Octavien de Saint-Gelais
Encyclopedia : O : OC : OCT : Octavien de Saint-Gelais
| French literature |
|
|
| French literary history |
|
Medieval 16th century - 17th century 18th century -19th century 20th century - Contemporary |
| French Writers |
Chronological list
|
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, he studied theology at the Collège de Navarre, and became a member of the court of Charles VIII of France. A terrible sickness led him to abandon a formerly frivolous lifestyle and he took holy orders. Charles appointed him bishop of Angoulême in 1494. In this capacity, he reformed the monastic rules, visited the poor, decorated churches, and composed original poems, besides translating the works of the ancients. His poetic compositions include Tout m'est dueil, tout m'est desplaisir and Plus n'ay d'actente au bien que j'espéroye.
An outbreak of the plague forced him to abandon his post as bishop in 1502, and he died the same year.
The French poet Clément Marot praised his work, and wrote that Saint-Gelais had made his birthplace, Cognac, eternal.
His nephew was the poet Mellin de Saint-Gelais.
External links
- () [Biography]
- () [Liste des oeuvres]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.