Melchior de Polignac

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Melchior de Polignac

Melchior Cardinal de Polignac (11 October 1661 – 20 November 1742) was a French diplomat,

Cardinal and Neo-Latin
poet.

Second son of

Auvergne
.

Education and early career

A precocious child, he was taken by his uncle to Paris,

Innocent XII (Pignatelli).[3]

At an early age he achieved recognition as a diplomat. In 1693 he was sent as ambassador to

Congress of Utrecht
, and this time a peace was concluded.

Character portrait

The Duc de Saint-Simon provides a character portrait of the Abbé de Polignac around the end of 1705, as he was trying to restart his career and climb back into the notice of the French government, in particular the Duc de Bourbon—a portrait full of Saint-Simon's usual snobbery and malevolence:[5]

"The Abbe de Polignac, after his adventures in Poland and the exile which followed them, came back to the surface. He was a tall man, very well made, with a handsome face, much cleverness, and above all, grace and polished manners; all kinds of knowledge, a most agreeable way of expressing himself, a touching voice, a gentle eloquence, insinuating, manly, exact in terms, charming in style, a gift of speech that was wholly his own; all about him was original and persuasive; amusing in narratives; possessed of a smattering of all the arts, all the manufactures, all the professions. In whatever belonged to his own, that is, learning and the ecclesiastical calling, he was rather less versed. … In other respects he was wholly occupied with his own ambition, without friendship, without gratitude, without any feeling except for himself; false, lax, indifferent to the means of success; without restraint from God or man, but always with a cloak of delicacy which gave him dupes; above all, a libertine, more from facility, coquetry, ambition, than from natural debauchery; so that while the heart was false and the soul not upright, his judgment was nil, his actions erroneous, his mind inaccurate, which, in spite of the most gracious and deceptive exterior, caused the failure in his hands of every enterprise intrusted to him.

"With a face and talents so fitted to impress others, he was aided by his birth, to which, however, his property did not respond; but that fact dispelled all envy and conciliated favour and good will. The most amiable ladies of the Court, those even of advanced age, the men most distinguished for place or reputation, the persons of both sexes who chiefly set the tone,—he won them all. Even the King succumbed to him through M. du Maine, to whose wife he was devoted. He was on all the Marly trips, end every one was eager to enjoy his charms; he had them for all sorts of conditions, persons, and minds...."

Literary prestige

On 26 May 1704 Abbé de Polignac was elected to the

Académie royale des sciences, and was its President several times. In 1717, he became a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
.

He left unfinished a refutation of Lucretius, written in Latin verse,[8] mostly during his first exile, and published after his death by the abbé de Rothelin (Anti-Lucretius, 1745).[9] Lucretius' poem, De rerum natura, had also been left unpublished at that poet's death, and was published through the efforts of Cicero, according to Jerome. Polignac's poem was very popular in the eighteenth century and translated several times: for example, Jean-Pierre de Bougainville translated it into French prose in 1749,[10] and François-Joseph Bérardier de Bataut translated it in French verse in 1786. It was translated into English by George Canning in 1766 in a self-published tome. It is now forgotten.

Ecclesiastical career

Pope

Bishop of Amiens.[14] After the Conclave, on 27 September, the new Pope named him Cardinal Deacon of S. Maria in Porticu. Polignac immediately wrote an account of the Conclave and sent it off to the new First Minister of Louis XV, Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon.[15] The Duke was so highly impressed by the report, both in content and style, that he had the King name Polignac French Chargé d'affaires to the Holy See, a post he held until 1732.[16]
He was thus absent from France for eight years.

On 20 November

Clement XII (Corsini).[18]
He did not, at the age of 78, travel to Rome for the Conclave of 1740.

His position in French society

During the last years of Louis XIV, Abbé de Polignac enjoyed the position of Master of the King's Chapel (1713–1716).

Archbishopric of Auch.[21] He was consecrated in Rome by Pope Benedict XIII. In 1728 he was granted the Collar of the Order of the Holy Spirit
.

Death

"Hôtel de Polignac", No. 88 rue Bonaparte in Paris.

He died at his home in what is now 80–88 rue Bonaparte in the 6th Arondissement in Paris (also known as the Hôtel de Polignac), on 20 November 1742, at the age of 80, of "hydropsie". He was buried in the Church of S. Sulpice in Paris.[22] At the time of his death, he was also Abbot of Begars, Mouron, and Corbie; and Prior of Montdidier, Voute-sur-Loire, and Nagent le Rotron.[23] After his death Frederick the Great bought his acclaimed collection of marble statues, which he had collected through his archaeological work in Rome.[24]

References

  1. ^ Faucher, I, p. 6.
  2. ^ Bullarium Romanum (Turin 1870) vol. 20, p. 4; Giovanni Mario Crescimbeni, Vite degli Arcadi illustri V (Roma 1750), 206
  3. ^ Bullarium Romanum Vol. 20 (Turin edition 1870), p. 170.
  4. ^ Faucher, II, 4–98.
  5. ^ Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon (tr. K.P. Wormeley) I (Boston 1899), 311–313.
  6. ^ "Melchior de POLIGNAC | Académie française". www.academie-francaise.fr. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  7. ^ His address to the Académie Française on his inauguration is printed in the Eloge by M. de Boze, in M. de Genoude, La Raison de Christianité Tome second (Paris 1841, 220–231, at pp. 227–229).
  8. ^ Melchior de Polignac, Anti-Lucretius, sive De Deo et natura, libri novem (C. d'Orléans de Rothelin curâ & studio ed. mandatum) 2 vols. (London: apud Johannem Nourse 1748).
  9. ^ Casimir Alexandre Fusil, L'anti-Lucrèce du cardinal de Polignac: contribution à l'etude de la pensée philosophique et scientifique dans le premier tiers du XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Éditions Scientifica, 1917).
  10. ^ L'anti-Lucrece, poème sur la religion naturelle, composé par M. le cardinal de Polignac; traduit par M. de Bougainville, de l'Académie Royale des Belles-Lettres, (Paris 1749).
  11. ^ Pierre La Croix and Jean Arnaud, Mémoire historique sur les Institutions de la France à Rome (Rome 1892), p. 33.
  12. ^ "Eloge", Histoire de l' Académie des sciences (1744), p. 186-187.
  13. ^ Conclave of 1724 (J.P. Adams).
  14. ^ E. A. Escallier, L' Abbaye d' Anchin, 1079–1792 (Lille 1852), pp. 487–488.
  15. ^ Faucher, II, pp. 99–100.
  16. ^ Pierre La Croix and Jean Arnaud, Mémoire historique sur les Institutions de la France à Rome (Rome 1892), p. 160.
  17. ^ Pier Antonio Corsignani, "Vita del Cardinale Melchiorre di Polignac," in G. M. Crescimbeni, Vite degli illustri Arcadi V, 203–224, at 214.
  18. ^ "SEDE VACANTE 1730". www.csun.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  19. ^ "Eloge", Histoire de l' Académie des sciences (1744), p. 189.
  20. ^ E. A. Escallier, L' Abbaye d' Anchin, 1079–1792 (Lille 1852), pp. 488–489.
  21. ^ L.-C. de Brugules, Chroniques ecclesiastiques du diocese d' Auch (Toulouse 1746), pp. 174–175.
  22. ^ Guarnacci, p. 253.
  23. ^ L.-C. de Brugules, Chroniques ecclesiastiques du diocese d' Auch (Toulouse 1746), p. 174.
  24. ^ A. Dostert, "Die Antikensammlung des Kardinals Melchior de Polignac," Antikensammlungen des europäischen Adels im 18. Jahrhundert als Ausdruck einer europäischen Identität (edited by D. Boschung and H. von Hesberg) (Mainz 2000), pp. 191–198 [Monumenta Artis romanae 27].

Bibliography

  • Melchior de Polignac, Copie d'une lettre de Monsieur l'Abbé de Polignac, à Monsieur de Chasteau-Neuf (Villeneuve 1695).
  • Melchior de Polignac, Lettre de Monsieur Labbee de Polignac, a Monsieur le Grand Pensionaire Heinsius, avec la resolution ... les Seigneurs Etats Generaux des Provinces-Unies des Pays-Bas, du 23 et du 27 Juillet 1710 (Geertruydenbergh ce 20. de Juillet 1710).
  • Deslandes de Lancelot, Troisieme memoire signifié pour M. le Cardinal de Polignac, Archevêque d'Auch. Contre le sieur Marchal Econome Sequestre (Paris: De l'Imprimerie de Christophe David, 1738).
  • Anonymous, "Eloge de M. le Cardinal de Polignac," Histoire de l' Academie royale des sciences, Annee M.DCCXLI. (Paris: Imprimerie royale 1744), 180–200.
  • Mario Guarnacci, Vitae et res gestae Pontificum Romanorum et S.R.E. Cardinalium Tomus secundus (Romae 1751), 247–250.
  • Lorenzo Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Ecclesia Tomo Ottavo (Roma: Pagliarini 1794), pp. 149–152.
  • Chrysostome Faucher, O.Min., Histoire du Cardinal de Polignac 2 vols. (Paris 1780).
  • Hippolyte de la Porte, "Polignac (Melchior de)," Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne (Paris: chez L. G. Michaud 1823), 184–188.
  • Le Baron de ****, Maison de Polignac: précis historique orné du portrait de M. le prince Jules de Polignac, président du Conseil des ministers (Paris: L. F. Hivert et chez les Libraires de nouveautés, 1830), pp. 75–153.
  • Léon, comte de Bastard d'Estang (1864). Négociations de l' abbé de Polignac en Pologne concernant l' élection du prince de Conti comme roi de Pologne (1696–1697). Auxerre: G. Perriquet. (in French)
  • P. Paul, Le Cardinal Melchior de Polignac (Paris, 1922).
  • Ulysse Rouchon, La Mission Du Cardinal Melchior de Polignac À Rome, 1724–1732 (Paris 1927).
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Polignac". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

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