View source for Paul Pellisson

{{Short description|French author}}
[[File:Paul Pellisson - Versailles MV 2915.jpg|thumb|{{center|Paul Pellisson}}]]

'''Paul Pellisson''' (30 October 1624 – 7 February 1693) was a French writer, associated with the Baroque ''[[Précieuses]]'' movement.

Pellisson was born in [[Béziers]], of a distinguished [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] family.  He studied [[law]] at [[Toulouse]], and practised at the bar of [[Castres]]. Going to [[Paris, France|Paris]] with letters of introduction to [[Valentin Conrart]], a fellow Calvinist, he was introduced to the members of the [[Académie française]]. Pellisson undertook to be their historian, and in 1653 published a ''Relation contenant l'histoire de l’Académie française''. He was rewarded with a promise of the next vacant place and permission to be present at their meetings.

In 1657 Pellisson became secretary to the minister of finance, [[Nicolas Fouquet]], but when, in 1661, Fouquet was arrested, his secretary was imprisoned in the [[Bastille]]. Pellisson had the courage to stand by his fallen patron, in whose defence he issued his celebrated ''Mémoire'' in 1661, with the title ''Discours au roi, par un de ses fidèles sujets sur le procès de M. de Fouquet'', in which the facts in favour of Fouquet are marshalled with great skill. Another pamphlet, ''Seconde défense de M. Fouquet'', followed.

Pellisson was released in 1666, and sought the royal favour. He became official [[historian]] to [[Louis XIV of France|the king]], and in that capacity wrote a fragmentary ''Histoire de Louis XIV'', covering the years 1660 to 1670. In 1670 he was converted to [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholicism]] and obtained rich ecclesiastical preferment.

He was very intimate with [[Madeleine de Scudéry|Mlle de Scudéry]], in whose novels he figures as ''Herminius'' and ''Acante''. He had many friends, and [[Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy|Bussy-Rabutin]]'s described him as "''encore plus honnête homme que bel esprit''."

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Pellisson, Paul}} This work in turn cites:
**[[Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve|Sainte-Beuve]], ''Causeries du lundi'', vol. xiv.;
**[[F. L. Marcon]], ''Étude sur la vie et les œuvres de Pellisson'' (1859)

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Paul Pellisson}}

{{Académie française Seat 34}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pellisson, Paul}}
[[Category:1624 births]]
[[Category:1693 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Béziers]]
[[Category:University of Toulouse alumni]]

[[Category:People from Languedoc]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Calvinism]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:17th-century French writers]]
[[Category:17th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:French male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:French historiographers]]