Mellin de Saint-Gelais (or ''Melin de Saint-Gelays'' or ''Sainct-Gelais''; c. 1491 – October, 1558) was a French
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...
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 ide ...
and
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
of
Francis I of France
Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin on ...
.
Life
He was born at
Angoulême
Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; oc, Engoleime) is a commune, the prefecture of the Charente department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Angoumoisins ...
, most likely the natural son of Jean de Saint-Gelais, marquis de Montlieu, a member of the
Angoumois
Angoumois (), historically the County of Angoulême, was a county and province of France, originally inferior to the parent duchy of Aquitaine, similar to the Périgord to its east but lower and generally less forested, equally with occasional ...
gentry. His forename was the French-Norman
malapropism
A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed t ...
of the British wizard
Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and leg ...
featured in
Arthurian legends
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wes ...
. He was close to his uncle
Octavien de Saint-Gelais
Octavien de Saint-Gelais (1468–1502) was a French churchman, poet, and translator. He translated the ''Aeneid'' into French, as well as Ovid's ''Heroides''.
Born in Cognac, Charente, he studied theology at the Collège de Navarre, and be ...
(1466–1502),
bishop of Angoulême
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...
since 1494, himself a poet who had translated the ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of ...
'' into
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
.
Mellin, who had studied at
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...
and
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
, had the reputation of being doctor,
astrologer
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...
and musician as well as poet. He returned to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
around 1523, and soon gained favour at the court of the art-loving Valois ruler Francis I by his skill in light verse. He was made almoner to the Dauphin, abbot of Reclus in the
diocese of Troyes
The Diocese of Troyes (Latin: ''Dioecesis Trecensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Troyes'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Troyes, France. The diocese now comprises the ''département'' of Aube. Erected ...
and librarian to the king at
Blois
Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours.
With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...
.
He enjoyed immense popularity until the appearance of
Joachim du Bellay
Joachim du Bellay (; – 1 January 1560) was a French poet, critic, and a founder of the Pléiade. He notably wrote the manifesto of the group: '' Défense et illustration de la langue française'', which aimed at promoting French as an a ...
's ''Défense et illustration...'' in 1549, where Saint-Gelais was not excepted from the scorn poured on contemporary poets. He attempted to ridicule the innovators by reading aloud the ''Odes'' of
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 ...
with burlesque emphasis before Henry II, when the king's sister,
Marguerite de Valois
Margaret of Valois (french: Marguerite, 14 May 1553 – 27 March 1615), popularly known as La Reine Margot, was a French princess of the Valois dynasty who became Queen of Navarre by marriage to Henry III of Navarre and then also Queen of France ...
, seized the book and read them herself.
Ronsard accepted Saint-Gelais's apology for this incident, but Du Bellay satirized the offender in the ''Poète courtisan''. He translated the '' Sofonisba'' of
Gian Giorgio Trissino
Gian Giorgio Trissino (8 July 1478 – 8 December 1550), also called Giovan Giorgio Trissino and self-styled as Giovan Giωrgio Trissino, was a Venetian Renaissance humanist, poet, dramatist, diplomat, grammarian, linguist, and philosopher.
...
(1478–1550) which was represented in 1556 before
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...
at Blois. Saint-Gelais was the champion of the ''style marotique'' (see
Clément Marot
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, some time during the winter of 1496–1497. His father, Jean Marot (c.& ...
) and the earliest of French
sonnet
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...
eers. He died in Paris in 1558.
References
* Becker, Philipp August: ''Mellin de Saint-Gelais : eine kritische Studie''. -
Wien
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1924. - 101 p. - (Sitzungsberichte / Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse ; 200, 4)
* ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises'' / publ. sous la dir. du Cardinal Georges Grente .... - Paris : Fayard (6 volumes)
** Vol. 3: ''Le XVIe siècle''. - Ed. revue et mise à jour / sous la dir. de Michel Simonin. - 2001. - XLII, 1217 p. -
* Molinier, Henri Joseph: ''Essai biographique et littéraire sur Octovien de Saint-Gelays, évêque d'Angoulême (1468-1502)''. - Rodez: Carrère, 1910. - XXI, 307 p. - (
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 fr ...
, Fac. des lettres, thesis of 1910)
* Molinier, Henri Joseph: ''Mellin de Saint-Gelays : études sur sa vie et sur ses oeuvres''. -
Rodez
Rodez ( or ; oc, Rodés, ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of th ...
: Carrère, 1910. - XXXII, 614 p. - (Toulouse, Univ., doctoral thesis, 1910). - (also as a
reprint
A reprint is a re- publication of material that has already been previously published. The term ''reprint'' is used with slightly different meanings in several fields.
Academic publishing
In academic publishing, offprints, sometimes also known ...
in
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. Situa ...
publishing house Slatkine, 1968)
* Saint-Gelais, Mellin de: ''Oeuvres poétiques françaises'' / Éd. établie, présentée et annot. par Donald Stone . - Paris : Soc. des Textes Français Moderne (2 volumes)
** Vol. 1: 1993.- XXIX, 312 p. - (Société des Textes Français Modernes ; 198). -
** Bol. 2: 1995.- XV, 348 p. - (Société des Textes Français Modernes ; 204). -
* Stone, Donald: ''Mellin de Saint-Gelais and literary history''. -
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the second-largest city in Kentucky and 57th-largest city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 28th-largest ...
: French Forum, 1983. - 127 p. - (French Forum monographs ; 47). -
* Wagner, Ernst Winfried: ''Mellin de Saint-Gelais, E. litteratur- u. sprachgeschichtliche Untersuchg''. -
Ludwigshafen
Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it ...
: printed by A. Lauterborn, 1893. - 149 p. - (
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...
, Phil. Fak., doctoral thesis, 9. December 1893)
* Zilli, Luigia: presentation of the tragedy ''Sophonisba'', in Enea Balmas and Michel Dassonville (dir.), ''La tragédie à l'époque d'Henri II et de Charles IX, Première Série, Vol. 1 (1550-1561)'', 2d print, Florence and Paris, 1989, pp. 237-250. (Contains in particular a bibliographical starting point on the life of Mellin de Saint-Gelais and all of his work.)
lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
Essonne
Essonne () is a department of France in the southern Île-de-France region. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659 across 194 communes.Charentaises ''Mellin de Saint-Gelais''
* Poésie française (28 poems and
sonnet
A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...