Project Gutenberg 2025-08-01 Public domain in the USA. 646 Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de 1768 1848 Chateaubriand, Francois-Rene, vicomte de Chateaubriand, F.-A. de (François-Auguste) Chateaubriand, François Auguste René, vicomte de De Chateaubriand, François-René Chateaubriand, François René Chateaubriand, François-René de Chateaubriand, F. R. de Vie de Rancé $aParis :$bH.-L. Delloye, $c1844. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vie_de_Ranc%C3%A9 Laurent Vogel (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica)) "Vie de Rancé" by vicomte de François-René Chateaubriand is a religious biography written in the mid-19th century. It traces the life and conversion of Armand-Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, the severe reformer of La Trappe, set against the glitter and turmoil of 17th‑century France. Drawing on earlier chronicles and the author’s meditative asides, it contrasts courtly salons and worldly ambition with monastic austerity to probe the moral drama of renunciation. Readers interested in spiritual history and vivid portraits of the ancien régime will find it compelling. The opening of this work begins with a dedication to the humble Abbé Séguin and brief prefaces in which the writer explains his motives and his late-life perspective. It then launches into Rancé’s early life through Don Pierre Le Nain: a prodigy favored by Richelieu, author of a youthful Anacreon, loaded with benefices, brilliant in studies, and moving among Bossuet, Retz, and the great salons during the Fronde. Long, incisive sketches of Hôtel de Rambouillet society, précieuses, Ninon de Lenclos, Madame de Sévigné, and others frame Rancé’s own worldliness—his hunting, finery, ambition, near-fatal accidents, a secret first Mass, and a deepening unease. The narrative also introduces his attachment to the duchess de Montbazon and, at the start of the second book, surveys the disputed story of his conversion—Larroque’s sensational tale of a shocking deathbed scene versus sober rebuttals by Saint‑Simon and Trappist biographers—ending with the clear sense that her death and his retreat to Veretz mark the first real break with the world. (This is an automatically generated summary.) https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k10456427 20250703111520chateaubri 1844 FR Reading ease score: 72.6 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. fr Rancé, Armand Jean Le Bouthillier de, 1626-1700 BX Text Category: Biographies Category: History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750) Category: History - Religious Category: Religion/Spirituality 417903 2025-08-01T11:00:38.678769 text/html 393257 2025-08-01T09:56:12 text/html 331140 2025-08-01T11:00:53.812714 application/epub+zip 337177 2025-08-01T11:00:45.595710 application/epub+zip 262219 2025-08-01T11:00:40.974754 application/epub+zip 605585 2025-08-01T11:01:01.696647 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 585033 2025-08-01T11:00:53.367720 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 388614 2025-08-01T11:00:38.069824 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 368794 2025-08-01T09:56:12 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 5229 2025-08-01T11:01:01.859639 application/rdf+xml 12479 2025-08-01T11:00:45.243748 image/jpeg 2349 2025-08-01T11:00:45.087698 image/jpeg 289276 2025-08-01T11:00:38.716777 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog fr.wikipedia en.wikipedia