Jean Puget de la Serre

Jean Puget de la Serre (15 November 1594 – July 1665) was a French author and dramatist.

Puget de la Serre was born in Toulouse in late 1594.^[1] He was the author of more than a hundred works. He further authored several ballets which were performed in Brussels where he was part of the court of the exiled French Queen Mother, Marie de Medicis, between 1628 and 1635. He also wrote a number of plays.

Puget de la Serre returned to France some time before the death of Marie de Medicis in 1639 and was fortunate enough to be received favourably by King Louis XIII of France and the Cardinal de Richelieu, who granted him a pension of 2000 écus. Puget may have owed his good fortune to the influence of his cousin, Pierre Puget de Montauron, a leading financier of the day.^[2]

He was appointed librarian in the household of Gaston, Duke of Orléans and in 1647 became almoner to Gaston's daughter, Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans (usually known as la Grande Mademoiselle). He died at Paris in 1665.

Selected works

Histoire de l'entree de la reyne mere du roy tres-Chrestien, dans la Grande-Bretaigne, 1639

• Le Roman de la cour de Bruxelles, Spa and Aachen, 1628
• Le Tombeau des delices du monde, Brussels, 1630
• Le Bréviaire des courtisans, Brussels, 1631
• Le Miroir qui ne flatte point, 1632 (translated as The Mirrour Which Flatters Not, London, 1639)
  • Dutch edition: De Spiegel, die niet vleyd : Handelende Van de verachting der Werelt, en van de bedenkingen des Doots. van Goedesberg, Amsterdam 1667. (digital)
• Le Balet des Princes indiens, Brussels, 1634
• Mausolee erigé à la memoire d'Isabelle-Claire-Eugenie (Brussels: Jean Pepermans, 1634) Available on Google Books
• Histoire de l’entree de la reyne mere du roy tres-Chrestien, dans la Grande-Bretaigne, 1639
• Het Graf der Wereltse Vermakingen. van Goedesberg, Amsterdam 1666 (digital)
• Gedachteniße, Der Eeuwigheydt : Tot af-stervinge van des werelds ydel-heyt en verderflijkheyt ; Allen staten van menschen zeer dienstelik ; Vermeerdert met ses aandachtige Aanmerkingen ; Vertoomende waar toe de Gedachtenisse der Eeuwigheit den menschen dienen kan. van Goedesberg, Amsterdam 1667 (digital)

Notes

1. His exact date of birth was long uncertain, being commonly given as 1595 or 1600, but recent researches have fixed the date of his birth as 15 November 1594: Meyer, p. 27, note 2.
2. Meyer, p. 44.

References

• Works by Puget de la Serre at CÉSAR
• Works by or about Jean Puget de la Serre at Internet Archive
• Meyer, Véronique (2000) "Un auteur du XVIIe siècle et l’illustration de ses livres" in Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes, volume 158, number 1, available at Persée