Un magistrat à l’âge baroque: Scipion Dupleix (1569–1661), and: Les Épîtres dédicatoires de Scipion Dupleix: une carrière en épîtres? (review)

In his monograph Christophe Blanquie draws the portrait of Scipion Dupleix from archives and existing scholarship in intellectual history; his edition of Dupleix’s dedicatory epistles further perfects his enterprise. Except for the last two chapters of the monograph, which focus on Dupleix’s written production (mainly philosophy and history, but also poetry and grammar) and on his political views, the perspective adopted is chronological and alternates between the domestic and local history of Dupleix, his regional and national history as an officier moyen, and the description of his successes in various courts. The domestic level locates Scipion within well-established families of Condom in Gascogne. These domestic networks primarily defined Dupleix as a staunch Catholic and a learned robin who remained committed to his city and region throughout his life. Economically, Scipion owned land through his father; his second marriage and various offices later provided him with the financial means to develop his estate. His career in Condom and in his region led him from his first office as avocat du roi (1599) to the post of assesseur criminel (he resigned in 1622), his election as consul of the city (1626), and finally his election to the Royal Council (1633): his regional expertise proved useful then in Navarre, and determined the accumulation of further offices such as first president of the newly founded siège présidial of Nérac (1639). As a man of learning, Dupleix was welcomed by Marguerite de Valois and Henri IV, and later by Richelieu, and also by financial circles and members of the Royal Council. As a magistrate in office, Dupleix remained distinct from the writer/courtier in quest of a patron. The success of his Cours de philosophie (1622), a vernacular reworking of the scholastic curriculum consisting of a Logique (1600), a Physique (1603), an Éthique (1610), and finally a Métaphysique (1610), earned him the office of maîtres des requêtes (1604) at the Court of Nérac. Later on he became historiographe du roi (1619–43) under Richelieu. His colossal historiographical output (fifteen volumes between 1621 and 1648) contributed to the political propaganda of the cardinal. As a learned magistrate involved in the religious, historiographical, and grammatical polemics of his times, Dupleix was a political, economic, and cultural trait d’union between the city, the region, and finally the Court and the Royal Council. In this respect Dupleix epitomizes the ways in which the officiers moyens contributed to the dissemination of Richelieu’s ideal of a Catholic monarchy. Dupleix promoted local and regional interests at Court and in Paris; conversely, he enforced unpopular royal policies in his region without generating open conflicts. He also put to public and domestic use the financial expertise he had acquired from his acquaintances with Parisian and provincial financial circles. The Fronde did not put an end to his activities: Dupleix had joined Condé, the new governor of Guyenne, against Mazarin. This monograph is erudite institutional and economic history: descriptions of Dupleix’s domestic economy and of his involvement in regional politics and finances are extremely precise and sometimes esoteric for a nonspecialist. Blanquie’s analyses of Dupleix’s contributions to vernacular French neoscholasticism and history call for further investigation into the context of the production and reception of his Cours de philosophie and of his translation of Clavius’s commentary on Sacrobosco, De sphaera (the standard Jesuit textbook on astronomy), and also on the background to his historiographical choices and methods. Dupleix’s ability to perform his functions relied on his crédit and autorité born from his interpersonal relationships with kings, grands, or fellow citizens. Blanquie’s edition of all (twenty-eight...