Etienne Pascal

Etienne Pascal (born the May 2nd 1588 with Clermont - died with Paris the September 24th 1651), gentleman, adviser of the king for the basic election Auvergne, then second president with the Court of the assistances of Montferrand and finally, after one period of disgrace, first president at the Court of the assistances of Normandy, was an active member of the academy of the Père Mersenne.

Wire of Martin Pascal of Mons, treasurer of the king, it makes his studies with the Sorbonne of 1608 to 1610, then acquires the responsibility of advising of the king for the basic election Auvergne. He marries Antoinette Bégon († 1626), girl of colleagues of the Parliament of Auvergne, from which he has four children: Antonia (1617-1617), Gilberte (1620-1674), Blaise (1623-1662) and Jacqueline (1625-1661).

In 1624, it acquires the load of second president to the Cour of the assistances of Montferrand and, with died of his wife, undertakes to only educate his children. After the failure of its candidature for the post of first president of the court of the assistances in 1631, it decides to move with its family in Paris, where it will be able to give free course to his passion for sciences. To secure a revenue, Etienne Pascal places the product of the sale of his load of president at the Court of the Assistances on the revenues of the Town hall of Paris (equivalent at the time with the good of the Treasury) and normally guaranteed by the king.

But in 1638, the chancellor Séguier, noting the cost of the wars, must postpone the payment of the interests. This decision causes a protest of the creditors, that the government undertakes to repress. Etienne Pascal, who was identified among the leaders, is constrained to hide in Auvergne, and it is only following one compliment addressed by his/her Jacqueline daughter to the queen for the birth of the future Louis XIV that it returns in grace. In January 1640, it is named with Rouen as a police chief of the king for the lifting of the sizes. He will exert this function until his suppression, requested by the Parliament from the beginning of the Fronde, in May 1648.

The passion of Etienne Pascal for sciences was well-known in Paris. Friend the Roberval one, it proposed the study of a curve derived from the circle, the snail. He was charged by Richelieu, with Pierre Hérigone and Claude Mydorge, to establish if the method determination of longitudes proposed by Jean-Baptiste Morin starting from the phases of the Moon were practicable and were to be rewarded.

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