Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille Born 6 June 1606 Rouen Died 1 October 1684 (aged 78) Paris Occupation Playwright Nationality French Genre Tragedy, comedy Notable works Le Cid Spouse Marie de Lampérière Relatives Thomas Corneille Pierre Corneille (French pronunciation:  [pjɛʁ kɔʁnɛj]; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian, and one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage of Cardinal Richelieu, who was trying to promote classical tragedy along formal lines, but later quarrelled with him, especially over his best-known play Le Cid about a medieval Spanish warrior, which was denounced by the newly formed Académie française for breaching the unities. He continued to write well-received tragedies for nearly forty years. Coat of arms of the Corneille family, dating back to 1637