Jean de La Bruyère

Jean de La Bruyère (August 16 1645 - May 10, 1696), was a French essayist and moralist.

Ancestry

He was born in Paris, not, as was once thought, at Dourdan (in today's Essonne département) in 1639. His family was middle class, and his reference to a certain Geoffroy de La Bruyère, a crusader, is only a satirical illustration of a method of self-ennoblement common in France as in some other countries. Indeed he himself always signed the name Delabruyère in one word, as evidence of this. He could trace his family back at least as far as his great-grandfather, who had been a strong Leaguer. La Bruyère's own father was controller general of finance to the Hotel de Ville.

Related Topics:
Paris - Dourdan - Essonne - Département - Middle class - Geoffroy de La Bruyère - Crusader - Self-ennoblement - League - Hotel de Ville

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