Béroalde de Verville
Encyclopedia
François Béroalde de Verville (Paris
, 27 April 1556 – 19-26 October 1626) was a French Renaissance
novelist, poet and intellectual. He was the son of Matthieu Brouard
(or Brouart), called "Béroalde", a professor of Agrippa d'Aubigné
and Pierre de l'Estoile
and a Huguenot
; his mother, Marie Bletz, was the niece of the humanist and Hebrew scholar François Vatable
(called "Watebled"). At the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
, his family fled to Geneva
(1573), but Béroalde returned to Paris in 1581. During the civil wars
, Béroalde abjured Calvinism
and joined the factions around Henri III of France (he may also have served in the army). In 1589 he moved to Tours
(the French parlement
fled here from 1589-1594), and became chanoine (canon) of the cathedral chapter of Saint Gatien, where he remained until his death.
Béroalde had close ties to the intellectual and creative milieus of the late 16th century and early 17th century (including Pierre de L'Estoile
, Roland Brisset, Guy de Tours) and was under the protection of two conseillers du roi (Pierre Brochard and René Crespin). His writings cover topics as varied as history, mathematics, optics
, alchemy
, medicine, painting, sculpture, love, silk... He wrote in both verse and prose, and in all manner of tones (satirical, moral, spiritual, philosophical, political). Béroalde represents a literature of transition from the Valois court (and the generation of "La Pléiade
") to the Bourbon court of Henri IV and the baroque, and (like his contemporary Nicolas de Montreux
) he attempted to compete with the translation of foreign masterpieces by the creation of original works in French.
His first works were contributions to a work on mathematics and mechanics (1578) and to a history of blazon
s (1581). His numerous historical and philosophical works include: Les Recherches de la pierre philosophale on the philosopher's stone
(1583); Dialogue de la vertu (1584); L'idée de la republique (1584); a translation of Justus Lipsius
(1592); De l'ame et de ses excellences (1593), De la sagesse (1593); La Pucelle d'Orleans on Joan of Arc
(1599); a history of silk worms (1600); a history of Herodias
(1600); and a French edition with commentaries of Francesco Colonna
's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
(1600).
His poetry includes: Les Apprehensions spirituelles, poemes et autres oeuvres philosophiques (1583); love poems, Les Soupirs amoureux (1583); a contribution of verses to the translation of La Diane by Jorge de Montemayor
(1592); spiritual poems, La Muse celeste (1593); and a translation of Jeremiah
's Book of Lamentations
, Les Tenebres (1599).
Béroalde published several long fiction works: Les Avantures de Floride, histoire françoise in 4 tomes (1593-1596), Le Cabinet de Minerve (1596), an unfinished novel Le Restablissement de Troye, avec lequel parmy les hazards des armes, se voyent les amours d’Æsionne (1597), Le Voyage des princes fortunes (1610), and Le Palais des curieux (1612). With their elaborate plots, multiple characters and adventurous situations, these adventure novels show the inspiration of the Hispano-Portuguese chivalric adventure novel (like Amadis of Gaul) and of the ancient Greek novel (like the work of Heliodorus of Emesa
or Achilles Tatius
), but they also straddle the line between fiction and philosophical or encyclopedic writing, and frequently veer off into discussions of moral phenomena or in symbolic ekphrasis (inspired by the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili) of cabinets of curiosities, architecture and other elements.
His most famous work is the playful, chaotic, baroque, sometimes obscene and almost unreadable Moyen de parvenir (first published around 1617) -- a parody of books of "table talk", of Rabelais and of Michel de Montaigne
's "The Essays
" -- in which a host of famous individuals debate, discuss and joke (with often coarse humor) about historical and philosophical matters.
Béroalde's corpus is vast and his works show a preoccupation with encyclopedic learning, the organization of knowledge and the difficulties of interpretation.
Largely forgotten since the 17th century, Béroalde was rediscovered in the 19th century and has gained renewed critical appreciation in recent years.
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 27 April 1556 – 19-26 October 1626) was a French Renaissance
French Renaissance
French Renaissance is a recent term used to describe a cultural and artistic movement in France from the late 15th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern Italy in the fourteenth century...
novelist, poet and intellectual. He was the son of Matthieu Brouard
Matthieu Brouard
Matthieu Brouard was a minister and professor of philosophy at Geneva. He is also known as Matthieu Brouart or Béroalde and as Mattheus Beroaldus. He taught Greek to the young Thomas Bodley and was the father of François Béroalde de Verville.-References:...
(or Brouart), called "Béroalde", a professor of Agrippa d'Aubigné
Agrippa d'Aubigné
Théodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné was a French poet, soldier, propagandist and chronicler. His epic poem Les Tragiques is widely regarded as his masterpiece.-Life:...
and Pierre de l'Estoile
Pierre de L'Estoile
-Life:Born in Paris into a middle-class background, Pierre de l'Estoile was tutored by Mathieu Béroalde. He knew Agrippa d'Aubigné. He became a law student at Bourges...
and a Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
; his mother, Marie Bletz, was the niece of the humanist and Hebrew scholar François Vatable
François Vatable
François Vatable was a French humanist scholar, a Hellenist and Hebraist.-Life:Born in Gamaches, Somme, he was for a time rector of Bramet in Valois, in 1530 or 1531. Francis I of France appointed him to the chair of Hebrew in the newly-founded College of the Three Languages, afterwards better...
(called "Watebled"). At the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
, his family fled to Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
(1573), but Béroalde returned to Paris in 1581. During the civil wars
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
, Béroalde abjured Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
and joined the factions around Henri III of France (he may also have served in the army). In 1589 he moved to Tours
Tours
Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...
(the French parlement
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
fled here from 1589-1594), and became chanoine (canon) of the cathedral chapter of Saint Gatien, where he remained until his death.
Works
Pierre de L'Estoile
-Life:Born in Paris into a middle-class background, Pierre de l'Estoile was tutored by Mathieu Béroalde. He knew Agrippa d'Aubigné. He became a law student at Bourges...
, Roland Brisset, Guy de Tours) and was under the protection of two conseillers du roi (Pierre Brochard and René Crespin). His writings cover topics as varied as history, mathematics, optics
Optics
Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
, alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
, medicine, painting, sculpture, love, silk... He wrote in both verse and prose, and in all manner of tones (satirical, moral, spiritual, philosophical, political). Béroalde represents a literature of transition from the Valois court (and the generation of "La Pléiade
La Pléiade
The Pléiade is the name given to a group of 16th-century French Renaissance poets whose principal members were Pierre de Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay and Jean-Antoine de Baïf. The name was a reference to another literary group, the original Alexandrian Pleiad of seven Alexandrian poets and...
") to the Bourbon court of Henri IV and the baroque, and (like his contemporary Nicolas de Montreux
Nicolas de Montreux
Nicolas de Montreux was a French nobleman, novelist, poet, translator and dramatist.Born in province of Maine, he was the son of a maître des requêtes and may have become a priest around 1585. In 1591 he came under the protection of the Duke of Mercœur and participated in the civil wars on the...
) he attempted to compete with the translation of foreign masterpieces by the creation of original works in French.
His first works were contributions to a work on mathematics and mechanics (1578) and to a history of blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
s (1581). His numerous historical and philosophical works include: Les Recherches de la pierre philosophale on the philosopher's stone
Philosopher's stone
The philosopher's stone is a legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals into gold or silver. It was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal...
(1583); Dialogue de la vertu (1584); L'idée de la republique (1584); a translation of Justus Lipsius
Justus Lipsius
Justus Lipsius was a Southern-Netherlandish philologist and humanist. Lipsius wrote a series of works designed to revive ancient Stoicism in a form that would be compatible with Christianity. The most famous of these is De Constantia...
(1592); De l'ame et de ses excellences (1593), De la sagesse (1593); La Pucelle d'Orleans on Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
(1599); a history of silk worms (1600); a history of Herodias
Herodias
Herodias was a Jewish princess of the Herodian Dynasty. Asteroid 546 Herodias is named after her.-Family relationships:*Daughter of Aristobulus IV...
(1600); and a French edition with commentaries of Francesco Colonna
Francesco Colonna
Francesco Colonna was an Italian Dominican priest and monk who was credited with the authorship of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili by an acrostic in the text.He lived in Venice, and preached at St. Mark's Cathedral...
's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili , called in English Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream, is a romance said to be by Francesco Colonna and a famous example of early printing...
(1600).
His poetry includes: Les Apprehensions spirituelles, poemes et autres oeuvres philosophiques (1583); love poems, Les Soupirs amoureux (1583); a contribution of verses to the translation of La Diane by Jorge de Montemayor
Jorge de Montemayor
Jorge de Montemayor was a Portuguese novelist and poet, who wrote almost exclusively in Spanish.-Biography:He was born at Montemor-o-Velho , whence he derived his name, the Spanish form of which is Montemayor....
(1592); spiritual poems, La Muse celeste (1593); and a translation of Jeremiah
Jeremiah
Jeremiah Hebrew：יִרְמְיָה , Modern Hebrew:Yirməyāhū, IPA: jirməˈjaːhu, Tiberian:Yirmĭyahu, Greek:Ἰερεμίας), meaning "Yahweh exalts", or called the "Weeping prophet" was one of the main prophets of the Hebrew Bible...
's Book of Lamentations
Book of Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ) is a poetic book of the Hebrew Bible composed by the Jewish prophet Jeremiah. It mourns the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple in the 6th Century BCE....
, Les Tenebres (1599).
Béroalde published several long fiction works: Les Avantures de Floride, histoire françoise in 4 tomes (1593-1596), Le Cabinet de Minerve (1596), an unfinished novel Le Restablissement de Troye, avec lequel parmy les hazards des armes, se voyent les amours d’Æsionne (1597), Le Voyage des princes fortunes (1610), and Le Palais des curieux (1612). With their elaborate plots, multiple characters and adventurous situations, these adventure novels show the inspiration of the Hispano-Portuguese chivalric adventure novel (like Amadis of Gaul) and of the ancient Greek novel (like the work of Heliodorus of Emesa
Heliodorus of Emesa
Heliodorus of Emesa, from Emesa, Syria, was a Greek writer generally dated to the third century AD who is known for the ancient Greek novel or romance called the Aethiopica or sometimes "Theagenes and Chariclea"....
or Achilles Tatius
Achilles Tatius
Achilles Tatius of Alexandria was a Roman era Greek writer whose fame is attached to his only surviving work, the ancient Greek novel or romance The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon.-Life and minor works:...
), but they also straddle the line between fiction and philosophical or encyclopedic writing, and frequently veer off into discussions of moral phenomena or in symbolic ekphrasis (inspired by the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili) of cabinets of curiosities, architecture and other elements.
His most famous work is the playful, chaotic, baroque, sometimes obscene and almost unreadable Moyen de parvenir (first published around 1617) -- a parody of books of "table talk", of Rabelais and of Michel de Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne , February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism...
's "The Essays
Essays (Montaigne)
Essays is the title given to a collection of 107 essays written by Michel de Montaigne that was first published in 1580. Montaigne essentially invented the literary form of essay, a short subjective treatment of a given topic, of which the book contains a large number...
" -- in which a host of famous individuals debate, discuss and joke (with often coarse humor) about historical and philosophical matters.
Béroalde's corpus is vast and his works show a preoccupation with encyclopedic learning, the organization of knowledge and the difficulties of interpretation.
Largely forgotten since the 17th century, Béroalde was rediscovered in the 19th century and has gained renewed critical appreciation in recent years.