Jean Salmon Macrin (1490 – 1557) was a

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

poet of French nationality. His poetry sold massively well, and was thought of as quite influential during his lifetime; however his fame did not live on, and his poetry was never republished after the 16th century.

Life and works

Salmon Macrin was born in

Loudun Loudun (; ; Poitevin: ''Loudin'') is a commune in the Vienne department and the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, western France. It is located south of the town of Chinon and 25 km to the east of the town Thouars. The area south of Loudun ...

in 1490, and retained an intimate attachment to the countryside of his youth throughout his life. Patriotism and nostalgia for his 'patria' feature as prominent themes in his poetry. His father supported him in his poetic vocation, and in his teens he was sent to Paris to study under Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples. There he mastered Greek and Latin, and honed his poetic art alongside Quintianus Stoa. When his studies ended, he became secretary to Antoine Bohier, and later entered Court life as tutor to the sons of René de Savoie. After the death of the latter, Salmon Macrin remained in the service of his son Honorat. The poet found that Court life was not well-suited to his temperament, and he composed little during this period. It was his marriage to Guillone Boursault ('Gelonis') that reignited his passion for poetry, and his two most famous works (the 'Epithalamiorum liber' of 1528–1531 and the 'Carminum libri quattuor' of 1530) contained many poems dedicated to her. Salmon Macrin's poetry met with great success in his later years, and he enjoyed the favour of the king,

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: People Kings and emperors * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1708–1765), reigned 1745–1765 * Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor ...

. Salmon Macrin boasted of having been the first to introduce

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; ), known as Catullus (), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes. Life ...

and

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

into French poetry. His principal Neo-Latin models were the Italians

Pontano Giovanni Pontano (1426–1503), later known as Giovanni Gioviano (), was a Renaissance humanism, humanist and poet from Cerreto di Spoleto, in central Italy. He was the leading figure of the Accademia Pontaniana after the death of Antonio Beccade ...

, Marullus,

Poliziano Agnolo (or Angelo) Ambrogini (; 14 July 1454 – 24 September 1494), commonly known as Angelo Poliziano () or simply Poliziano, anglicized as Politian, was an Italian classical scholar and poet of the Florentine Renaissance. His scholars ...

and

Sannazaro Jacopo Sannazaro (; 28 July 1458 – 6 August 1530) was an Italian poet, humanist, member and head of the Accademia Pontaniana from Naples. He wrote easily in Latin, in Italian and in Neapolitan, but is best remembered for his humanist classic ...

. He was widely known as the French

, and his works had a great influence on vernacular poetry, especially the Pléiade. Du Bellay, in his 'Amores Faustinae', mentions Macrin in his list of great contemporary love poets, alongside

, Marullus,

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

Bèze Bèze () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. It takes its name from the Bèze river, which rises in the commune. Population See also *Communes of the Côte-d'Or department The following is a list of the 698 ...

, Tyard and Baïf.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salmon Macrin, Jean 1490 births 1557 deaths People from Loudun French poets Neo-Latin poets Writers from Nouvelle-Aquitaine French male poets 16th-century writers in Latin