Charles de Saint-Évremond

Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis, seigneur de Saint-Évremond (April 1, 1610 - September 29, 1703), was a French soldier, hedonist, essayist and literary critic. After 1661, he lived in exile, mainly in England, as a consequence of his attack on French policy at the time of the peace of the Pyrenees (1659). He is buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster. He wrote for his friends and did not intend his work to be published, although a few of his pie... more

Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis, seigneur de Saint-Évremond (April 1, 1610 - September 29, 1703), was a French soldier, hedonist, essayist and literary critic. After 1661, he lived in exile, mainly in England, as a consequence of his attack on French policy at the time of the peace of the Pyrenees (1659). He is buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster. He wrote for his friends and did not intend his work to be published, although a few of his pieces were leaked in his lifetime. The first full collection of his works was published in London in 1705, after his death. He was born at Saint-Denis-le-Guast, near Coutances, the seat of his family in Normandy. He was a pupil of the Jesuits at the College de Clermont (now Louis-le-Grand), Paris; then a student at Caen. For a time he studied law at the College d'Harcourt. He soon, however, took to arms, and in 1629 went with Marshal Bassompierre to Italy. He served through great part of the Thirty Years' War, distinguishing himself at the siege... less