Germain Habert

rdf:langString Germain Habert

rdf:langString Germain Habert de Cérisy (1610 – May 1654) was a French churchman and poet. He was abbot of Saint-Vigor. Germain Habert was born in Paris. He was the cousin of Henri Louis Habert de Montmor, brother of Philippe Habert and like Philippe a friend of Conrart (king's almoner and commendatory abbot of Cerisy) he was elected a member of the Académie française from its foundation in 1634. He was the author of a Life of cardinal Bérulle (1654), paraphrases of the Psalms (1663 & 1665) and poems, including Phyllidis oculi in astra metamorphosis or the Métamorphose des yeux de Philis en astres (Metamorphosis of Phyllis's eyes into stars, 1677). He died in Paris. Voltaire said in his Siècle de Louis XIV that Germain: was of the time of the dawn of good taste and of the establishment of the Académie française. His Métamorphose des yeux de Philis en astres, a poem, 1639, was vaunted as a masterwork, and ceased to appear as soon as good authors arrived. (Catalogue de la plupart des écrivains français qui ont paru dans le Siècle de Louis XIV, pour servir à l’histoire littéraire de ce temps, 1751). He was one of those whom Richelieu charged with criticising Le Cid.