Conrart, Valentin

Valentin Conrart, (born 1603, Paris, Fr.—died Sept. 23, 1675, Paris), man of letters and authority on grammar and style, known as the practical inaugurator of Classicism in French literature through his leading role in the founding of the Académie Française.

The son of a Huguenot merchant from Valenciennes, Conrart was brought up in pious austerity and was never taught Latin or Greek, although he learned Italian and Spanish as soon as he was free of his father’s tutelage. He bought himself an appointment as king’s counselor-secretary in 1627, introduced himself into literary society, and began to build up a great library.

From around 1629, writers met every week in Conrart’s house. This meeting was the nucleus of the Académie Française, which was formed in 1634–35, with Conrart himself appropriately nominated as its permanent secretary. Thereafter he made himself the “tyrant” of the French language, correcting the spelling, grammar, and word order in the manuscripts and printers’ proofs of the works of many writers whose creative or imaginative genius was greater than his own.

Of Conrart’s original writings, the only ones that have proved to be of lasting interest are his honest records of events in Paris during the Fronde (the insurrections against the government of Cardinal Mazarin), together with a few extended notes on miscellaneous persons of historical or literary significance. Conrart’s voluminous files, which are preserved in the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal in Paris, provide valuable information for students of the period.