Biography
Other info : Bibliography
Jean Sirmond was a neo-Latin poet and French man of letters, historiographer of Louis XIII. Sirmond is known especially for his lifelong feud with Mathieu de Morgues, known as the son of Saint-Germain, who favored Marie de Médicis and was against Cardinal Richelieu.
Jean Sirmond answers it with a series of small works which he writes
under various pseudonyms, such as Julius Pomponius Dolabella, the
faithful French or Sieur of the Mountains.
At the time of his stay in Paris, Sirmond collaborated in the drafting of the statutes of the l'Académie française, of which he become one of the first members in 1634. He also authored a Life of the Cardinal of Amboise, published in 1631, and wrote Latin poems, published posthumously in 1653. After the death of the king and the cardinal, he withdrew to his native Auvergne, finding himself without support after having fought so much.
Paul Pellisson paid Sirmond a personal homage, which also constitutes a testimony on the evolution of the French language, which some said was now sufficiently "reasonable" to be worthy to replace Latin and the Greek as the erudite and literary language of the day.
