
Claude Charles Fauriel (; 21 October 1772 – 15 July 1844) was a French
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
,
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...
and
critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...
.
Biography
He was born at
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...
,
Loire
The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône.
It rises in the so ...
, the son of a poor joiner, but received a good education in the
Oratorian colleges of
Tournon and
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
. He was twice in the army—at
Perpignan
Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...
in 1793, and in 1796–1797 at
Briançon
Briançon (, ) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is the highest city in France at an a ...
, as private secretary to
General J Servan de Gerbey (1741–1808); but he preferred the civil service and the companionship of his friends and his books. In 1794 he returned to St Etienne, where, but only for a short period, he filled a municipal office; and from 1797 to 1799 he devoted himself to strenuous study, more especially of the literature and history, both ancient and modern, of
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
and
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. Having paid a visit to
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 ...
in 1799, he was introduced to
Joseph Fouché
Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante, 1st Comte Fouché (; 21 May 1759 – 26 December 1820) was a French statesman, revolutionary, and Minister of Police under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, who later became a subordinate of Emperor Napoleon. H ...
, minister of police, becoming his private secretary. Though he discharged the duties of this office to Fouché's satisfaction, his strength was worn out by study, and in 1801 he was forced to take a three-month trip in the south. His health also resulted in his resigning his office in the following year, though his actions also had something to do with his scruples about serving longer under
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
, when the latter, in violation of his declared republican principles, became consul for life. This is clearly shown by the fragments of ''Mémoirs'' discovered by
Ludovic Lalanne
Ludovic Lalanne (23 April 1815, Paris – 16 May 1898, Paris) was a French historian and librarian. The engineer and politician Léon Lalanne (1811–1892) was his brother.
Biography
Lalanne was a student at the lycée Louis-le-Grand and late ...
and published in 1886.
Some articles which Fauriel published in the ''Decade philosophique'' (1800) on a work of
Madame de Staël Madame may refer to:
* Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French
* Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel
* ''Madame'' ( ...
's—''De la littérature considerée dans ses rapports avec les institutions sociales''—led to friendship with her. The salon of Mme de
Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; ; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher, political economist, politician, and mathematician. His ideas, including suppo ...
was a rallying point for the dissentient republicans. Fauriel was introduced by
Madame de Staël Madame may refer to:
* Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French
* Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel
* ''Madame'' ( ...
to the literary circle of Auteuil, which gathered round
Antoine Destutt de Tracy
Antoine Louis Claude Destutt, comte de Tracy (; 20 July 1754 – 9 March 1836) was a French Enlightenment aristocrat and philosopher who coined the term "ideology".
Biography
The son of a distinguished soldier, Claude Destutt, he was born in ...
. Those who enjoyed his closest intimacy were the physiologist
Cabanis Cabanis is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernard Cabanis (born 1950), French ice hockey player
* George Cabanis (1815–1892), American politician
* James Cabanis (1838–1920), American politician, son of George Cabanis
*Jea ...
(Madame de Condorcet's brother-in-law), the poet
Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher.
He is famous for the novel ''The Betrothed (Manzoni novel), The Betrothed'' (orig. ) (1827), generally ranked among ...
, the publicist
Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.
A committed republican from 1795, Constant ...
, and
François Guizot
François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French historian, orator and Politician, statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics between the July Revolution, Revolution of 1830 and the Revoluti ...
. Later Destutt de Tracy introduced to him
Augustin Thierry
Jacques Nicolas Augustin Thierry (10 May 179522 May 1856; also known as Augustin Thierry) was a French historian. Although originally a follower of Henri de Saint-Simon, he later developed his own approach to history. A committed liberal, his a ...
(1821) and perhaps
Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( ; ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian who served as President of France from 1871 to 1873. He was the second elected president and the first of the Third French Republic.
Thi ...
and
François Mignet
François Auguste Marie Mignet (, 8 May 1796 – 24 March 1884) was a French journalist and historian of the French Revolution.
Biography
He was born in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), France. His father was a locksmith from the Vendé ...
.
He began a relationship with the
Marquis de Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; ; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French Philosophy, philosopher, Political economy, political economist, Politics, politician, and m ...
's widow, Sophie, in 1801, and lived openly with her until 1822, when she died.
In June 1822 the intellectual
Mary Clarke and her mother visited England and Scotland. Fauriel revealed his interest in her when he wrote to Mary concerning Auguste Sirey who had been spoken of as Mary's fiancé. It had been proposed that Sirey would go to England with them.
Mary would eventually marry
Julius von Mohl
Julius von Mohl (25 October 1800 – 4 January 1876) was a German Orientalist.
Life
The brother of Hugo von Mohl and Robert von Mohl, he was born at Stuttgart. He abandoned the idea of entering the Lutheran ministry, and in 1823 went to Pa ...
.
During his connection with Auteuil, Fauriel's attention turned to
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, and he began work on a history of
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed in nature itself. Of all the schools of ancient ...
, which was never completed, all the papers connected with it having accidentally perished in 1814. He also studied
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
,
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
and the old South French dialects. He published in 1810 a translation of the ''Parthenais'' of the Danish poet
Baggesen, with a preface on the various kinds of poetry; in 1823 translations of two tragedies of Manzoni, with a preface "''Sur la théorie de l'art dramatique''"; and in 1824-1825 his translation of the popular songs of modern Greece, with a "''Discours préliminaire''" on popular poetry.
The
revolution of July, which put his friends in power, opened to him the career of higher education. In 1830 he became professor of foreign literature at the
Sorbonne. The ''Histoire de la Gaule méridionale sous la domination des conquerants germains'' (4 vols., 1836) was the only completed section of a general history of southern France which he had projected. In 1836 he was elected a member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and in 1837 he published (with an introduction the conclusions of which would not now all be endorsed) a translation of a Provençal poem on the
Albigensian war
The Albigensian Crusade (), also known as the Cathar Crusade (1209–1229), was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, what is now southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted pri ...
. After his death his friend
Mary Clarke (afterwards Madame J. Möhl) published his ''Histoire de la poésie provençale'' (3 vols., 1846)--his lectures for 1831–1832. Fauriel had a preconceived and somewhat fanciful theory that Provence was the cradle of the ''
chansons de geste
The , from 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th centuries, shortly before the e ...
'' and even of the
Round Table
The Round Table (; ; ; ) is King Arthur's famed table (furniture), table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status, unlike co ...
romances; but he gave a great stimulus to the scientific study of Old French and Provençal. ''Dante et les engines de la langue et de la littérature italiennes'' (2 vols.) was published in 1854.
Fauriel's ''Mémoires'', found with Condorcet's papers, are in the Institute library. They were written at latest in 1804, and include some interesting fragments on the close of the consulate, Moreau, etc. Though anonymous, Lalanne, who published them (''Les Derniers Jours du Consulat'', 1886), proved them to be in the same handwriting as a letter of Fauriel's in 1803.
References
Attribution:
*
External links
Catholic Encyclopedia article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fauriel, Claude Charles
1772 births
1844 deaths
Academic staff of the University of Paris
Mayors of Saint-Étienne
French philologists
19th-century French historians
French philhellenes
Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
French male writers