1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mézeray, François Eudes de

MÉZERAY, FRANÇOIS EUDES DE (1610–1683), French historian, was born at Rye near Argentan, where his father was a surgeon. He had two brothers, one of whom, Jean Eudes, was the founder of the order of the Eudists. François studied at the university of Caen, and completed his education at the college of Ste Barbe at Paris. His Histoire de France depuis Faramond jusqu’ à Louis le Juste (3 vols., 1643–1651), is a fairly accurate summary of French and Latin chronicles. Mézeray was appointed historiographer of France, and in 1649, on the death of Vincent Voiture, was admitted to the Académie Française. His Abrégé chronologique (3 vols., 1667–1668) went through fifteen editions between 1668 and 1717; but he did not hesitate in this work to attack the financiers, with the result that his salary as historiographer was diminished by Colbert. Mézeray succeeded Conrart as permanent secretary to the Académie Française (1675), and died at Paris on the 10th of July 1683. He translated Grotius’s Traité de la religion chrétienne (1640), and a Histoire des Turcs depuis 1612 jusqu’en 1649 (1650), which is an addition to a continuation of Chalcondyles.

See Daniel de Larroque, Vie de François Eudes de Mézeray (1720); vol. xiii. of Causeries du lundi by Sainte-Beuve, and Levavasseur’s Notice sur les trois frères: Jean Eudes, François Eudes, et Charles Eudes (1855).