Didier Diderot

Didier Diderot ( born September 14, 1685 in Langres, † June 3, 1759 ) was a French craftsman and father of the future encyclopedist, author, philosopher and enlightener Denis Diderot.

Life and work

Didier Diderot came from dynasties of craft families from the Episcopal City of Langres in Champagne, today in the Champagne-Ardenne region. His father was Denis Diderot, senior (November 3, 1654 - March 26, 1726 ), a master craftsman, accurate knife master blacksmith, maître coutelier, and his mother was Nicole Beligné ( October 30, 1655 - August 1692 ). Both were married to each other since June 20, 1679. They, too, came from a craft family, but her father was François Beligné (1625-1697) also a knife master blacksmith, her mother was Catherine Grassot. From the family Beligné he took over the labeling of their products, the pearl, la perle.

Didier ( see also Desiderius of Langres ) had five brothers - which Didier was the second son - and a sister: the brothers Antoine Thomas ( 1682-1755 ), Claude ( 1687-1689 ), François ( * 1688), Felix (* 1689 ) and Didier (* 1690) and his sister Catherine Diderot ( * 1690).

Didier Diderot married on Tuesday, January 19, 1712 in Chassigny Angélique Vigneron (October 12, 1677 - October 1, 1748 ). She was the thirteenth daughter of a tanner, tanneur, François Vigneron († 1679 ) and Jeanne aramite Humblot († 1710) from Langres. Didier Diderot was close to the Jansenist movement in the Catholic Church. The couple had three sons and four daughters; the first son died one day after his birth on November 5, 1712, then followed Denis (October 5, 1713 - July 31, 1784 ) and Didier -Pierre (March 21, 1722 - November 17, 1787 ), a later canon of Langres, chanoine écrivain de Langres ( see also diocese of Langres ), who were sisters Denise (January 27, 1715 - March 26, 1797 ), Catherine ( 1716-1718 ), Catherine ( 1719 - October 25, 1735 ) and Angélique Diderot ( 3 April 1720 - 1749). Angélique Diderot joined the Ursuline Order.

The family lived around the year 1713 in the center of Langres, n ° 9 de la place Chambeau today the n ° 9 de la place dans le center ville de Langres, the place is now called Denis Diderot.

Didier Diderot was a specialist in the production of medical-surgical cutting instruments, such as for scalpels and lancets ( refer forging, steel and Damascus steel knife ).

Ratio of Didier and Denis Diderot, father and son

Denis, the eldest son of Didier Diderot, as well as his siblings received a good education in the coined by the Jesuits facilities.

The relationship with his father was quite ambivalent: In 1741, Denis Diderot learned the lingerie saleswoman Anne Toinette Champion know and intended to marry her. As usual, he wanted this, ask his father for permission and so he traveled in December 1742 to Langres. His father Didier Diderot did not agree with his plans and left him by virtue of his paternal authority in January 1743 in a ( Carmelite ) monastery hold at Troyes, that he take distance from his plans. Denis Diderot fled to Paris. Only on Wednesday, November 6, 1743 he secretly married Anne Toinette Champion.

Nevertheless, it should come to a reconciliation, demonstrably met Anne- Toinette Diderot in 1752 her father and his family in Langres, she was kindly received and presented to the many relatives and friends.

Didier Diderot's death

Didier Diderot made ​​the end of May 1759 a trip to the spa spas after Bourbonne -les- Bains, about fifty kilometers from Langres. The doctor Hugues Alexis Juvet (1714-1789) sent him soon after Langres, where he, sitting in a chair died after his return on June 3, 1759, Pentecost day. He was buried the next day in the cemetery of Langres.

Denis Diderot was staying in July 1759 in Langres to control with his family and especially his brothers and sisters, the inheritance of his deceased father; in a letter dated July 31, 1759 to Sophie Volland, he wrote:

"(...) My father has left us pensions bank notes to the value of 30,000 livres, eight hundred bushels of grain to the value of 40,000 livres, a town house, two pretty little cottage, vineyards, goods, a few letters of credit and furniture, as in about a man of his prior befitting. My brother and my sister will get away better than I, and I am happy about. (...) "

In the mirror of Friedrich Melchior Grimm

In an issue of the Correspondance littéraire of 1 March 1771 Entretien d'un père avec ses enfants, describes the long-time friend and confidante of Denis Diderot, Friedrich Melchior Grimm, a brief encounter with his father, Didier Diderot, in Langres:

Monsieur Diderot, maître coutelier à Langres, mourut en 1759 générale ment regrette dans sa ville, à ses enfants laissant une fortune honnête pour son état, et une réputation de vertu de et en tout état ​​probité Desirable. Je le vis trois mois avant sa mort en allant à Genève, au mois de mars 1759, depending Passai Expres par Langres, et je toute ma vie d' avoir m'applaudirai connu ce vieillard respectable. Il Laissa trois enfants: un fils aîné, Denis Diderot, né en 1713, c'est notre philosophe; une fille d'un cœur excellent, et d'une fermeté de caracter peu commune, qui, dès l'instant de la mort de sa mère, se consacra entièrement au service de son père et de sa maison, et par cette raison de refusa se marier; un fils cadet, qui a pris le parti de l' Église: il est de l' église chanoine Cathédrale de Langres, et un des grands saints you diocèse. C'est un homme d'un esprit bizarre, d'une dévotion outrée, et à peu d' idées qui je crois et de sentiments justes. Le père aimait son fils d' aîné inclination et de passion; sa fille, de reconnaissance et de tendresse; et son fils cadet, de reflexion, par respect pour l' état ​​qu'il avait embrasse.

( Approximate translation: Monsieur Diderot, maître coutelier in Langres, died late in 1759, in his city, so he could leave to his children a good fortune by his standards, and maintained a reputation of virtue and honesty I saw him three months. before his death, when I traveled to Geneva in March 1759, I came expressly by Langres, and I welcomed my life acquaintances and old Respectable He left behind three children:. , his eldest son, Denis Diderot, born in 1713, is the philosopher, a daughter with a good heart and an unusual strength of character, which turned at the moment of her mother's death at the service of her father and the house, and for this reason refused to get married, and the youngest son, who permanent the church took advantage: he is the canon of the cathedral of Langres, and one of the great saints of the diocese This is a man of mind, but in a bizarre, exaggerated devotion and I think some of his ideas are based only on feelings. . The father loved his eldest son whose inclination and passion in his daughter whose gratitude and tenderness, and in his youngest son his thoughtfulness and respect for, and he embraced it. )

Works

  • Didier Diderot, Louis Marcel: Une lettre du père de Diderot à son fils, détenu à Vincennes (3 septembre 1749). J. Bière, Bordeaux (1928 )
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