Jean Papire Masson (1544 in Saint-Germain-Laval, Loire – 1611) was a French humanist historian, known also as a geographer, biographer, literary critic and jurist.

Life

Masson was initially a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, but left the Society. He studied law at Angers under

François Baudouin François Baudouin (1520 – 24 October 1573), also called Balduinus, was a French jurist, Christian controversialist and historian. Among the most colourful of the noted French humanists, he was respected by his contemporaries as a statesman a ...

around 1570. He became close to the circle of

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Republic of Florence, Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to Henry II of France, King Henry II. Sh ...

, particularly to Carlo Boni, and became professor of law at Angers, where Boni was bishop. Later he was librarian to the Chevalier de Chiverny, was ''

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