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Clément Marot (23 November 1496 – 12 September 1544) was a French Renaissance poet.


Biography


Youth

Marot was born at Cahors, the capital of the province of
Quercy Quercy (; oc, Carcin , locally ) is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue ...
, some time during the winter of 1496–1497. His father, Jean Marot (c. 1463-1523), whose more correct name appears to have been des Mares, Marais or Marets, was a Norman from the Caen region and was also a poet. Jean held the post of ''escripvain'' (a cross between poet laureate and historiographer) to Anne of Brittany, Queen of France. Clément was the child of his second wife. The boy was "brought into France" — it is his own expression, and is not unnoteworthy as showing the strict sense in which that term was still used at the beginning of the 16th century — in 1506. He appears to have been educated at the
University of Paris The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...
, and to have then begun studying law. Jean Marot instructed his son in the fashionable forms of verse-making, which called for some formal training. It was the time of the ''rhétoriqueurs'', poets who combined stilted language with a fondness for the allegorical manner of the 15th century and the most complicated and artificial forms of the '' ballade'' and the '' rondeau''. Clément began as a "rhétoriqueur", though he later helped overthrow this style. He wrote panegyrics to Guillaume Crétin and translated
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
's first eclogue in 1512. He soon gave up the study of law and became page to Nicolas de Neufville, seigneur de Villeroy, which led to his introduction into court life. The house of Valois, which would hold the throne of France for the greater part of a century, was devoted to literature.


At the French court

As early as 1514, before the accession of King
Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe ...
, Clément presented to him his ''Judgment of Minos'', and shortly afterward he was either styled or styled himself ''facteur (poet) de la reine'' to Queen Claude. In 1519 he was attached to the suite of Marguerite d'Alençon, the king's sister, (later to become Marguerite de Navarre), a great patron of the arts. He was also a great favourite of Francis himself, attended the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, and duly celebrated it in verse. In the next year he was at the camp in
Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
, and wrote of the horrors of war. Marot, like most of Marguerite's literary court, was attracted by her grace, her kindness, and her intellectual accomplishments, but there is no grounds for thinking that they had a romantic relationship. During this time his poetic style began to change, becoming much less artificial. Some of his poems praise a lady named "Diane", whom some have identified with Diane de Poitiers.


In Paris

In 1524, Marot accompanied King Francis on his disastrous Italian campaign. The king was taken prisoner at the Battle of Pavia, but there are no grounds for supposing that Marot was wounded or shared the king's fate, and he was back in Paris again by the beginning of 1525. However, Marguerite for intellectual reasons, and her brother for political, had until then favoured the double movement of "Aufklärung", partly humanist, partly reforming, which distinguished the beginning of the century. Formidable opposition to both forms of innovation now began to appear, and Marot, never particularly prudent, was arrested on a charge of
heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
and lodged in the Grand Châtelet in February 1526. This was only a foretaste of his coming trouble, and a friendly
prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pref ...
, acting for Marguerite, arranged his release before
Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
. The imprisonment caused him to write a vigorous poem entitled ''Enfer'' (hell), later imitated by his friend Étienne Dolet. His father died about this time, and Marot seems to have been appointed in Jean's place as '' valet de chambre'' to the king. He was certainly a member of the royal household in 1528 with a stipend of 250 ''livres''. In 1530, probably, he married. The following year he was once again in trouble, this time for attempting to rescue a prisoner, and was again released, this time after Marot wrote the king one of his most famous poems, appealing for his release. In 1532 he published (it had perhaps appeared three years earlier), under the title of ''Adolescence Clémentine'', the first printed collection of his works, which was very popular and was frequently reprinted with additions. Unfortunately, the poet's enemies ensured that Marot was implicated in the 1534 Affair of the Placards, and this time he fled.


In Ferrara

He passed through Nérac, the court of Navarre, and made his way to Renée, duchess of Ferrara, a supporter of the
Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
in France—as steadfast as her sister-in-law Marguerite, and even more efficacious, because her dominions were outside France. At Ferrara his work there included the celebrated ''Blasons'' (a descriptive poem, improved upon medieval models), which set all the verse-writers of France imitating them. The ''blason'' was defined by Thomas Sébillet as a perpetual praise or continuous vituperation of its subject. The ''blasons'' of Marot's followers were printed in 1543 with the title of ''Blasons anatomiques du corps féminin''.


Back in Paris

Duchess Renée was not able to persuade her husband, Ercole d'Este, to share her views, and Marot had to leave Ferrara. He went to Venice, but before very long Pope Paul III remonstrated with Francis I on the severity with which the Protestants were treated, and they were allowed to return to Paris on condition of recanting their errors. Marot returned with the rest, and abjured his heresy at
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...
. In 1539 Francis gave him a house and grounds in the suburbs. It was at this time that his famous and influential translations of the ''
Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...
'' appeared. Each courtier identified his or her favorite psalms, and the poems were sung in the court and in the city. It is said, probably with exaggeration, that these translations did more than anything else to advance the cause of the
Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
in France. Marot's translations of the Psalms continued to be sung for centuries by Protestant congregations.


Later life

At the same time Marot engaged in a literary quarrel with a poet named
François de Sagon François de Sagon was a French priest and poet of the 16th century. He was famous for his enmity with Clément Marot. He published in 1544 ''Apologye en défense pour le Roy'', a text defending the actions of Francis I in the Franco-Ottoman all ...
, who represented the Sorbonne. Verse-writers of France aligned themselves as ''Marotiques'' or ''Sagontiques'', and abuse was exchanged. Victory, as far as wit was concerned, was with Marot, but at the cost of ill-will against him. Marot also edited the works of his fellow poet François Villon. Although the ''Psalms'' were published in 1541 and 1543 with royal privilege, the Sorbonne still objected to translations from the Bible into French. In 1543, it was evident that Marot could not rely on the protection of the king; therefore he left for
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...
. After living working on the Psalms there, as
Calvin Calvin may refer to: Names * Calvin (given name) ** Particularly Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States * Calvin (surname) ** Particularly John Calvin, theologian Places In the United States * Calvin, Arkansas, a hamlet * Calvin T ...
became more influential, he went to
Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
. He died at
Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...
in the autumn of 1544 and was buried in the
Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
there at the expense of the French ambassador to Rome.


Editions

The most important early editions of Marot's ''Œuvres'' were published at
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...
in 1538 and 1544. In the second of these the arrangement of his poems which has been accepted in later issues was first adopted; in 1596 an enlarged edition was edited by François Mizière. The Parisian printer Denis Janot, however, also printed several important editions of books by Marot. Others of later date are those of Nicolas Lenglet Du Fresnoy (The Hague, 1731) and P. Jannet (1868–1872; new ed., 1873–1876), on the whole the best, but there is a very good selection with a still better introduction by Charles d'Héricault, the joint editor of the Jannet edition in the larger ''Collection Garnier'' (no date). From an elaborate edition by G. Guiffrey only Vol. II and III appeared during his lifetime. Robert Yve-Plessis and Jean Plattard completed the edition in 5 vols (Paris, 1874-1931). The first 'scientific' edition is by C. A. Mayer in 6 vols.(1958-1980), which follows the arrangement of the material in 'genres' (like the edition 1544). The last complete scientific edition is by Gérard Defaux in 2 vols. (1990–92). Defaux adopts the editing principles of Marot himself, as deducible from his own 1538 edition, mentioned above.


Influence

Many of Marot's texts were set as chansons, particularly by his contemporary Claudin de Sermisy. Douglas Hofstadter's book '' Le Ton beau de Marot'', deals with the problems of translation, and includes several dozen different translations of Marot's poem ''A une damoyselle malade''. Both Maurice Ravel and George Enescu composed song settings of Marot's poems. Wilhelm Killmayer set one of his poems in his song cycle ' in 1953, and another in ' in 1968.


References

*


External links

*
Pictures of Marot

C A Mayer Memorial Trust
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marot, Clement 1496 births 1544 deaths People from Cahors French Calvinist and Reformed Christians French poets Writers from Occitania (administrative region) University of Paris alumni Burials at Turin Cathedral