Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède (1609 or 1610 – 1663) was a French

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. He was born at the Château of Tolgou in Salignac-Eyvigues (

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...

). After studying at

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 ...

, he came 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 ...

and entered the regiment of the guards, becoming in 1650 gentleman-in-ordinary of the royal household. He died in 1663 in consequence of a kick from his horse. La Calprenède wrote several long heroic romances that were later ridiculed by Boileau, and most of them were also referenced in Charlotte Lennox's ''

The Female Quixote ''The Female Quixote; or, The Adventures of Arabella'' is a novel written by Charlotte Lennox imitating and parodying the ideas of Miguel de Cervantes' ''Don Quixote''. Published in 1752, two years after she wrote her first novel, ''The Life of ...

''. They are: ''Cassandre'' (5 vols., 1642–1650); ''Cléopâtre'' (1648); ''Faramond'' (1661); and ''Les Nouvelles, ou les Divertissements de la princesse Alcidiane'' (1661) published under his wife's name, but generally attributed to him. His ''Le Comte d'Essex'', produced in 1638, supplied some ideas to

Thomas Corneille Thomas Corneille (20 August 1625 – 8 December 1709) was a French lexicographer and dramatist. Biography Born in Rouen some nineteen years after his brother Pierre, the "great Corneille", Thomas's skill as a poet seems to have shown itself e ...

for his tragedy of the same name.

Works online

''Édouard''
1640
''Phalante''
1642
''Herménigilde''
1643
''Jeanne, reyne d’Angleterre''
1638
''La Bradamante''
1637
''La Mort de Mitridate''
1637
''La Mort des enfants d’Hérodes, ou Suite de Mariane''
1639
''Le Clarionte, ou le Sacrifice sanglant''
1637
''Le Comte d’Essex''
1638

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calprenede, Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la 17th-century births 1663 deaths People from Dordogne 17th-century French dramatists and playwrights 17th-century French male writers 17th-century French novelists Deaths by horse-riding accident in France French male novelists French male dramatists and playwrights