Editing Adrien Baillet

{{Short description|French scholar and critic (1649–1706)}}
{{Infobox academic
| name               = Adrien Baillet 
| image              = Portret van Adrien Baillet, RP-P-OB-47.838.jpg
| caption            = Adrien Baillet, gravure, postuum (1715) 
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1649|06|13|df=yes}} <!--For living people supply only the year unless the exact date is already WIDELY published, as per [[WP:DOB]]. Treat such cases as if only the year is known, so use {{tl|birth year and age}} or a similar option.-->
| birth_place        = [[La Neuville-en-Hez|Neuville, France]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1706|01|21|1649|06|13|df=yes}}
| death_place        = 
| occupation         = Scholar, critic, biographer
| alma_mater         =
| influences         = 
| workplaces         = 
| main_interests     = 
| notable_works      = ''Jugemens des savans sur les principaux ouvrages des auteurs''
| notable_ideas      = 
| influenced         = 
| signature          = 
| signature_size     = 
| footnotes          = 
}}
'''Adrien Baillet''' (13 June 1649{{snd}}21 January 1706) was a French scholar and critic. He is now best known as a biographer of [[René Descartes]].

==Life==

He was born in the village of [[La Neuville-en-Hez|Neuville]] near [[Beauvais]], in [[Picardy]]. His parents could only afford to send him to a small school in the village, but he picked up some Latin from the friars of a neighbouring convent, who brought him under the notice of the [[bishop of Beauvais]]. By his kindness Baillet received a thorough education at the theological seminary, and was afterwards appointed to a post as teacher in the college of Beauvais. In 1676 he was ordained priest and was presented to a small vicarage.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Baillet, Adrien|volume=3|page=219}} The article contains this footnote: See the edition by [[Bernard de la Monnoye|M. de la Monnoye]] of the ''Jugemens des savans'' (Amsterdam, 4 vols. 1722), which contains the ''Anti-Baillet'' of [[Gilles Ménage]], and an ''Abrégé de la vie de Mr Baillet''.</ref>

He accepted in 1680 the appointment of librarian to [[Francois-Chretien de Lamoignon|François-Chrétien de Lamoignon]], advocate-general to the [[parlement of Paris]]. He made a ''[[catalogue raisonné]]'' (in 35 vols.) of its library, all written with his own hand.<ref name="EB1911"/>

The remainder of his life was spent in incessant, unremitting labour; so keen was his devotion to study that he allowed himself only five hours a day for rest.<ref name="EB1911"/>

With regard to René Descartes, he is popularly said to have recorded in his biography the three dreams <ref>''La vie de monsieur Descartes'', vol. I, pp. 81-86.</ref> leading up to the [[Cogito, ergo sum|Cartesian Cogito]].

==Works==

Of his numerous works the following are the most conspicuous:

#''Histoire de Hollande depuis la trève de ióop Jusqu’d 1690'' (4 vols. 1693), a continuation of [[Grotius]], and published under the name of La Neuville
#''Les Vies des saints'' (4 vols. 1701)
#''Des Satires personnelles'', ''traité historique et critique de celles qui portent le litre d’Anti'' (2 vols. 1689)
#''La vie de monsieur Descartes'' (2 vols. 1691; modern edition in one volume: ''La vie de monsieur Descartes'', Paris: Éditions des Malassis, 2012)
#''La vie de mr. Des-Cartes. Réduite en abregé'' (1692; modern edition: ''Vie de Monsieur Descartes'', Paris, La Table Ronde, 1992)
#''Auteurs déguisés sous des noms étrangers, empruntes, &c.'' (1690)
#''Jugemens des savans sur les principaux ouvrages des auteurs'' (9 vols. 1685—1686).

The last is the most celebrated and useful of all his works. At the time of his death he was engaged on a ''Dictionnaire universelle ecclésiastique''. The praise bestowed on the [[Jansenism|Jansenists]] in the ''Jugemens des savans'' brought down on Baillet the hatred of the [[Jesuits]], and his ''Vie des saints'', in which he brought his critical mind to bear on the question of miracles, caused some scandal. His ''Vie de Descartes'' is a mine of information on the philosopher and his work, derived from numerous unimpeachable authorities.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Adrien Baillet}}
* {{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Adrien Baillet |short=x}}

{{Authority control}}

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baillet, Adrien}}
[[Category:1649 births]]
[[Category:1706 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century French writers]]
[[Category:17th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:French classical scholars]]
[[Category:French literary critics]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]