Philippe-Alexandre Le Brun de Charmettes (1785 1870) was a French
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
, poet, translator and official.
De Charmettes was born in
Bordeauxis a port city on the Garonne River in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department...
(
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
).
He was appointed to the
French Conseil d'État
in 1810 and became a
préfetA prefect in France is the State's representative in a department or region. Sub-prefects are responsible for the subdivisions of departments, arrondissements...
(
prefectPrefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
) in the French department of
Haute-SaôneHaute-Saône is a French department of the Franche-Comté région, named after the Saône River.-See also:*County of Burgundy - History*Franche-Comté...
in 1830.
A contributor to the literary magazine
l’Abeille littéraire, created by
Victor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
in 1821, he is mainly known for his successful efforts to rescue the figure of Jeanne d'Arc from partial oblivion and turn her into a national heroine.
His interest for Joan came at a time when France was still struggling to define its new identity after the
RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
and the
Napoleonic warsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
.
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Philippe-Alexandre Le Brun de Charmettes (1785 1870) was a French
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
, poet, translator and official.
De Charmettes was born in
Bordeauxis a port city on the Garonne River in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department...
(
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
).
He was appointed to the
French Conseil d'État
in 1810 and became a
préfetA prefect in France is the State's representative in a department or region. Sub-prefects are responsible for the subdivisions of departments, arrondissements...
(
prefectPrefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
) in the French department of
Haute-SaôneHaute-Saône is a French department of the Franche-Comté région, named after the Saône River.-See also:*County of Burgundy - History*Franche-Comté...
in 1830.
A contributor to the literary magazine
l’Abeille littéraire, created by
Victor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
in 1821, he is mainly known for his successful efforts to rescue the figure of Jeanne d'Arc from partial oblivion and turn her into a national heroine.
His interest for Joan came at a time when France was still struggling to define its new identity after the
RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
and the
Napoleonic warsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
. The national
ethosEthos is a Greek word originally meaning "accustomed place" , "custom, habit", equivalent to Latin mores....
was in search of non controversial heroes. A staunch prop to King and country, Joan of Arc was an acceptable symbol to the monarchists. As a patriot and the daughter of commoners, she was seen as one prototype of the low-born volunteers (the
soldats de l'an II) who had victoriously fought for revolutionary France in 1802 and as such could be claimed by the Republicans. As a religious martyr, she was also popular in the powerful Catholic community. De Charmette's
Orleanide, today largely forgotten, was another attempt to magnify the national
ethos as writers like
VirgilPublius Vergilius Maro was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works—the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the Aeneid—although several minor poems are also attributed to him.The son of a farmer, Virgil came to be...
(the
AeneidThe Aeneid is a Latin epic poem written by Virgil in the late 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is written in dactylic hexameter...
), or
CamoensLuís Vaz de Camões is considered Portugal's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Homer, Virgil, and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas...
(the Lusiad) had done for Rome and Portugal.
Significant works
- Histoire de Jeanne d'Arc (Histoire de Jeanne d'arc-Tome1 Tome2 Tome3 Tome4), Paris, Ed. Artus Bertrand, 1817, 4 volumes. (The story of Joan of Arc, known as the Maid of Orleans, based on her own statements, 144 depositions from eye-witnesses, and manuscripts in the Royal Library in the Tower of London.)
- L'Orléanide, Poème national en vingt-huit chants (The Orleanid, a national epic in 28 cantos), Paris, Ed. Artus Bertrand, 1821.
- Epitres politiques sur nos Extravagances , Paris, Ed. P. Dentu, 1831.
- 1804:Translation in French - Le Château de Néville (Novel)
- 1814:Translation in French - O`Donnel - MORGAN, Lady (Novel)
- 1817:Translation in French - La France (Re-edition augmentee) - MORGAN, Lady (Novel)
Further links
- About his involvement in literature (Hugo,Jussieu).
- Information about the History of Joan of Arc in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France for 1818
- For a 19th century representation of Joan of Arc in the archives of Columbia University: (Engraving, Columbia University)