Charles de Saint-Évremond

Charles de Saint-Évremond – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Meta description: A deep dive into the life, philosophy, and enduring wit of Charles de Saint-Évremond — French soldier, essayist, moralist, and precursor to Enlightenment thought.

Introduction

Charles de Saint-Évremond, born in the early 17th century, stands out as a singular figure in French letters: a soldier, a wit, a moralist, a satirist, and a libertine spirit. He bridged the era of Montaigne and the full flowering of the Enlightenment, bringing sharp scepticism, polished irony, and a dedication to “the good life” into moral and literary discourse. Though he refused to publish during his lifetime, his writings circulated privately and only saw official publication after his death. Today, his legacy lies in his refined, ironic voice, his championing of moderation and pleasure, and his influence on later thinkers of the 18th century.

Early Life and Family

Charles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis (later known as Saint-Évremond) was born around 1 April 1613 (some sources say early 1614) in Saint-Denis-le-Guast, near Coutances in Normandy, France.

In his infancy, he was ondoyé (given emergency baptism) on 5 January (if born just before), a custom sometimes practiced when hope for survival was tenuous; intriguingly, his formal naming/baptism was delayed.

His upbringing emphasized both classical and religious education, as was common among the French nobility in the 17th century. The influences of Jesuit schooling and early exposure to learned conversation would later shape his sharp mind and critical tone.

Youth and Education

Saint-Évremond’s formal schooling began at the Collège de Clermont in Paris, run by Jesuits. There he studied classical subjects. Père Canaye, a Jesuit teacher he would later satirize in his masterpiece Conversation du maréchal d’Hocquincourt avec le père Canaye. Caen (Normandy) and then at the Collège d’Harcourt in Paris, where he engaged in legal studies, though his heart was never in the law.

Around 1629, he abandoned plans for a legal career and embraced a path in arms. This shift was partly personal inclination, partly the lure of prestige and adventure.

By 1637, at the siege of Landrecies, he distinguished himself and was promoted to captain. Rocroi (1643), Nördlingen, and campaigns in Flanders and Germany. Pierre Gassendi, adopting a skeptical, anti-dogmatic worldview and a commitment to moderation and pleasure.

His friendliness in literary and salon circles grew: he associated with prominent nobles, intellectuals, and poets, participating in Parisian cultured life.

Career and Achievements

Saint-Évremond’s life divides into two major phases: his active career in France (until about 1661) and his long exile in England (and intermittently the Netherlands).

In France: military, salons, and literary activity

By the 1640s, he had become lieutenant in the guards of the young Duc d’Enghien (later Condé). maréchal de camp (roughly akin to major general) around 1652.

Simultaneously, he built a literary reputation among salons. He wrote for close friends, not for the public, cultivating an aura of intimate wit and discretion. Les Académistes (ca. 1637–1638) satirized the newly founded Académie française, lampooning literary pretension.

His political misstep came around 1661, when a letter to Marshal Créquy (Le marquis de Créqui) criticizing the Peace of the Pyrenees and Cardinal Mazarin (who negotiated it) was discovered. This brought him into disgrace.

Exile: England and Netherlands

He first sought refuge in the Netherlands, then settled in England, where King Charles II gave him welcome and a pension.

In England, he moved in aristocratic and cosmopolitan literary circles. He became connected to Hortense Mancini (niece of Cardinal Mazarin) who, from 1670 onward, ran a salon in London; Saint-Évremond became one of her principal confidants and “chancellor” of her salon.

Importantly, Saint-Évremond maintained correspondence with French friends. His writings circulated by manuscript among a restricted circle rather than by formal publication.

In his later years, various attempts were made to allow his return to France; in 1690 the court permitted it, but by that time he had settled in England and declined to go back. London on 9 September 1703 (some sources say 29 September).

He was honored by burial in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, an exceptional tribute to a foreign literatus.

After his death, Pierre des Maizeaux (his friend and literary executor) published Les Oeuvres mêlées (London, 1705), collecting his manuscripts.

Historical Milestones & Context

Saint-Évremond lived through—and participated in—some of the pivotal events of 17th-century France and Europe:

• The Thirty Years’ War shaped continental politics, and his own military service spanned multiple theatres.

• The Fronde (1648–1653), a series of civil wars and aristocratic rebellions against royal centralization, tested loyalties; Saint-Évremond sided firmly with the crown.

• The Peace of the Pyrenees (1659) ended conflict between France and Spain; his critical letter about it exposed him to danger.

• The rise of absolutism under Louis XIV and suppression of dissent made life for independent minds more perilous; Saint-Évremond’s exile reflects the shrinking space for free literary or political dissent.

• The salon culture and the spread of salon conversations and epistolary networks across Europe sharpened the taste for pointed wit, literary critique, and sociable philosophy. Saint-Évremond is part of that milieu.

• His intellectual posture anticipates certain Enlightenment themes: skepticism toward dogma, tolerance, moderate pleasure, and intellectual autonomy.

In sum, Saint-Évremond’s life reflects the tension between aristocratic obligation, monarchical dominance, and the emergent spirit of individual, reflective judgment.

Legacy and Influence

Though less widely read today than some of his better-known contemporaries, Saint-Évremond remains significant in multiple dimensions:

1. Precursor to Enlightenment moralism
   His skepticism, refusal of dogma, and stress on moderation anticipated later philosophes. Britannica describes him as a “transitional figure between Michel de Montaigne and the 18th-century philosophes.”

2. A refined moralist and critic
   He helped define the role of the cultivated critic or “honnête homme,” someone neither too rigid nor too libertine, someone speaking with tact, wit, and discernment.

3. Influence on later writers
   His Réflexions sur les divers génies du peuple romain (1663) is sometimes considered an early influence on Montesquieu’s historical thinking.

4. Model of living letters
   His desir to write privately, to share only with close friends, and to maintain personal style, set a tone for epistolary intimacy in French letters.

5. Inspiration for later intellectuals
   Scholars and literary historians in the 19th and 20th centuries revived his work, seeing in him a subtle counterpoint to rigid orthodoxy. ions and studies of his essays, letters, and criticism have kept his name alive.

Personality and Talents

Saint-Évremond was, by all accounts, charismatic, witty, subtly ironic, urbane, and a lover of aesthetic pleasures.

• Wit and conversation
  His social life in salons was central—he was sought after not merely for what he wrote but for how he spoke, argued, laughed.

• Moderated hedonism
  He advocated enjoying life’s pleasures without excess. His moral view leaned toward prudence, beauty, and balance, opposed to both asceticism and indulgence.

• Skepticism and tolerance
  He was skeptical of religious authority, skeptical of rigid systems, but not a radical iconoclast. He believed in reasoned tolerance and resisted dogmatism.

• Irony and lightness
  His style is polished, light, and gently admonishing. He used irony (e.g. Conversation du maréchal d’Hocquincourt avec le père Canaye) to challenge pretension.

• Reserve and discretion
  He refused public publication during his life, showing a disciplined discretion and a preference for freedom over fame.

• Longevity and stability
  Living to around 90, he remained a stable intellectual presence in a turbulent era.

Famous Quotes of Charles de Saint-Évremond

Because Saint-Évremond wrote for his friends and avoided public publishing, exact attributions of quotations can be tricky. Nevertheless, here are some attributed lines that capture his spirit:

• “Je n’ai jamais connu de plaisir qui ne porte en lui quelque repentir.”
  (“I have never known a pleasure which does not carry in it some regret.”)

• “L’on ne veut point des extrêmes, tout est bon dans la mesure.”
  (“One does not want extremes; everything is good in measure.”)

• “Les vérités sont comme les fruits : il faut attendre qu’elles soient mûres.”
  (“Truths are like fruits: one must wait until they are ripe.”)

• “Il y a des plaisirs impies ; je ne sais s’il y en a qui ne le soient pas.”
  (“There are impious pleasures; I do not know if there are any that are not.”)

• “Il faut aimer les lettres et les hommes avec la même discrétion.”
  (“One must love letters and men with the same discretion.”)

Note: The authenticity and contexts of these lines vary depending on editions and editorial attribution; they nevertheless reflect his core sensibility of moderation, epigrammatic grace, and ironic insight.

Lessons from Charles de Saint-Évremond

1. Moderation over extremism
   Saint-Évremond teaches that virtue may lie in balance—in savoring life without becoming enslaved to it.

2. Freedom of thought, softly argued
   He showed that one can maintain independence without stridency; wit and irony often achieve more than polemic.

3. The private voice’s power
   Writing for intimates, for friends, need not diminish one’s influence; discretion can build lasting intellectual respect.

4. Tolerance and open-mindedness
   He resisted rigid dogmatism and encouraged respect for difference—qualities essential in plural intellectual society.

5. Cultivation of self as art
   He embodied the idea that living beautifully—not just writing beautifully—is itself a creative endeavor.

Conclusion

Charles de Saint-Évremond is not the loud herald of an age, yet he remains one of its most elegant voices. Between Montaigne and the philosophes, he carved out a space for reflective pleasure, ironic judgment, and modest dissent. His life—soldier and exile, salon figure and introspective writer—embodies contradictions harmonized by intelligence and taste.

Explore his Œuvres mêlées, his Conversation du maréchal d’Hocquincourt avec le père Canaye, and his letters: there you will find wit, skepticism, and a refined guide to living well. Let his voice invite you to interrogate your pleasures, question your beliefs, and moderate boldly in an age of extremes.