Arnauld Family

The Arnauld family was a noble French family prominent in the 17th century, and closely associated with Jansenism, associating frequently with the Jansenist religious communities in Port-Royal de Paris and Port-Royal des Champs. While their base of operations was in Paris, the family's roots were in the Auvergne region of France.

The person remembered as founding the family was Antoine Arnauld (b. 1560, d. 1619 CE). Legendarily, the "original sin" that led to the Jesuits (among others) becoming bitter foes to the Arnaulds was a speech given in 1594 by Antoine (an eloquent lawyer) apologizing for the University of Paris against the Jesuits. Of Antoine's and Catherine Marion de Druy's 20 children, only ten would survive childhood- but 9 of them would become involved in the Port-Royal projects, going on variously to become poets, authors, translators, monks etc. Indeed, Marie Angélique de Sainte Madeleine, (b. 1591, d. 1661) would become an abbess of the Port-Royal Cistercian house, where she is remembered for her reforms (prompted by St. Francis de Sales). One of the aforementioned authors was Antoine Arnauld (b. 1612, d. 1694), who spent his efforts on attacking the Jesuits from his position in the Sorbonne, while his elder brother (and sister of Madeleine) Robert Arnauld d'Andilly, (b. 1588, d. 1674) spent his life at the Port-Royal translating texts and writing noted religious poetry.