Jean de Léry

Jean de Léry (* 1536 in " La Margelle terre de St -Seine " ( Lamargelle, Côte- d'Or ), France, † 1613 in L' Isle, Switzerland ) was a French Calvinist theologian, traveler and writer.

He grew up in Burgundy and was trained in Geneva for the theologians. Together with a group of Protestants ( Huguenots ) from 1556-1558 he was in Brazil and is considered one of the most important explorers of the Brazilian indigenous population. After his return from America he helped the Protestant population of Sancerre against the siege of imperial troops from March to August 1573rd This report was the first published book by him (English under the title The memory worthy history of the city of Sancerre ). Here he describes the hunger situation in the city. His experiences from Brazil helped the population to survive the siege. Léry describes cases of cannibalism and it compares the behavior of his contemporaries with his observations of the Brazilian indigenous population.

Brazil

In 1556 he accompanied a group of Protestant ( Huguenot ) clergy and faithful to Brazil under the protection of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny ( 1519-1572 ), a relative of Louise de Coligny, the ( fourth ) wife of William of Orange ( William the Silent, the first governor of the newly formed Dutch Republic), and a leading patron of the listed by Jean Ribault in 1562 failed French colony of Fort Caroline in Spanish Florida.

In March 1557 they reached the location in the bay of Rio de Janeiro French Fort Coligny on the branch Villegagnon Island ( France Antarctique ). He remained there for eight months, then looked for another two months on the mainland, where he came in contact with the root of the Tupinamba. In January 1558 he took the trip to France.

His famous travel narrative Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre du Brésil, written in 1563, could only appear in print in 1578. This Léry describes the states of the French settlement, the strangest animals and plants of Brazil. The focus of his work form the observed his own manners and customs of the cannibalistic Tupinamba.

Influence

His influence extended starting from the essayist Michel de Montaigne (his Des cannibales ) in the 16th century to the modern anthropologist Claude Levi- Strauss, with a copy of Léry arrived in Brazil in his pocket and later of the book as the " Breviary of the ethnographer "said.

Works

• Histoire du mémorable siège de Sancerre ( 1574 )
• Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre du Brésil ( 1578)

German editions

• The History of Gedechtnusswirdige Instead of Sancerre. Wöllicheinhaltet / the Fürnemmen / Belägerung / Beynahung / Stürm and others used violence: having dero so belägert the Workshop / Desgleychen the resistance unnd manly gethaten / the severe famine / zun the namhafftig discarding the Belägerten. The zal the Karth Onen contactor through the days and erscheyden / sampt the register / dero so umbkommen at war and have been / are injured ZUEND diss book gestelt succession. Everything inn obgemelter Instead getreüwlich auffgezeychnet and brought together / by John of Lery. Jetzund talked transferred to Teütsch by Manuel Niclausen to Bernn / in French. Bern, Bey Bendicht Ulman / and Vincentz In 1575 Hoff
• The Lord John of Lery travel in Brazil. After the self- organized by the Lord author revised and enlarged edition translated. With notes and explanations. Münster 1794 ( online: ULB Münster)
• Among cannibals in the Amazon. Brazilian diary, 1556-1558. Foreword by M.-R. Mayeux. From d French trans. by Ernst & by Bluth seen, ed., provided with e appendix by Karl H. Salzmann. 2nd edition, Tübingen, inter alia,: Erdmann, 1977 ( Old adventurous travel and discovery reports)

Works online

• Histoire memorable de la ville de Sancerre, les contenant entreprinses, triumphal, approches, bateries, assaux et autres efforts of assiegans ( 1574 ) Gallica Histoire du mémorable siège de Sancerre ( 1574 )

• Mafua (HTML) éd. 1580
• Gallica (PDF): éd. 1578, éd. 1585, éd. 1594 éd. 1611
• Biblioteca Nacional Digital (PDF and GIF images ): éd. 1578