Claude-François Ménestrier

Claude-François Ménestrier

Claude-François Ménestrier (Lyon, 1631–1705) was a French heraldist, a member of the Society of Jesus [Jesuit], and attendant of the royal court.

He put together numerous books on heraldry, and was one of the greatest heraldic authorities of his age. Ménestrier was the professor of the colleges in Chambéry, Vienne, Grenoble, and Lyon. During 1669-70 he traveled to Germany and Italy, but reached Paris and lived there to his death. He was the most widely known heraldist of his time, and was from 1622 in close correspondence with Philipp Jakob Spener, the founder of the German scientific heraldry who refused the merely symbolic interpretation of arms. Ménestrier maintained that we can know the essence of heraldry only from the sources from the age of living heraldry, but he was also influenced by the heraldic view of his age. Thus, his researches were abortive.

Works

• Histoire civile ou consulaire de la ville de Lyon, justifiée par chartres, titres, chroniques, manuscrits, autheurs anciens & modernes, & autres preuves, avec la carte de la ville, comme elle étoit il y a environ deux siécles. Lyon, Jean-Baptiste & Nicolas de Ville, 1696

External links

• "Claude-François Menestrier". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Claude-Fran%C3%A7ois_Menestrier. 

Persondata
Name	Ménestrier,Claude-François
Alternative names
Short description	French heraldist, Jesuit, courtier
Date of birth	1631
Place of birth	Lyon
Date of death	1705
Place of death