Family Background

Cyrano de Bergerac came from an originally middle-class family, but his grandfather, the Parisian sea fish merchant Savinien Cyrano, had bought the ennobling position of Royal Notary and Secretary in 1571 and in 1582 had acquired two estates not far from the capital, one of which belonged to a noble family de Bergerac who had immigrated from the southwest. Cyrano’s father, Abel de Cyrano, held a higher office at the Supreme Court of Paris, the Parlement, and was married under the noble title “écuyer” (actually “squire”). Cyrano himself considered himself unreservedly aristocratic and drew mostly “(de) Bergerac”. He spent his childhood as the fourth son of his parents, apparently largely separated from them, partly on one of the estates, partly with a village priest who gave him lessons. Later he visited the Jansenistic Collège de Beauvais in Paris. Apparently he was not an erudite and good pupil. He later caricatured the director of the college, a widely respected scholar, in a comedy.

Education and Military Service

After finishing school in 1638, he first led a dandy life. Apparently, however, the family’s financial situation deteriorated at the same time, as his father had already sold the goods in 1636. From 1638 Cyrano therefore hired himself out in a cloakroom regiment, which consisted mainly of gascognac cadets. He made a name for himself with his comrades as a warhorse and duelist, but he was also known as an author of verses.  In 1639 and 1640 he took part with his regiment in the Franco-Spanish War, which took place at this time in the northwest of France. He was wounded twice, resigned from military service and returned to Paris.

Natural Philosophy and Dancing Lessons

In Paris he heard the lectures of the natural philosopher and researcher Pierre Gassendi in 1641.[1] Through him he got to know the theories of the ancient natural philosophers, but also the heliocentric world view of Copernicus,[2] Johannes Kepler [3] and Galileo Galilei.[4] In addition, he dealt with the writings of the philosopher René Descartes as well as with freethinking authors critical of religion. He was also interested in alchemy. At the same time he took dance and fencing lessons and moved in circles of young aristocrats, where a certain free spirit was cultivated. He also became increasingly associated with writers, including the well-known authors Paul Scarron and Tristan L’Hermite, as well as the lesser-known Charles d’Assoucy.

The Fronde

His financial situation during these years was precarious, because his father could not or did not want to support him. His health was also apparently not well, perhaps due to a syphilis infection. The small inheritance, which he received in 1648 when his father died, he quickly got through. During the political confusion of the Fronde (1648-1652), Cyrano was initially on the side of the insurgent people of Paris and the Paris Parliament, i.e. the opponents of the ruling Queen Mother Anna of Austria and her unloved minister, Cardinal Jules Mazarin. Against him he wrote the satirical poem Le Ministre d’État flambé, as well as anonymously some so-called Mazarinades, i.e. anti-Mazarin pamphlets. However, in 1651, after the Fronde had turned into a revolt of the high nobility, Cyrano changed sides, broke with his former friends, especially Scarron and D’Assoucy, and wrote a Lettre contre les Frondeurs in which he defended Mazarin’s absolutist policy.

The Other World

“I think the Moon is a world like this one, and the Earth is its moon.”

— Cyrano de Bergerac, The Other World (1657)