Richelieu's Desmarets and the Century of Louis XIV

Jean Desmarets was a late Renaissance universal man. He was a founder-member of the Academie-francaise, a novelist, playwright, poet, and architect. This book reassesses his career in the context of Richelieu's cultural policies and relates the notion of a 'century of Louis XIV' to its origins in the reign of Louis XIII.

Jean Desmarets and the century of Louis 14; family; the "celebre marets" of court ballet; missions and offices; the novels and the new academie - francaise; Richelieu, Desmarets and theatre; "Les Visionnaires"; the historical tragicomedies; plays for the grand salle of the Palais - Cardinal; "La Felicite" and "La Prosperite"; short poems and games; devotional poetry; devotional prose; "Clovis, ou la France Chrestienne"; the late biblical and heroic poems; the quarrel of the "Imaginaires".