Pey de Garros (
modern Gascon: ''Pèir de Garròs''; 1530–1585), was the most important
Occitan poet of the
Renaissance. He was instrumental in the evolution of the Gascon dialect into a
literary language.
Garros was born at
Lectoure,
Gascony
Gascony (; french: Gascogne ; oc, Gasconha ; eu, Gaskoinia) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part o ...
. He studied law, theology, and
Hebrew at the
University of Toulouse and served as the ''avocat-général'' of
Pau for a time. He strove to restore the Gascon dialect to prominence, translating the
Psalms into Gascon in 1565, as well as publishing a volume of poetry (''Poesias Gasconas'') in 1567.
The translation was ordered by Queen
Jeanne d'Albret, who decreed Calvinism to be the official faith in the
Kingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre (; , , , ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona (), was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France.
The medieval state took ...
, as well as commissioning
Arnaud de Salette
Arnaud de Saleta was a cleric and Béarnese poet who served during the establishment of a Protestant state in the Kingdom of Navarra in the 16th century.
De Salette is one of two poets to be commissioned by Queen Jeanne d'Albret to translate the ...
to produce a distinct
Béarnese translation of the Psalms.
Garros died in Pau.
Bibliography
* Pierre Bec, ''Le Siècle d'or de la Poésie gasconne''. Paris : Les Belles Lettres, 1997. .
* Pèir de Garròs, ''Eglògas''. Ortès : Per Noste, 2011. .
Online edition
''Poesias Gasconas'' National French Library
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
's gallica.bnf.fr website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garros, Pey De
1530 births
1585 deaths
Gascon-language Occitan writers