729". In: Revue des Pyrénées 7, 1895, pp. 233–263.
  • Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h (* 1943): Étude historique et critique du livre de Simon de La Loubère "Du royaume de Siam", Paris 1691 . Editions Recherche sur les Civilizations, Paris 1987.
  • Jean L. Laffont: Le notaire, le paysan, et la terre dans la France méridionale à l'époque moderne . Presses Universitaires du Mirail, Toulouse 1999, p. 107.
  • Michael Smithies: Mission Made Impossible. The second French embassy to Siam 1687 . Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2002, ISBN 974-7551-61-6 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME La Loubère, Simon de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Laloubère, Simon de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French diplomat, ethnographer, mathematician, man of letters and member of the Académie française
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1643
PLACE OF BIRTH Toulouse
DATE OF DEATH March 26, 1729
Place of death Montesquieu-Volvestre