The Life of Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc

BOOK ONE

17

1580.

He was called Fabrius, or Fabricius. At this point, I should mention a confusion original: "æquivocatio" made by the remarkably learned John Selden. While citing a certain Nicolas Fabre mentioned by Baronius Cesare Baronio was a famous Catholic cardinal and historian, who was the tutor of the most Christian King Louis XIII, Selden mistook that man for our Peiresc. In his preface to the history by Eadmer of Canterbury, and when mentioning the letters of Lanfranc found in the eleventh volume of Baronius’s Annals, Selden says: If I am not mistaken, he acknowledges that he received a copy of them from the most famous and learned man, Nicolas Fabre Peiresc, a most worthy judge of the court at Aix, and a friend I hold in the highest regard. While Baronius does indeed cite a Nicolas Fabre, he adds that he is from Paris. He does not use the name Peiresc. Our Peiresc took that title from a mountain town in his mother’s family estate. In Latin this is Petriscum, and in the common tongue Peiresc. This is the origin of his famous name. To ensure it is pronounced correctly, we use the form Peireskius. We do not say Perescius, Perezius, or other similar versions as many people do.

Furthermore, when he was barely two months old, it is said that an old witch entered the bedroom. She threw down an axe she was holding in front of the mother and said she was returning it. From that moment, the mother lost her voice and the infant lost his cry. Additionally, the heads of both the mother and the child were bent down toward one shoulder. Their necks became so stiff they could not be moved. They add that his uncle, upon learning what happened, ordered the old woman to be beaten. She was found under a chimney with her own neck twisted. As soon as she raised her head to say she had been beaten enough, she announced what had actually happened: that the mother and the infant were now healthy. I heard of this event not only from others, but from Peiresc himself. He recalled how his uncle used to tell the story. This is a truly remarkable thing, if the old...