RENAUDOT
770
RENAUDOT
the Oratorians in 1666, but owing partly to ill-health,
forthwith left them and never received more than
minor orders. His extraordinary native talent and
love of study enabled him to become an able liturgi-
cal writer, one of the greatest Orientalists of his time,
and a trustworthy political adviser. One of the
prominent men of the reign of Louis XIV, he enjoyed
the friendship of numerous literary and political
celebrities, among others Bos-
suet, whom he supported in
the controversies with Richard
Simon, Fenclon and the Jesuits.
Towards the last he assumed
the unfriendly attitude of the
Galilean and Jansenist. Nu-
merous high distinctions were
conferred upon him, among
them membership in the French
Academy (16S9), the Academy
of Inscriptions (1691), and the
Accademia della Criisca of Flor-
ence. Most of his writings were
prepared not merely for the
extension of scientific knowl-
edge, but also in defence of the
Catholic Church. Among them
are contributions to "Perp6-
tuit6 de la foi", a work pub-
lished by Nicole and Antoine
Arnauld against the Calvinists,
the fourth and fifth volumes of
which are entirely due to Ren-
audot's pen (Paris, 1711, 1713).
He published, moreover, "De-
fense de la perpetuity de la foi "
(Paris, 1708); " Gennadii Patri-
archse Constantinopolitani Homilise de Eucharistia"
(Paris, 1709); "Historia Patriarcharum Alexandri-
norum" (Paris, 1713); "Liturgiarum orientalium
collectio" (Paris, 1715-16); " Anciennes relations des
Indes et de la Chine" (Paris, 171.S). His opinion nf
GriDo
Self-portrait. Uffizi
alleviation of poverty. He was named physician in
ordinary to the king (1612) and in 1617 obtained the
privilege of founding an intelligence office where poor
people might make known their needs, free of charge,
and inquire as to places where work could be had, and
where charitable people could learn the names of the
deserving poor. In 1618, he received the title of com-
missioner-general to the poor of the kingdom. In
1628, after the surrender of La
Rochelle, he became a Catholic
and from this time, thanks to the
help of Richelieu, his charitable
acti\-ity was most fruitful. Ren-
audot added to his intelhgence
office a pawn-shop and an auc-
tion-house. On30May, 1631,he
established a weekly, the "Ga-
zette de France", in which he
defended the politics of Rich-
elieu. About 1632, he created
in his intelligence office weekly
conferences which constituted
a kind of free school of medical
sciences. Finally, dating from
1640, he inaugurated free con-
sultations for the sick, in which
he was assisted by fifteen phy-
sicians, and free visiting physi-
cians. He published "La pre-
sence des absents" (1642), the
first treatise in France on diag-
nosis, and which aimed at per-
mitting sick persons at a dis-
tance from all medical aid to
describe their symptoms to the
physician. In 1640, the medical
faculty of Paris wished to forbid him to practise ; it relied
upon Parliament, which was hostile to Richelieu, and a
pamphlet of Guy Patin violently attacked Renaudot.
Louis XIII by a decree of 14 July, 1641, decided in fa-
\()tu- of Renaudot, but after the deaths of Richelieu and
Rent
Gallerj', Florence
'csitifc'etc'c'c c'c c>c
ArRORA
Guido Reni, RoapigUos
Bavle's "Dictionnaire" was published bv Jurieu
(Rotterdam, 1697).
ViLLiEX, Eiislbe Renaudot (Paris, 1904).
, N. A. Weber.
Renaudot, Th^ophraste, b. at Loudun, 1586; d. at Paris, 2.5 October, 1653. Doctor of the medical faculty at Montpcllicr in 1606, he travelled in Italy in order to study the workings of the pawn-shop (mons pklalis) in that country. On his return to France, Leclcrc du Treniblay, known as Pt're Joseph, Bummoned him to court to exjjlain his theories on the
Louis XIII, his enemies renewed their attacks, pre-
tending that he had accused Louis XIII of favouring
Lutheranism and that he had calumniated Anne of
.\ustria. The provost of Paris at the end of 1643, and
Parliament in 1644, prohibited him from the practice
of medicine, and the medical faculty, 4 June, 1644,
officially inaugurated another system of free consulta-
tions. Renaudot was, nevertheless, a pioneer in relief
work for the poor, journalism, and medicine. The
medical theories which he had held against the
medical faculties of his times in favour of the use of
antimony, laudanum, and tiuinine, have prevailed
