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1635
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This date is supported by the
website of the Académie Française
( ).
Founded as Académie Françoise
by the Cardinal de Richelieuin 1635 as a literary academy,
the Académie has had a continuous
existence to the
present day, excepting an interruption (1793 - 1803) resulting from the
political turmoil of the
French Revolution.
(Information from the
website of the Académie Française
().
On 1793, August 8, it was suspended by the revolutionary Convention
Nationale, when
the latter decreed the abolition of
"toutes les académies et sociétés
littéraires patentées ou dotées par la Nation"
[all academies and learned societies licensed or endowed by the
Nation]
(Institut de France (1995), p.299).
On the same date that the royal academies were suppressed,
the comité d'instruction publique de la
Convention was charged with preparing as soon as possible an
organizational plan for a société destinée
à l'avancement des science et des arts.
On 1795, October 25, the Convention adopted a report of Danou on the
formation of such an organization, no longer referred to as a
société but as an
institut national, and intended to cast into the shade the
splendour of all the former royal academies
(Institut de France (1995), p.19).
This organization was called the
Institut National des Sciences et Arts
(Institut de France (1995), p.20).
According to p.20 of
Institut de France (1995),
the Institut originally had the following three Classes:
- Première Classe:
Classe des Sciences Mathématiques et Physiques
[covered geometry, mechanical arts, astronomy,
experimental physics, chemistry, natural history and mineralogy, botany
and plant physiology, anatomy and zoology, medicine and surgery,
agricultural economics and the veterinary arts.]
- Deuxième Classe:
Classe des Sciences Morales et Politiques
[covered the analysis of sensations and thoughts, ethics, social science
and legislation, political economy, history and geography.]
- Troisième Classe:
Classe de Littérature et Beaux-Arts
[covered grammar, ancient languages, poetry, antiquities and monuments,
painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and oratory.]
According to p.29 of
Institut de France (1995),
Bonaparte decided, on the advice of a commission, to resurrect the former
academies, but within the bosom of the
Institut de France;
so, on 1803, January 23, the Institut was re-organized into four classes
corresponding to the academies suppressed by the Revolution.
The Deuxième Classe: Langue et Littérature
Françaises corresponded to the former
Académie Françoise.
It was not until 1816 that the designation Académie
was restored to each class:
according to a note in the
BLC to 1975, v.247, p.8,
"By a decree of the 21st March, 1816, the Institut was
remodelled and the denomination of Academy restored..."
In 1694, they published Le dictionnaire de l'Académie
françoise, the first edition of their celebrated
dictionary of the French language.
Later editions were published in 1718, 1740, 1762, 1798, 1835, 1878,
1932-1935, and 1992.
[Information from the
website of the Académie Française
()].
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