François de Clermont-Tonnerre

Clermont-Tonnerre

Clermont-Tonnerre is the name of a French family, members of which played some part in the history of France, especially in Dauphiné, from about 1100 to the French Revolution. Sibaud, lord of Clermont in Viennois, who first appears in 1080, was the founder of the family...

, comte de Noyon (1629 – February 15, 1701) was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 bishop of Noyon. He was a Pair de France, counsilor of state and became president of the assembly of the clergy

Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....

 in 1685. He also wrote some religious works.

He replaced Barbier d'Aucour at the French Academy at was summonned to the court of Louis XIV

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

, who wanted to amuse himself about his excessive vanity. Clermont-Tonnerre founded a prize for poetry of 3,000 Francs, whose topic was always to be an eloge on Louis XIV and his deeds.