- François de Belleforest
François de Belleforest (
Comminges , 1530 -Paris ,January 1 ,1583 ) was a prolific French author, poet and translator of the Renaissance. He was born in 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 toToulouse andBordeaux (where he met George Buchanan), and then toParis where he came into contact with members of the young literary generation, includingPierre de Ronsard ,Jean Antoine de Baïf ,Jean Dorat ,Remy Belleau ,Antoine Du Verdier andOdet de Turnèbe . In 1568 he became historiographer to the king.Belleforest wrote on
cosmography , morals, literature and history, and he translated the works ofMatteo Bandello , Boccaccio,Antonio de Guevara ,Francesco Guicciardini ,Polydore Vergil ,Saint Cyprian ,Sebastian Münster ,Achilles Tatius ,Cicero andDemosthenes into French. He is also the author of the first French pastoral novel, "La Pyrénée" (or "La Pastorale amoureuse") (1571) modeled on the "Diana" ofJorge de Montemayor . His "Grandes Annales" are 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 Boaistuau and eventually amounted to seven volumes (1564-1582). One of these tales would be the source forShakespeare 's Hamlet.elected works
* "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 Leucippe" byAchilles Tatius , 1568.
* "La Pyrénée" (or "La 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 .
* "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 the "Chroniques" ofNicole Gilles , first published in 1525.References
*fr icon Simonin, Michel, ed. "Dictionnaire des lettres françaises - Le XVIe siècle." Paris: Fayard, 2001. ISBN 2-253-05663-4
ee also
Other major translators from his period:
*Jacques Amyot
*Claude Colet
*Jacques Gohory
*Nicolas de Herberay des Essarts
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