Jean de Serres | |
|---|---|
 Signature of Jean de Serres | |
| Born | 1540 Villeneuve-de-Berg, France |
| Died | 1598 (aged 57–58) |
| Nationality | French |
| Other names | Joannes Serranus |
| Occupation(s) | Historian, classicist, Plato scholar |
| Known for | 1578 translation of Plato in edition of Stephanus |
| Relatives | Olivier de Serres (brother) |
Jean de Serres (French: [sɛʁ]; Latin: Joannes Serranus; 1540–1598) was a major French historian and an advisor to King Henry IV during the Wars of Religion that marred the French Reformation in the second half of the Sixteenth Century. As a refugee from religious persecution, he was educated in Switzerland and became a Calvinist pastor, humanist, poet, polemicist, and diplomat.[1] His complete translation of Plato appeared in the famous 1578 edition published by Henri Estienne, which is the source of the standard 'Stephanus numbers' still used by scholars to refer to Plato's works. In 1596, de Serres was appointed 'Historian of France' by King Henry IV. His posthumously published History of France was an 'immense success' and was not superseded for almost a century.[2]