Claude Boyer (1618 in

Albi Albi (; ) is a commune in France, commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department, on the river Tarn (river), Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called ...

– 22 July 1698 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a

French clergyman French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, playwright, apologist and poet. Contrary to a popular belief, he was never abbot. Claude Boyer was educated by the Jesuits, where he excelled in rhetoric. His classmate Michel Le Clerc, who like him wrote tragedies and was elected to the French Academy, became one of his closest friends. In 1645, Boyer moved to Paris where he attended exhibitions and produced his first play, ''The Roman Portia'', played at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1646. The play was a great success. Throughout his career some thirty plays, most of which were tragedies, experienced great success. The tragedy ''The Loves of Jupiter and Semele'' in 1666 was a triumph. When one of the highest literary authorities of the seventeenth century, Jean Chaplain, composed around 1662 a paper on literary men of his time, he thought of Claude Boyer.

Sources

* Jean-Paul C. Montagnier, “Claude Boyer librettiste: remarques sur ''Méduse'',” ''Revue d’histoire du théâtre'' 191 (1996), pp. 303–320. People from Albi 1618 births 1698 deaths 17th-century French male writers 17th-century French poets 17th-century French dramatists and playwrights Members of the Académie Française {{France-writer-stub