Charles-Jean-François Hénault

Charles -Jean -François Hénault ( born February 8, 1685 in Paris, † November 24, 1770 same place ) was a French writer and historian.

Life and work

Charles -Jean -Francois Henault was the son of Rene Jean Remy Cantobre Henault (1648-1737), a general financial tenants of the king, Ferme générale, and his wife Francoise de Ponthon († 1738). He attended the Lycée Louis -le- Grand in Paris, before he began to study at the Collège des Quatre Nations philosophy. First, through the sermons of Jean- Baptiste Massillon (1663-1742) fascinated he aspired to a similar job position.

Also thanks to the vast family fortune, he became in 1705 adviser to the Parlement de Paris, and in 1710 the President of the First Chamber of the investigations ( président de la Première chambre of Enquêtes ), a position he held until 1731 in the year. Therefore, he has since been called " President Henault " dubs and after the death of Montesquieu simply as " President ". In 1719, he managed to set up a finance company, Financière Tencin - Hénault, which enabled him rapidly to increase his personal fortune with the help of his friend Madame de Tencin in the Rue Quincampoix.

He led an active social life; so he attended the 3rd arrondissement, in the region was the religious area of the Templars. In particular, the Grand Prior of the Order of St. John, Jean Philippe François d' Orléans, celebrated there extravagant evenings that strengthened the libertarian reputation of the Temple. Here he graduated with Guillaume de Amfrye CHAULIEU, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle and Voltaire friendship.

He was often seen in Sceaux at the Duchess of Maine Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon, the so-called Grandes Nuits de Sceaux. In her castle in Sceaux she entertained a small courtyard, also called La petite cour de Sceaux. In June of 1703, she created the Ordre de la Mouche à Miel, a term which is modeled on the symbolism of their family coat of arms and a center of attraction for many writers and artists was. Or he visited the salon of the Marquise de Lambert at the Hôtel de Sully. He married on Tuesday, January 30, 1714 Catherine Henriette Marie Lebas of Montargis ( 1695-1728 ), granddaughter of the architect Jules Hardouin -Mansart and daughter of Claude le Bas de Montargis ( 1659-1731 ), a wealthy treasurer, Trésorier Général de l' ' Extraordinaire of Guerre et de la cavalry Legere. Widowed in 1728, he began a relationship in 1731 with Marie Madame du Deffand.

In his home in n ° 7 Place Vendome in Paris, he welcomed every Saturday from seventeen to twenty Clock guests for dinner at the Club de l' mezzanine, which was founded in 1724 by Pierre -Joseph Alary and Charles Irenee Castel de Saint- Pierre and was gathered 20 participants who discussed enthusiastic about certain topics. Among the regulars included René Louis d' Argenson, Montesquieu, the Abbé de Bragelonne, Charles Henri Arnauld de Pomponne (1669-1756), Marie Deffand, Madame de Luxembourg, Madame de Pont of Veyle, Claude Adrien Helvetius, Madame de Rochefort, Madame Bernin de Valentinay, Marquise d' Ussé, Madame de Pompadour, Madame de Forcalquier, the Chevalier de Ramsay (1686-1743) and several noblemen such as the Marshal Duke of Coigny, Charles Auguste de Goyon de Matignon (1647-1739) and the Marquis de Lassay ( 1652-1738 ). These gatherings were eventually banned in 1731 by the King.

After the death of Count Samuel -Jacques Bernard (1686-1753) he took over in 1753-1768 its position as superintendent of the household of Queen Mary Leszczyńska ( surintendant de la Maison de la Reine ), whose intimate friendship he had previously enjoyed.

He composed many songs, some with great success, and poems, and received a 1708 award from the Académie des Jeux floraux. He also won in 1707 the price of eloquence (Le prix d' Eloquence ) of the Académie française. He also wrote two tragedies, Cornélie vestale and Marius à Cirthe (1713 ), which did not succeed. He became a member of the Académie française, at a time when he had very little published in 1723. He was here as a student of Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, friend of Voltaire and D' Alembert opponents of.

He published works on the history of France, about abrégé chronologique de l' histoire de France jusqu'à la mort de Louis XIV ( 1744).

Works (selection)

• Cornélie vestale, tragédie, published in 1769 ( available online at Gallica. Bibliothèque nationale de France )
• Marius à Cirthe, tragédie, pour la première fois représentée le 15 novembre 1715 (published in 1716 under the name Gilles de Caux de Montlebert )
• Abrégé chronologique de l' histoire de France jusqu'à la mort de Louis XIV, 1744
• Nouveau théâtre français: François II, roi de France, en 5 actes et tragédie en prose, 1747
• Le Reveil d' Épiménide, comédie en prose, 1755
• Le Temple des chimères, 1758
• Abrégé chronologique de l' histoire d' Espagne et du Portugal, with Jacques Lacombe and Philippe Macquer, 1759
• Le Jaloux de lui même - 1769
• La Petite Maison, (1769 )
• Le Revenant, ou les Préparatifs inutiles, 1788
• Histoire critique de l' établissement des Français dans les Gaules, 1801
• Mémoires, 1854