Brueys

Born in Aix-en-Provence in either 1640 or 1641, David-Augustin de Brueys was raised in a Protestant family and studied theology after first spending time on law. He became involved in religious debate, and after criticizing Bossuet, he was himself converted to Catholicism in 1681 and later entered the priesthood.

Brueys did not stay only in the world of theology. He also became known as a dramatist, writing comedies and other theatrical works, often in collaboration with Jean Palaprat. That mix of religious controversy and lively stage writing makes him an especially interesting figure in French literary history.

He died in Montpellier in November 1723. Today he is remembered less as a major canon figure than as a writer whose career crossed confessional conflict, clerical life, and the theatre in a distinctly seventeenth-century French way.