Pierre Corneille

6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684

Pierre Corneille (1606-1684) was a French tragedian and one of the three great dramatists of seventeenth-century France, alongside Molière and Racine. His play Le Cid (1637) sparked one of the most famous literary controversies of the age and helped found French classical tragedy.

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Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Pierre Corneille.

Life events

Born in Rouen, Normandy
6 June 1606

Pierre Corneille was born on 6 June 1606 in Rouen into a family of lawyers and officials.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Educated at the Jesuit college in Rouen
c. 1615

Corneille studied with the Jesuits at the Collège de Bourbon in Rouen, where he excelled in Latin rhetoric.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Licensed as a lawyer
1624

Corneille obtained his law licence in 1624 and later held magistracies in Rouen while pursuing his writing career.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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First play, the comedy Mélite, staged in Paris
c. 1629

Corneille's debut comedy Mélite was performed in Paris around 1629-1630 and proved a popular success, launching his theatrical career.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Premiere of Le Cid and the ensuing 'Querelle du Cid'
January 1637

Le Cid, first performed in early 1637, was a huge popular triumph but ignited a fierce controversy over the classical dramatic rules, adjudicated by the newly founded Académie française.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Wrote the great tragedies Horace, Cinna, and Polyeucte
1640 – 1643

Between 1640 and 1643 Corneille produced a sequence of Roman tragedies that defined the heroic ideals of French classical drama.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Married Marie de Lampérière
1641

In 1641 Corneille married Marie de Lampérière, with whom he had seven children.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Elected to the Académie française
1647

Corneille was elected to the Académie française in 1647, occupying seat 14.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Moved from Rouen to Paris
1662

In 1662 Corneille and his family settled permanently in Paris, where he continued writing for the stage in rivalry with the younger Racine.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died in Paris
1 October 1684

Pierre Corneille died at his home in Paris on 1 October 1684 and was buried in the church of Saint-Roch.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓