LAURENTIE, PIERRE-SÉBASTIEN. — French publicist and historian, born at Houga (Gers) on 21 January 1793, died in Paris on 9 February 1876. After settling in Paris in 1816, he first taught rhetoric at the Collège Stanislas (1817), then literature at the École Polytechnique (1818). Appointed inspector general of studies in 1823, he lost the position three years later due to his political intransigence and the harsh polemics he published in *Le Quotidien*, of which he was an editor.
In 1831, he founded and directed monarchist newspapers advocating the legitimism of the Count of Chambord, with whom Laurentie was a confidant. Several works remain from him, including: *Sur la liberté fondée sur le droit divin* (Paris 1819); *Etudes littéraires et morales sur les historiens latins* (ibid. 1822); *Considérations sur les constitutions démocratiques* (ibid. 1826); *De la legitimité et de l'usurpation* (ibid. 1830); *Théorie catholique des sciences* (ibid. 1836); *Liberté d'enseignement* (ibid. 1843); *La papauté* (ibid. 1852); *Philosophie de la prière* (ibid. 1864); *Le livre de M. E. Renan sur la vie de Jésus* (ibid. 1863); *Les crimes de l'éducation française* (ibid. 1871).