François de Belleforest (1530 – 1 January 1583) was a prolific French author, poet and translator of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

. He was born in Samatan (actual department of Gers), into a poor family, and his father (a soldier) was killed when he was seven. He spent some time in the court of

Marguerite of Navarre Marguerite de Navarre (french: Marguerite d'Angoulême, ''Marguerite d'Alençon''; 11 April 149221 December 1549), also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was a princess of France, Duchess of Alençon and Berry, and Que ...

, traveled to

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

(where he met

George Buchanan George Buchanan ( gd, Seòras Bochanan; February 1506 – 28 September 1582) was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth century Scotland produced." ...

), and then to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

where he came into contact with members of the young literary generation, including

Pierre de Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a "prince of poets". Early life Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of C ...

Jean Antoine de Baïf Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

Jean Dorat Jean Daurat (Occitan: Joan Dorat; Latin: Auratus) (3 April 15081 November 1588) was a French poet, scholar and a member of a group known as '' The Pléiade''. Early life He was born Joan Dinemandy in Limoges and was a member of a noble family. ...

Remy Belleau Remy or Rémy may refer to: Places * Remy River, a tributary of rivière du Gouffre in Saint-Urbain, Quebec, Canada * Rémy, a French commune in Pas-de-Calais * Remy, Oise, northern France * Remy, Oklahoma, USA * 14683 Remy, an asteroid * Po ...

, Antoine Du Verdier and

Odet de Turnèbe Odet de Turnèbe (23 October 1552 – 20 July 1581) was a French dramatist. Biography Odet de Turnèbe was born in Paris to Greek scholar Adrien Turnèbe. He received a solid education and was known, from an early age, for his intelligence and ...

. In 1568 he became historiographer to the king. He died in

. Belleforest wrote on

cosmography The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-scal ...

, morals, literature and history, and he translated the works of

Matteo Bandello Matteo Bandello ( 1480 – 1562) was an Italian writer, soldier, monk, and, later, a Bishop mostly known for his novellas. His collection of 214 novellas made him the most popular short-story writer of his day. Biography Matteo Bandello wa ...

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so we ...

Antonio de Guevara Antonio de Guevara (c. 1481 – 3 April 1545) was a Spanish bishop and author. In 1527 he was named royal chronicler to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. His first book ''Libro áureo'' first appeared in pirated editions the following year. This pseu ...

Lodovico Guicciardini Lodovico Guicciardini (19 August 1521 – 22 March 1589) was an Italian writer and merchant from Florence who lived primarily in Antwerp from 1542 or earlier. He was the nephew of historian and diplomat Francesco Guicciardini. ''Description of ...

Polydore Vergil Polydore Vergil or Virgil (Italian: ''Polidoro Virgili''; commonly Latinised as ''Polydorus Vergilius''; – 18 April 1555), widely known as Polydore Vergil of Urbino, was an Italian humanist scholar, historian, priest and diplomat, who spent ...

, Saint Cyprian,

Sebastian Münster Sebastian Münster (20 January 1488 – 26 May 1552) was a German cartographer and cosmographer. He also was a Christian Hebraist scholar who taught as a professor at the University of Basel. His well-known work, the highly accurate world map, '' ...

Achilles Tatius Achilles Tatius (Greek: Ἀχιλλεὺς Τάτιος, ''Achilleus Tatios'') of Alexandria was a Roman-era Greek writer of the 2nd century AD whose fame is attached to his only surviving work, the ancient Greek novel, or ''romance'', '' The Adve ...

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

and

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prow ...

into French. He is also the author of the first French pastoral novel, ''La Pyrénée'' (or ''La Pastorale amoureuse'') (1571) modeled on the ''Diana'' of

Jorge de Montemayor ( es, Jorge de Montemayor) (1520? – 26 February 1561) was a Portuguese novelist and poet, who wrote almost exclusively in Spanish. His most famous work is a pastoral prose romance, the ''Diana'' (1559). Biography He was born at Montemor- ...

. His ''Grandes Annales'' are a polemic tract against

François Hotman François Hotman (23 August 1524 – 12 February 1590) was a French Protestant lawyer and writer, associated with the legal humanists and with the monarchomaques, who struggled against absolute monarchy. His first name is often written 'Francis' ...

. His total output comprises more than 50 volumes. His most successful work was most likely his translation and adaptation of the "

histoires tragiques Histoires tragiques ('tragic stories') were a genre of French fiction in 16th-17th centuries, a Baroque rendering of Boccaccio's type of short stories, concentrating on the dark side of human nature. The progenitor of this kind of a story was Pier ...

" by the Italian

, which built on the work of

Pierre Boaistuau Pierre Boaistuau, also known as Pierre Launay or Sieur de Launay (c. 1517, Nantes – 1566, Paris), was a French Renaissance humanist writer, author of a number of popularizing compilations and discourses on various subjects. Beside his many popul ...

and eventually amounted to seven volumes (1564–1582). One of these tales might be the source for

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

Selected works

* (poems), 1561. * , translation of

, 1559. * , translation of

, 7 volumes, 1566–1583. * ''Les Amours de Clitophon et de Leucippe'' by

, 1568. * , 1570 * ''La Pyrénée'' (or ), 1571. * , by Françoys de Belle-Forest. Paris, Nicolas Chesneau, 1572 * . Paris, 1575. Nicolas Chesneau and Michel Sonnius. French translation of the Cosmographia of

, with substantial additional material. * , 1579. * . Jacob Stoer, (Geneva): 1609. * . Pierre Chevalier, 1621. Last edition and the most complete of the ''Chroniques'' of Nicole Gilles, first published in 1525.

References

* Simonin, Michel, ed. ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises - Le XVIe siècle.'' Paris: Fayard, 2001.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Belleforest, Francois de 1530 births 1583 deaths People from Gers 16th-century French novelists 16th-century French writers 16th-century male writers French male novelists French historiographers Italian–French translators Latin–French translators Spanish–French translators German–French translators French male non-fiction writers 16th-century French translators

Selected works

See also

References

External links