François de Belleforest
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François de Belleforest(1530 – 1 January 1583) was a prolificFrenchauthor, poet and translator of theRenaissance.
He was born inSamatan(actual department of Gers), into a poor family, and his father (a soldier) was killed when he was seven. He spent some time in the court ofMarguerite of Navarre,traveled toToulouseandBordeaux(where he metGeorge Buchanan), and then toPariswhere he came into contact with members of the young literary generation, includingPierre de Ronsard,Jean Antoine de Baïf,Jean Dorat,Remy Belleau,Antoine Du VerdierandOdet de Turnèbe.In 1568 he became historiographer to the king. He died inParis.
Belleforest wrote oncosmography,morals, literature and history, and he translated the works ofMatteo Bandello,Boccaccio,Antonio de Guevara,Lodovico Guicciardini,Polydore Vergil,Saint Cyprian,Sebastian Münster,Achilles Tatius,CiceroandDemosthenesintoFrench.He is also the author of the first French pastoral novel,La Pyrénée(orLa Pastorale amoureuse) (1571) modeled on theDianaofJorge de Montemayor.HisGrandes Annalesare a polemic tract againstFrançois Hotman.His total output comprises more than 50 volumes.
His most successful work was most likely his translation and adaptation of the "histoires tragiques"by the ItalianMatteo Bandello,which built on the work ofPierre Boaistuauand eventually amounted to seven volumes (1564–1582). One of these tales might be the source forShakespeare'sHamlet.
Selected works
[edit]- La chasse d'amour(poems), 1561.
- Continuation des histoires tragiques, contenant douze histoires tirées de Bandel....,translation ofMatteo Bandello,1559.
- Histoires tragiques,translation ofMatteo Bandello,7 volumes, 1566–1583.
- Les Amours de Clitophon et de LeucippebyAchilles Tatius,1568.
- L’histoire universelle du monde,1570
- La Pyrénée(orLa Pastorale amoureuse), 1571.
- Harengue militaires, et concions de princes, capitaines, embassadeurs, et autres manians tant la guerre que les affaires d'Estat... Recueillis et faictes Françoyses,by Françoys de Belle-Forest. Paris, Nicolas Chesneau, 1572
- La Cosmographie universelle de tout le monde.Paris, 1575. Nicolas Chesneau and Michel Sonnius. French translation of the Cosmographia ofSebastian Münster,with substantial additional material.
- Grandes Annales et histoire générale de France,1579.
- Les sentences illustrés de M.T. Ciceron Et les apophthegmes, avec quelquel sentences de piete, recueillies de mesme Ciceron. Aveei les plus remarquables sentences tant de Terence... et de... Demosthene. Le tout Traduit nouvellement de Latin en Francais par Francois de Belle-forest, Commingeoiis. Reveu & corrige.Jacob Stoer, (Geneva): 1609.
- Les chroniques et annales de France, dès l'origine des François, & leur venue en Gaule.Pierre Chevalier, 1621. Last edition and the most complete of theChroniquesofNicole Gilles,first published in 1525.
See also
[edit]Other major translators from his period:
References
[edit]- (in French)Simonin, Michel, ed.Dictionnaire des lettres françaises - Le XVIe siècle.Paris: Fayard, 2001.ISBN2-253-05663-4
External links
[edit]
- 1530 births
- 1583 deaths
- People from Gers
- 16th-century French novelists
- 16th-century French writers
- 16th-century French male writers
- French male novelists
- French historiographers
- Italian–French translators
- Latin–French translators
- Spanish–French translators
- German–French translators
- French male non-fiction writers
- 16th-century French translators