author
Jean Héroard
1551–1628
A royal physician with a meticulous eye, he is best remembered for the extraordinary journal he kept on the childhood and health of the future Louis XIII. That record turned a court doctor into an important witness to everyday life in early seventeenth-century France.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in 1551, Jean Héroard was a French physician and anatomist who served at the royal court. He became closely associated with the household of the future Louis XIII and rose to be an important medical figure in the king's service.
What makes him especially memorable today is the journal he kept for many years while attending the young dauphin. Written with unusual precision, it records the prince's health, habits, growth, and daily routine, giving historians a rare, vivid picture of court life and childhood in Bourbon France.
Héroard died in 1628 while still in royal service. Though he was a physician by profession, his lasting reputation comes just as much from his powers of observation as from his medical work.