Claude Lancelot was a Jansenist monk

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

 and grammarian.

Lancelot was born in Paris. He participated in the creation of the Petites écoles de Port-Royal

Petites écoles de Port-Royal

The Petites écoles de Port-Royal was the name given to a teaching system set up in 1637 by the intellectuals who gathered at Port-Royal-des-Champs in the middle of the 17th century at the height of the Jansenist controversy...

 in May 1638 (then under the spiritual guidance of the Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, the abbot

Abbot

The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...

 of Saint-Cyran).

Lancelot was placed in charge of the education of the duke of Chevreuse

Duke of Chevreuse

Duke of Chevreuse was a French title of nobility, elevated from the barony of Chevreuse in 1545. Originally created for Jean de Brosse, Duc d'Étampes, it was transferred in 1555 to Charles of Guise, the Cardinal of Lorraine, and became a possession of the House of Guise, becoming the title of the...

 and of the princes of Conti.

Lancelot was the author of Nouvelle méthode pour apprendre la langue latine (New Method of Learning Latin, 1644); of Nouvelle méthode pour apprendre la langue grecque (New Method of Learning Greek, 1655); of Jardin des racines grecques (Garden of the Greek Roots, 1660); of Grammaire générale et raisonnée (General and Rational Grammar, 1667); and, with Antoine Arnauld

Antoine Arnauld

Antoine Arnauld — le Grand as contemporaries called him, to distinguish him from his father — was a French Roman Catholic theologian, philosopher, and mathematician...

, of the Port-Royal Grammar

Port-Royal Grammar

The Port-Royal Grammar was a pioneering work in the philosophy of language...

 (1660).

In early 1660, Lancelot was forced to leave the abbey, and was ultimately exiled to Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

.

Lancelot died near the Holy-Cross Abbey, in Quimperlé

Quimperlé

Quimperlé is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.-Geography:Quimperlé is in the southeast of Finistère, 20 km to the sest of Lorient and 44 km to the east of Quimper...

, in 1695.

• La Grammaire de Port Royal Claude Lancelot & Antoine Arnauld, e-book downloadable (Epub).