Famous people

The year 2005 was the year of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Brillat-Savarin in Belley.
So it is quite normal for us to start our biographical notes on famous people from the Bugey area with him.

Biography of Jean-Anthelme BRILLAT-SAVARIN

Jean Anthelme BRILLAT-SAVARIN was born in Belley on the 2nd April 1755, dans in the family home which is now at n° 62 Grande Rue (see also references to Grande Rue).
He was born into a family of lawyers (his father, Anthelme, was the Crown Prosecutor for the Belley area, and one of his brothers was a magistrate), and studied initially in local schools, subsequently going to study law at the University of Dijon. After that he was called to the bar in Belley.

He was elected deputy to the States General in 1789, and sat on the Assemblée Constituante.
Contrary to a commonly-accepted belief, he was in fact in favour of the death penalty, because he thought that it had a dissuasive effect.

He was the Presiding Judge of the Ain Civil Court, then a judge in the Court of Cassation.
During the Terror, he was considered as being a moderate, and was relieved of his functions on the 10th August 1792.
Despite this, he was elected Mayor of Belley in 1793.

Denounced by the Montagnard party, he was accused of federalism, of causing trouble in « Belley régénéré » (« Belley renewed »), and of having conspired against the Revolution.
Summonsed to appear before the Revolutionary Court, he fled first to Switzerland, and then went on to Holland, accompanied by Baron Jean-Antoine de Rostaing, Chief Administrator of the Alpine Army.
In June 1794, they boarded the « Friendship » in Rotterdam and took 24 days to reach New York.

In New York, Brillat-Savarin became the 1st violin (leader) of the theatre orchestra and taught French.

He returned to France in 1797.
He was then appointed Secretary to the staff officers of the Augereau army corps, in Germany, and then Government Commissioner for the Versailles court.

After the 18th Brumaire (second month of the Revolutionary calendar), he became a counsellor to the Court of Cassation.

Despite being ill, he was present at the celebration of the anniversary of the death of Louis 16th on the 21st January 1826. He died of pleurisy a few days later, the 2nd February 1826, aged 71 years.
He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Brillat-Savarin had very eclectic tastes, even if he is best known for his book on gastronomy, « La Physiologie du Goût [The Physiology of Taste] ». He was very interested in music, hunting, philosophy and astronomy.

He wrote several books : in 1819 he wrote « A Critical and Historical Essay on Duelling » and a « Dissertation on the Archaeology of the Eastern part of the Department of Ain (Bugey) ».

« La Physiologie du goût » is a code of gastronomy, a treatise on culinary science. His thoughts mirrored the customs of high society during the Empire period, when people generally ate very well.
According to Balzac, « no writer has been able to give sentences in French such vigour » since the 16th century.

The book was put on sale on the 1st February. Brillat-Savarin did not live to see its success. The copyright was sold by his descendants to pay his death duties.

Here are a few quotations and aphorisms from Brillat-Savarin :

« A dessert with no cheese is a beautiful lady who has an eye missing »
« Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are »
« Eating well is the enemy of excesses »
« Those who get indigestion or get drunk don't know how to eat and drink »
« What is health? It is chocolate »
« The meal table is the only place where you never get bored during the first hour »
« Inviting someone means that you make sure that he stays happy all the time he is under your roof »

Also, it is Brillat-Savarin who made the word « conviviality » popular.

BRILLAT-SAVARIN's birthplace : n°62 Grande Rue

Unlike the other parts of Brillat-Savarin's birthplace, the façade dates from the rebuilding of the Grande Rue (15th century) with its fluted archways, the accolade doors in the entrance corridor and the stairway tower.
The lintel of the two doors at the end of the corridor is typical of the 17th century.
The archways on the courtyard represent the transition from the 16th to 17th centuries.

This house was the property of the Brillat-Savarin family until 18th Germinal of the year III (1795) when it was sold to the customs authorities. It is at that time that the large administrative building on the right-hand side of the courtyard and Directoire style (end 18th century) wooden gallery were built.

The most interesting feature of this building is hence its wide variety of architectural styles.

The Puits du Loup (Wolf Well) was shared with the neighbouring house.

Bibliography :

BOISSEL Thierry, Brillat-Savarin (1755 - 1826), un chevalier candide (a candid knight), Paris, Presses de la Renaissance, 1989, 254 pp.
CALLET Albert, "Conférence sur Brillat-Savarin" (Lecture on Brillat-Savarin), in le Bugey , n°12, 1914.
MAY Jacques, "Belley visite historique" (A historic tour of Belley), in le Bugey, n°56, 1969.