Read the text (PDF)

Introduction to the Text

Best known for his civil war epic Les Tragiques, Théodore Agrippa d’Aubigné (1552-1630) spent his early years in the thrall of Diane Salviati. Salviati was the niece of Cassandra, the muse of the famous French poet Ronsard. D’Aubigné’s work Le Printemps (“Spring”) is composed of two parts. The first is a compilation of one hundred sonnets dedicated to his beloved, entitled L’hécatombe à Diane. The word ‘hecatomb’ evokes a sacrificial practice in Ancient Greece, where one hundred cattle or other livestock would be slaughtered in honour of the gods. Though the goal of d’Aubigné’s sonnets is ostensibly to praise Diane, his imagery is characteristically visceral, flavoured by his experience of the violence of France’s Wars of Religion (1562-1598). Diane’s family sheltered d’Aubigné following the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572, but, as she was Catholic and d’Aubigné Protestant, their love was not to be. The author’s later works express some wistful reflections on the youthful exuberance that led him to idolize this unattainable woman. It is thought that L’hécatombe à Diane and the latter section of Le Printemps, the Stances et Odes, were composed in the early 1570s.

Further Reading

Perry, Kathleen A. “Motherhood and Martyrdom in the Poetry of Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné.” Neophilologus, vol. 76, no. 2, 1992, pp. 198–211., doi:10.1007/bf00210169.

• An analysis of the effects of d’Aubigné’s turbulent childhood on the representation of women in his poetry, with particular reference to the parallels drawn between Diane Salviati and the hunter goddess Diana/Artemis of classical lore.

“Martyrdom, Anatomy, and the Ethics of Metaphor in d’Aubigné’s L’Hécatombe à Diane and Les Tragiques.” Love's Wounds: Violence and the Politics of Poetry in Early Modern Europe, by Cynthia Nyree Nazarian. Cornell UP, 2016, pp. 117–179.

• An examination of civil war violence reflected in love poetry

Perry, Kathleen A. “A Re-Evaluation of Agrippa d'Aubigné's « Printemps »: Youthful Love or Mature Theology?” Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, vol. 51, no. 1, 1989, pp. 107–122.

• Argues for the consideration of the poems of the Printemps as condemnations of the Catholic Church.

Perry Long, Kathleen A. “Victim of Love: The Poetics and Politics of Violence in 'Le Printemps' of Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné.” Translating Desire in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, edited by Craig A. Berry and Heather Richardson Hayton. Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Press, 2005, pp. 31–47. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies.

• An exploration of Petrarchan and Catullan aspects of d’Aubigné’s early poetry.

Kuperty-Tsur, Nadine. “The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre and Baroque Tendencies in France: The Impact of Religious Turmoils on the Aesthetics of the French Renaissance.” Poetics Today, Translated by Sam W. Bloom, vol. 28, no. 1, 2007, pp. 117–142., doi:10.1215/03335372-2006-017.

• A look at the influence of the Wars of Religion on Early Modern French poetry in general, and on a poem from Le Printemps in particular.

Agrippa d'Aubigné, Théodore. Agrippa d'Aubigné's 'Les Tragiques'. Edited and translated by Valerie Worth-Stylianou. Arizona Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies Press, 2020.

• A critical English edition of d’Aubigné’s most famous work, with a preface featuring information about the author’s life.

Credits

Transcription by Henri Weber, Translation by Nora Baker, Introduction by Nora Baker, Encoded in TEI P5 XML by Dante Zhu