DAUPHINE

dauphine, one of the old provinces (the name being still in current use in the country) of pre-revolutionary france, in the south-east portion of france, between provence and savoy; since 1790 it forms the departments of the isere, the drome and the hautes alpes. after the death of the last king of burgundy, rudolf iii., in 1032, the territories known later as dauphine (as part of his realm) reverted to the far-distant emperor. much confusion followed, out of which the counts of albon (between valence and vienne) gradually came to the front. the first dynasty ended in 1162 with guigue v., whose daughter and heiress, beatrice, carried the possessions of her house to her husband, hugh iii., duke of burgundy. their son, andre, continued the race, this second dynasty making many territorial acquisitions, among them (by marriage) the embrunais and the gapencais in 1232. in 1282 the second dynasty ended in another heiress, anna, who carried all to her husband, humbert, lord of la tour du pin (between lyons and grenoble). the title of the chief of the house was count (later dauphin) of the viennois, _not_ of dauphine. (for the origin of the terms dauphin and dauphine see dauphin.) humbert ii. (1333-1349), grandson of the heiress anna, was the last independent dauphin, selling his dominions in 1349 to charles of valois, who on his accession to the throne of france as charles v. bestowed dauphine on his eldest son, and the title was borne by all succeeding eldest sons of the kings of france. in 1422 the diois and the valentinois, by the will of the last count, passed to the eldest son of charles vi., and in 1424 were annexed to the dauphine. louis (1440-1461), later louis xi. of france, was the last dauphin who occupied a semi-independent position, dauphine being annexed to the crown in 1456. the suzerainty of the emperor (who in 1378 had named the dauphin "imperial vicar" within dauphine and provence) gradually died out. in the 16th century the names of the reformer guillaume farel (1489-1565) and of the duke of lesdiguieres (1543-1626) are prominent in dauphine history. the "states" of dauphine (dating from about the middle of the 14th century) were suspended by louis xiii. in 1628, but their unauthorized meeting (on the 21st of july 1788) in the tennis court (_salle du jeu de paume_) of the castle of vizille, near grenoble, was one of the earliest premonitory signs of the great french revolution of 1789. it was at laffrey, near grenoble, that napoleon (march 7th, 1815) was first acclaimed by his old soldiers sent to arrest him. bibliography.--j. brun-durand, _dictionnaire topographique du departement de la drome_ (paris, 1891); jules chevalier, _essai historique sur l'eglise et la ville de die_, montelimar and valence (2 vols., 1888 and 1896); w. a. b. coolidge, h. duhamel and felix perrin, _climbers' guide to the central alps of the dauphiny_ (a revision of a french work by the same, issued at grenoble in 1887), london, 1892 (new ed. 1905); j. j. guiffrey, _histoire de la reunion du dauphine a la france_ (paris, 1868); joanne, _dauphine_ (paris, 1905); a. prudhomme, _histoire de grenoble_ (grenoble, 1888); ib., "de l'origine des mots 'dauphin' et dauphine" (article in vol. liv. (1893) of the _bibliotheque de l'ecole des chartes_); a. rochas, _biographie du dauphine_ (2 vols., paris, 1856); j. roman, _dictionnaire topographique_ (paris, 1884); _tableau historique_ (paris, 2 vols., 1887 and 1890); and _repertoire archeologique du departement des hautes-alpes_ (paris, 1888); j. roman, _histoire de la ville de gap_ (gap, 1892); a. de terrebasse, _notice sur les dauphins de viennois_ (vienne, 1875); j. m. de valbonnais, _histoire de dauphine_ (2 vols., geneva, 1722); j. a. felix faure, _les assemblees de vizille et de romans_, 1788 (paris, 1887); o. chenavas, _la revolution de 1788 en dauphine_ (grenoble, 1888); c. lory, _description geologique du dauphine_ (paris, 1860). (w. a. b. c.) daurat (or dorat), jean (in lat. auratus), (1508-1588), french poet and scholar, and member of the pleiade, was born at limoges in 1508. his name was originally dinemandy. he belonged to a noble family, and, after studying at the college of limoges, came up to paris to be presented to francis i., who made him tutor to his pages. he rapidly gained an immense reputation as a classical scholar. as a private tutor in the house of lazare de baif, he had j. a. de baif for his pupil. his son, louis, showed great precocity, and at the age of ten translated into french verse one of his father's latin pieces; his poems were published with his father's. jean daurat became the director of the college de coqueret, where he had among his pupils, besides baif, ronsard, remy, belleau and pontus de tyard. joachim du bellay was added by ronsard to this group; and these five young poets, under the direction of daurat, formed a society for the reformation of the french language and literature. they increased their number to seven by the initiation of the dramatist etienne jodelle, and thereupon they named themselves la pleiade, in emulation of the seven greek poets of alexandria. the election of daurat as their president proved the weight of his personal influence, and the value his pupils set on the learning to which he introduced them, but as a writer of french verse he is the least important of the seven. meanwhile he collected around him a sort of academy, and stimulated the students on all sides to a passionate study of greek and latin poetry. he himself wrote incessantly in both those languages, and was styled the modern pindar. his influence extended beyond the bounds of his own country, and he was famous as a scholar in england, italy and germany. in 1556 he was appointed professor of greek at the college royale, a post which he continued to hold until, in 1567, he resigned it in favour of his nephew, nicolas goulu. charles ix. gave him the title of _poeta regius_. his flow of language was the wonder of his time; he is said to have composed more than 15,000 greek and latin verses. the best of these he published at paris in 1586 as _j. aurati lemovicis poetae et interpretis regii poemata_. he died at paris on the 1st of november 1588, having survived all his illustrious pupils of the pleiade, except pontus de tyard. he was a little, restless man, of untiring energy, rustic in manner and appearance. his unequalled personal influence over the most graceful minds of his age gives him an importance in the history of literature for which his own somewhat vapid writings do not fully account. the _oeuvres poetiques_ in the vernacular of jean daurat were edited (1875) with biographical notice and bibliography by ch. marty-laveaux in his _pleiade francaise_.