Zacharie Jacob
French stage actor
Zacharie Jacob (died 1667), known as Montfleury, was a famed French actor and playwright of the 17th century.
Jacob was born in Anjou during the last years of the 16th century. He was enrolled as one of the pages to the duc de Guise, but he ran away to join some strolling players, assuming the stage name of Montfleury. About 1635, he was a valued member of the company at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and he was in the original cast of the Cid (1636) and of Horace (1640). Richelieu thought highly of him, and when in 1638, Montfleury married the actress Jeanne de la Chalpe (d. 1683), the cardinal desired the ceremony to take place at his own country house at Rueil.
He was the author of a tragedy, La Mort d'Asdrobal, performed in 1647. His son, Antoine Jacob, who was also known as Montfleury (often "Montfleury fils"), was a rival of Molière and Cyrano de Bergerac. Both father and son feuded with Molière. Zacharie was mocked for his girth in a Molière play, to which Antoine responded with one mocking Molière.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Zacharie Jacob” is french stage actor. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Zacharie, Jacob and French, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “french stage actor” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3322695. VIAF identifies the subject as 223435221. The Library of Congress control number is no2015044068. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1667, 1635, 1636 and 1640.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Zacharie Jacob”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Zacharie Jacob primary sources, Zacharie Jacob archive and Zacharie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Zacharie Jacob”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Zacharie Jacob” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.