French Renaissance Literature - Other Literary Forms

Other Literary Forms

The French Renaissance was rich in a whole body of moral, literary, philological and philosophical writing. Michel de Montaigne was the first essayist of modern times (The Essays) and a remarkable writer on the human condition. Étienne Pasquier's Recherches de la France was another monumental compendium of historical, political and cultural observations.

Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme wrote biographical sketches of the men and women of the court.

Jean Bodin wrote a number of important works on political science.

Henri Estienne and his son Robert Estienne were among the most important printers in France in the 16th century, and Robert Estienne's edition of the Bible was the first to use chapter and verse divisions.

The Catholic/Huguenot and civil/political conflicts of the last half of the century—the French Wars of Religion -- generated a great deal of political, religious and satirical writing, including the Monarchomachs' libels.

The Satire Ménippée (1593/1594) written by Nicolas Rapin, Jean Passerat and Florent Chrestien, and edited/revised by Pierre Pithou was a political and satirical work in prose and verse which criticized the excesses of the Catholic League during the Wars of Religion.