About
Charles Pinot Duclos, born in Dinan in Brittany, was an 18th-century French writer and historian. After studying in Paris, he took up letters and published a history of Louis XI that earned him the post of royal historiographer. A member of the Académie des Inscriptions and the Académie Française, he became its perpetual secretary. His major work, Considérations sur les mœurs de ce siècle, analyzes French society of his time. He contributed to the Encyclopédie and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. After a political affair, he went into voluntary exile, traveling to England and Italy. His secret memoirs were published posthumously.
* 1704-02-12 — † 1772-03-26
Major works
- Histoire de Louis XI (1746)history
- Considérations sur les mœurs de ce siècle (1751)essay
- Considérations sur l'Italie (1791)travelogue
- Mémoires secrets sur les règnes de Louis XIV et Louis XV (1791)memoirs
Key milestones
- 1739Elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.
- 1747Elected to the Académie Française, of which he became perpetual secretary.
- 1764Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London.
Themes
manners and societypolitical historysocial criticismtravel and observationmemory and testimony
Sources: en.wikisource.org · catalogues.royalsociety.org