author
Jean Héroard
1551–1628
A royal physician with an unusually observant eye, he left one of the richest day-by-day records of early modern court life. His notes on the childhood of Louis XIII still fascinate historians today.
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About the author
Born in 1551, Jean Héroard was a French physician, anatomist, and early specialist in the care of horses. He served at court under the later Valois and Bourbon kings and became especially closely tied to the future Louis XIII, whose health and daily development he followed for years.
Héroard is best remembered for the journal he kept on the young king. Written with remarkable regularity, it records illnesses, routines, moods, speech, and everyday events in striking detail, making it an exceptional source for the history of childhood, medicine, and court life in early seventeenth-century France.
He also wrote on equine anatomy, which is why he is sometimes described as a pioneer in veterinary writing as well as a court doctor. He died in 1628 during the siege of La Rochelle, leaving behind a body of work valued as much for its human detail as for its medical interest.