Adrien Baillet facts for kids
Adrien Baillet (born June 13, 1649 – died January 21, 1706) was a French scholar and writer. He is best known today for writing a biography of the famous thinker René Descartes.
Contents
His Early Life and Studies
Adrien Baillet was born in a small village called Neuville, near Beauvais in France. His family was not wealthy and could only send him to a small local school. However, he learned some Latin from monks nearby. They noticed how smart he was and told the bishop of Beauvais about him.
Thanks to the bishop's help, Adrien received a full education at a special school for religious studies. After finishing his education, he became a teacher at a college in Beauvais. In 1676, he became a priest and was given a small church to look after.
A Life Dedicated to Books
In 1680, Adrien Baillet took on an important job. He became the librarian for François-Chrétien de Lamoignon. Mr. Lamoignon was a top lawyer in the parlement of Paris, which was a high court at the time.
Adrien worked incredibly hard as a librarian. He created a detailed list of all the books in the library. This list filled 35 volumes, and he wrote every single page by hand! He loved studying so much that he only slept five hours a day.
He is also known for writing down three important dreams that René Descartes had. These dreams led Descartes to his famous idea: "I think, therefore I am."
Important Books He Wrote
Adrien Baillet wrote many books during his life. Here are some of his most well-known works:
- Histoire de Hollande (History of Holland, 1693): This book continued the history written by another famous writer, Grotius.
- Les Vies des saints (The Lives of Saints, 1701): In this book, he used his critical thinking skills to look at stories of miracles.
- La vie de monsieur Descartes (The Life of Mr. Descartes, 1691): This is his most famous work. It is full of valuable information about the philosopher Descartes and his ideas. Baillet gathered this information from many reliable sources.
- Jugemens des savans sur les principaux ouvrages des auteurs (Judgments of Scholars on the Main Works of Authors, 1685–1686): This was considered his most useful and celebrated work.
Adrien Baillet was working on a large church dictionary when he passed away. Because he praised a group called the Jansenists in one of his books, some people, especially the Jesuits, did not like him. His book about saints also caused some discussion because he looked at miracles in a very careful, critical way.
Images for kids
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Adrien Baillet, gravure, postuum (1715)
