Samuel Chappuzeau

Samuel Chappuzeau (16 June 1625, Paris – 31 August 1701) was a French scholar, author, poet and playwright whose best-known work today is Le Théâtre François, a description of French Theatre in the 17th century.

Samuel’s play Le Cercle des Femmes is widely regarded as one of the main sources of Molière’s masterpiece Les Précieuses Ridicules, and his influence in general on the "Golden Age of French Drama" has in the past been seriously underestimated. He played a substantial part in 'discovering' Molière when he gave his travelling troup a glowing review in his book "Lyon dans son lustre" in 1656.

He is credited with a number of 'firsts' including being the first writer to introduce satire to French farce, and the first to set a play in China.

Later, he wrote down Tavernier's famous travel guides from notes and dictation, though this task seems to have been forced upon him, much against his will, by the King (Louis XIV).

Samuel also wrote sermons, odes, dictionaries, and geographical books, and was still working his Nouveau Dictionaire (see publications below) almost up to his death.

Biography

Though his family originated in Poitiers, where his grandfather François was a 'procureur' and owned hemp fields and a vinyard, Samuel was born in Paris, where his father Charles was a lawyer and member of the Noblesse de Robe. The youngest of six, or possibly seven, children, he was educated in the Calvinist school in Châtillon-sur-Loing (Now known as Châtillon-Coligny) and in Geneva. In 1643, he went to Montauban to study Theology.

After a period in which he accompanied a young nobleman (whose name we do not know) in journeys to Scotland and England, he travelled to the Netherlands in 1648 and spent some time in the Hague, where he numbered amongst his friends some of the leading scholars of the day, such as Comenius, Claude Saumaise and Constantijn Huygens.

He then spent two years in Kassel as private secretary of Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg, who was a granddaughter of William I of Orange-Nassau, (also known as William the Silent). After her death in 1651, and the consequent loss of his post, he decided that his future was as an author. He had published his first and only novel Ladice in 1650, and a number of books and plays followed during the 1650s. Working for a time as a proof-reader in Lyon no doubt left him with a good understanding of the publishing business. Here, he also married his first wife, Maria de la Sarraz, originally from La Sarraz, Cossonay, whose ancestors were said by Samuel to have included David le Boiteux, Principal of the College in Geneva. This statement to the Geneva Council now seems to have been false, as is the often-posted claim that she was from the Salteur de la Serraz family - she was too early for that. Their first child, Laurent Chappuzeau, was born in Lyon before 1655. (Laurent later became horologer, or clockmaker, to the Elector of Hanover)

In 1656 he returned to Amsterdam to live, where his second son Christophe was born, and in 1659, he was appointed tutor to the young Prince William III of Orange, who later became King of England. During this happy period, two more children were born, and Samuel witnessed the festivities on the event of the Restoration of the English Monarchy, addressing an ode to the new King on board the Royal Charles. Unfortunately, this appointment came to an end after the death of Mary Stuart, Princess of Orange, William's mother.

He then moved back to Charenton, near Paris and set up a small school there. At this time, several of his plays were presented at Paris theatres, including one by Molière's troupe as thanks for his promotion of their troupe in his book. However, he was soon caught up, through no fault of his own, in a controversy surrounding his friend, preacher Alexander Morus and John Milton, and had to leave Paris when parents removed their sons from his school. Around the same time, August 1662, his wife died soon after the birth of their fifth child, leaving him to remark "Un malheur vient rarement seul". He married again to Marie Trichot (daughter of Louis Trichot of Sedan, Ardennes), and took refuge in Geneva, his new wife's home town, where he was granted citizenship in 1666.

From here, he travelled throughout Europe collecting information for a series of geographical/political books, including Suite de L'Europe Vivante, which were published between 1667 and 1673. At the end of 1671, he was exiled from Geneva due to a remark made in one of his books, and for some years lived in various places, including Lyon and Basle, and also in Paris where he worked on Tavernier's travel books from 1674 to 1676. It was during this period of exile that he wrote Le Théâtre François, the book for which he is best remembered. This was written at the request of Molière's troup soon after he had died.

In 1679, he was readmitted to Geneva, but in 1681, the French managed to halt work on his latest book, and 1682 he moved to Celle, where he remained for the last 20 years of his life as Head of Pages to George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Grandfather of George II of Great Britain). During this period, he worked constantly on his encyclopedia (Nouveau Dictionaire, never published and now lost), corresponding with leading scholars throughout Europe, including Pierre Bayle and also Gottfried Leibniz, who visited him at his home in Celle.

Publications and works

Pavane's copy of L'Europe Vivante

Samuel also contributed to other works, such as the 1689 supplement to Louis Moréri's Grand dictionnaire historique, and a description of Hesse in a geographical book. (Le Grand Atlas Ou Cosmographie Blaviane, Vol 3, 111-114 Description exacte De La Hesse, par le Sr Chappuzeau)

Lost Works

The first two volumes were sent to the printers in 1698, but the work was never finished.

Sources

External links

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