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 wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

. He was born at the Château of Tolgou in Salignac-Eyvigues then within Guyenne. After studying at

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, he came to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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''. 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 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 Guyenne 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