Jean-Paul Bignon
Encyclopedia
Jean-Paul Bignon was a French ecclesiastic, statesman, writer and preacher and librarian to Louis XIV of France
. His protégé Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
named the genus Bignonia
(Virginia jasmine) after him in 1694.
The grandson of Jérôme Bignon
and nephew of the comte de Pontchartrain
, he studied at the collège d'Harcourt and at the Saint-Magloire seminary, attached to the Oratory, where he was ordained priest in 1691. In 1693 he was made abbot of Saint-Quentin-en-l'Isle
, preacher to Louis XIV and a member of the Académie française
.
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. His protégé Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
Joseph Pitton de Tournefort was a French botanist, notable as the first to make a clear definition of the concept of genus for plants.- Biography :...
named the genus Bignonia
Bignonia
Bignonia is a genus of flowering plants in the catalpa family, Bignoniaceae. Its genus and family were named after Jean-Paul Bignon by his protégé Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in 1694.-Selected species:*Bignonia capreolata...
(Virginia jasmine) after him in 1694.
Life
Jérôme Bignon
Jérôme Bignon was a French lawyer born in Paris.His family was originating from the western part of France and came to Paris at the beginning of the sixteen century....
and nephew of the comte de Pontchartrain
Jérôme Phélypeaux
Jérôme Phélypeaux , comte de Pontchartrain, was a French politician, son of Louis Phélypeaux.He served as a councillor to the parlement of Paris from 1692, and served with his father as Secretary of State of the Maison du Roi and Navy Minster from 1699 onwards...
, he studied at the collège d'Harcourt and at the Saint-Magloire seminary, attached to the Oratory, where he was ordained priest in 1691. In 1693 he was made abbot of Saint-Quentin-en-l'Isle
Saint-Quentin, Aisne
Saint-Quentin is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France. It has been identified as the Augusta Veromanduorum of antiquity. It is named after Saint Quentin, who is said to have been martyred here in the 3rd century....
, preacher to Louis XIV and a member of the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
.