François Fénelon

Timeline

1. 1651–1689Paris · Île-de-FranceOf noble Périgord stock, he was ordained around 1675, worked in Paris among converts, published Treatise on the Education of Girls in 1687, and moved in courtly pious circles.
2. 1689–1695Paris · Île-de-FranceIntroduced by Beauvilliers, he became tutor to Louis XIV's grandson, the Duke of Burgundy, writing dialogues and fables for the education of the heir; he was elected to the Académie française in 1693 and appointed Archbishop of Cambrai in 1695.
3. 1695–1699Cambrai · NordBecause of his closeness to Madame Guyon's spirituality of 'pure love,' he broke with his former patron Bossuet. He published Maxims of the Saints in 1697, and in 1699 twenty-three propositions were condemned by Pope Innocent XII; he was forbidden to leave his diocese and lost his court office.
4. 1699–1715Cambrai · NordHe remained in Cambrai performing his pastoral duties. His Telemachus, written for the heir, was published in 1699 and regarded as an allusion to the Sun King's warlike policies, leading to its prohibition, yet it was widely copied by hand across Europe; he died at his post in 1715.