Jean Bertaut (1552 – 8 June 1611), French poet, was born at

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

Life

He figures with

Philippe Desportes Philippe Desportes or Desports (1546 – 5 October 1606) was a French poet.Jean Balsamo. Philippe Desports (1546-1606) Volume 62 of Actes et colloques. Editor, Contributor, Jean Balsamo. Publisher, Klincksieck, 2000 Biography Philippe Desp ...

in the disdainful couplet of Boileau on

Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet known in his generation as a " prince of poets". His works include '' Les Amours de Cassandre'' (1552)'','' '' Les Hymnes'' (1555-1556)'', Les Discours'' (1562-1563 ...

"''Ce poëte orgueilleux, trébuché de si haut,''
''Rendit plus retenus Desportes et Bertaut.''"

He wrote light verse to celebrate the incidents of court life in the manner of Desportes, but his verse is more fantastic and fuller of conceits than his master's. He early entered the church, and had a share in the

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...

of Henry IV, a circumstance which assured his career. He was successively councillor of the ''

parlement Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

'' of

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

, secretary to the king,

almoner An almoner () is a chaplain or church officer who originally was in charge of distributing money to the deserving poor. The title ''almoner'' has to some extent fallen out of use in English, but its equivalents in other languages are often used f ...

Marie de' Medici Marie de' Medici (; ; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV. Marie served as regent of France between 1610 and 1617 during the minority of her son Louis XIII. Her mandate as rege ...

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of the of

Aunay-sur-Odon Aunay-sur-Odon (, literally ''Aunay on Odon (river), Odon'') is a former Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, regi ...

and finally, in 1606,

bishop of Sées A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

. After his elevation to the bishopric he ceased to produce the light verse in which he excelled, though his scruples did not prevent him from preparing a new edition of his ''Recueil de quelques vers amoureux'' (1602) in 1606. The serious poems in which he celebrated the public events of his later years are dull and lifeless. Bertaut died at Sées on 8 June 1611. His works were edited by

Adolphe Chenevière Adolphe Chenevière, D.ès.L. (1855–1917) was a fin de siècle Swiss novelist, short story writer, and literary scholar. Life Adolphe Chenevière was born to Arthur Chenevière (a state counsellor for the Canton (country subdivision), canton ...

in 1891.

References

Sources

* Fisquet, Honoré (1864)
''La France pontificale. Métropole de Rouen. Séez.''
. Volume 14. Paris: E.Repos 1864
Pp. 56-59
:;Attribution ::* 1552 births 1611 deaths Clergy from Caen 16th-century French poets 17th-century French Roman Catholic bishops Bishops of Sées French male poets Writers from Caen {{france-RC-bishop-stub