François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac (August 4, 1604 - July 25, 1676), French author, was born at Paris. August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining. ... Events January 14 – Hampton Court conference with James I of England, the Anglican bishops and representatives of Puritans September 20 - Capture of Ostend by Spanish forces under Ambrosio Spinola after a three year siege. ... July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... Events January 29 - Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia First measurement of the speed of light, by Ole Rømer Bacons Rebellion Russo-Turkish Wars commence. ... The word author has several meanings: The author of a book, story, article or the like, is the person who has written it (or is writing it). ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...

His father practised at the Paris bar, and his mother was a daughter of the great surgeon Ambroise Paré. Francois Hédelin was educated for his father's profession, but, after practising some time at Nemours he abandoned law, took holy orders, amd was appointed tutor to one of Richelieu's nephews, the duc de Fronsac. This patronage secured for him the abbey Aubignac and of Mainac. The death of the duc de Fronsac 1646 put an end to hopes of further preferment, and the abbé d'Aubignac retired to Nemours, occupying himself with literature till his death. Ambroise Paré. Ambroise Paré ( 1510- 1590) was a French surgeon, the official royal surgeon for kings Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. Paré was born in Bourg en Hersent, near Laval in Mayenne. ... Cardinal Richelieu was the French chief minister from 1624 until his death. ...

He took an energetic share in the literary controversies of his time. Against Gilles Ménage he wrote a Térence justifié (1656); he laid claim having originated the idea of the Carte de tendre of Mlle de Scudéry's Clélié; and after being a professed admirer of Corneille turned against him because he had neglected to mention the abbé in his Discours sur le poème dramatique. He was the author four tragedies: La Cyminde (1642), La Pucelle d'Orléans (1642), Zénobie (1647) and Le Martyre de Sainte Catherine (1650). Zénobie was written with the intention of affording a model in which the strict rules of the drama, as understood by the theorists, were served. Gilles Ménage (Angers, August 15, 1613 - Paris, July 23, 1692), was a French scholar. ... Madeleine de Scudéry (November 15, 1607 _ June 2, 1701), often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer. ... Pierre Corneille (June 6, 1606–October 1, 1684) was one of the three great dramatists produced by France during the 17th century, along with Molière and Racine. ...

In the choice of subjects for his plays, he seems to have been guided by a desire to illustrate the various kinds of tragedy--patriotic, antique and religious. The dramatic authors whom he was in the habit of criticizing were not slow to take advantage of the opportunity for retaliation offered by the production of these mediocre plays.

It is as a theorist that Aubignac still arrests attention. It has been proved that to Jean Chapelain belongs the credit of having been the first to play so large a part in the history of the French stage; but the laws of dramatic method and construction generally were codified by d'Aubignac in his Pratique du théâtre. The book was only published in 1657, but had been begun at the desire of Richelieu as early as 1640. Jean Chapelain (December 4, 1595 - February 22, 1674) was a French poet and writer. ...

His Conjectures académiques ou dissertation sur l'Iliade d'Homère, which was not published until nearly forty years after his death, threw doubts on the existence of Homer, and anticipated in some sense the conclusions of Friedrich August Wolf in his Prolegomena ad Homerum (1795). Bust of Homer in the British Museum For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... Friedrich August Wolf (February 15, 1750 - August 8, 1824) was a German philologist and critic. ...

The contents of the Pratique du théâtre are summarized by Ferdinand Brunetière in his notice of Aubignac in the Grande Encyclopédie. See also G Saintsbury, Hist. of Criticism, bk v., and Hippolyte Rigault, Histoire de la querelle des anciens et modernes (1859). Ferdinand Brunetière (July 19, 1849 - December 9, 1906) was a French writer and critic. ... George Edward Bateman Saintsbury (October 23, 1845 - 1933), was an English writer and critic. ...