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LANGUET, HUBERT (1518-1581)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 181 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LANGUET, See also:HUBERT (1518-1581) , See also:French Huguenot writer and diplomat, was See also:born at Vitteaux in See also:Burgundy, of which See also:town his See also:father was See also:governor. He received his See also:early See also:education from a distinguished Hellenist, See also:Jean Perelle, and displayed remarkable ability in See also:Greek and Latin. He studied See also:law, See also:theology and See also:science at the university of See also:Poitiers from 1536 to 1539; then, after some travel, attended the See also:universities of See also:Bologna and See also:Padua, receiving the doctorate from the latter in 1548, At Bologna he read See also:Melanchthon's Loci communes theologiae and was so impressed by it that in 1549 he went to See also:Wittenberg to see the author, and shortly afterwards became a See also:Protestant. He made his headquarters at Wittenberg until the See also:death of Melanchthon in 156o, although during that See also:period, as well as throughout the See also:rest of his See also:life, he travelled extensively in See also:France, See also:Italy, See also:Spain, See also:Germany, See also:Sweden, and even See also:Finland and See also:Lapland. In 1557 he declined the invitation of Gustavus I. to enter the service of Sweden, but two years later accepted a similar invitation of See also:Augustus I., elector of See also:Saxony. He showed See also:great ability in See also:diplomacy, particularly in organizing the Protestants. He represented the elector at the French See also:court from 1561 to 1J72 except when the religious and See also:political troubles in France occasionally compelled him temporarily to withdraw. He performed many See also:minor See also:diplomatic See also:missions for the elector, and in 1567 accompanied him to the See also:siege of See also:Gotha. He delivered a violent harangue before See also:Charles IX. of France in 1570 on behalf of the Protestant princes, and escaped death on St See also:Bartholomew's See also:Day (1572) only through the intervention of Jean de Morvilliers, the moderate and influential See also:bishop of See also:Orleans. He represented the elector of Saxony at the imperial court from 1573 to 1577. See also:Financial embarrassment and disgust at the Protestant controversies in which he was forced to participate caused him to seek recall from the imperial court. His See also:request being granted, Languet spent the last years of his life mainly in the See also:Low Countries, and though nominally still in the service of the elector, he undertook a See also:mission to See also:England for See also:John Casimir of See also:Bavaria and was a valuable adviser to See also:William the Silent, See also:prince of See also:Orange.

Languet died at See also:

Antwerp on the 3oth of See also:September 1581. His See also:correspondence is important for the See also:history of the 16th See also:century. Three See also:hundred and twenty-nine letters to Augustus of Saxony dating from the 17th of See also:November 1565 to the 8th of September 1581, and one hundred and eleven letters to the See also:chancellor Mordeisen dating from November 1559 to the summer of 1565, are preserved in MS. in the Saxon archives, and were published by Ludovicus at See also:Halle in 1699 See also:miller the See also:title Arcana seculi decimi sexti. One hundred and eight letters to See also:Camerarius were published at See also:Groningen in 1646 under the title Langueti Epistolae ad Joach. Camerarium, patrem el filium; and ninety-six to his great friend See also:Sir See also:Philip See also:Sidney, dating from the 22nd of See also:April 1573 to the 28th of See also:October 158o, appeared at See also:Frankfort in 1633 and have been translated into See also:English by S. A. See also:Pears (See also:London, 1845). The Historica Descriptio of the siege and See also:capture of Gotha appeared in 1568 and has been translated into French and See also:German. The authorship of the See also:work by which Languet is best known has been disputed. It is entitled Vindiciae contra tyrannos, sive de principis in populum populique in principem legitima potestate, See also:Stephan(' Junio Bruto Celia auctore, and is thought to have been published at See also:Basel (1579) See also:LANIER 181 although it bears the imprint of See also:Edinburgh. It has been attributed to See also:Beza, See also:Hotman, See also:Casaubon and Duplessis-See also:Mornay, by See also:divers writers on various grounds—to the last-named on the very respectable authority of See also:Grotius. The authorship of Languet was supported by See also:Peter See also:Bayle (for reasons stated in the See also:form of a supplement to the Dictionnaire) and confirmed by practically all later writers.

The work has been frequently reprinted, the See also:

Leipzig edition (1846) containing a life of Languet by See also:Treitschke. A French See also:translation appeared in 1581 and an English translation in 1689. The work upholds the See also:doctrine of resistance, but affirms that resistance must come from properly constituted authorities and See also:objects to anything which savours of anabaptism or other extreme views. The Apologie ou See also:defence du See also:tees illustre Prince See also:Guillaume contre le See also:ban et l'edit du roi d'Espagne (See also:Leiden, 1581) is sometimes attributed to Languet. There seems little doubt, however, that it was really the work of the prince himself, with the help either of Languet (Groen See also:van Prinsterer, Archives) or of See also:Pierre de See also:Villiers (See also:Motley, Rise of the Dutch See also:Republic; and Blok, History of the See also:People of the See also:Netherlands). See Ph. de la See also:Mare, See also:Vie d'Hubert Languet (Halle, 1700) ; E. and E. Haag, La France protestante; H. See also:Chevreul, Hubert Languet (See also:Paris. 1852); J. Blasel, Hubert Languet (See also:Breslau, 1872); O. Scholz, Hubert Languet als kursachsischer Berichterstatter u. Gesandter in Frankreich wahrend 1560–1572 (Halle, 1875) ; G.

Touchard, De politica Huberti Langueti (Paris, 1898). There is a See also:

good See also:article on Languet by P. Tschackert in Hauck's Real-Encyklopadie, 3rd ed., xi. 274-280.

End of Article: LANGUET, HUBERT (1518-1581)

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