Nicole Estienne (c.1542-c.1588) was a French poet of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

Life and work

Her parents were

Charles Estienne Charles Estienne (; 1504–1564), known as Carolus Stephanus in Latin and Charles Stephens in English, was an early exponent of the science of anatomy in France. Charles was a younger brother of Robert Estienne I, the famous printer, and son to ...

and Geneviève de Berly. Her father's family was influential in the printing business. The writer Jacques Grévin became engaged to her and celebrated her in his collection ''L'Olimpe''. The engagement was broken for unknown reasons. Nicole then married Jean Liebault, a physician from

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. She wrote several works, some of which have survived. In response to Philippe Desportes's misogynist writings, she defended women in her ''Stanzes''. Her best known work is ''Les Misères de la Femme mariée, où se peuvent voir les peines et tourmens qu’elle reçoit durant sa vie'', in which she condemned big age differences between spouses and domestic violence.Robin, Larsen and Levin, p. 134 Some of her poems were written as introductions to the work of other poets.

References

Sources

* 16th-century French poets 16th-century French women writers 16th-century French writers Feminism and history French women poets {{France-poet-stub