Bonaventure Des Périers

Probably born around 1500 in Arnay-le-Duc in Burgundy and dead by about 1544 in Lyon, Bonaventure Des Périers was a French humanist, storyteller, translator, and editor. Reliable reference sources agree that parts of his life remain uncertain, which only adds to the intrigue around a writer who moved in some of the liveliest intellectual circles of his time.

He spent time in Lyon, a major center of Renaissance printing and scholarship, and later became associated with Marguerite de Navarre, one of the great literary patrons of sixteenth-century France. Des Périers is especially remembered for Cymbalum mundi, a set of satirical dialogues that caused scandal for their skeptical edge, and for the lively story collection Nouvelles récréations et joyeux devis, published after his death.

What makes him memorable today is the tone of his writing: quick, curious, amused by human folly, and unafraid to test accepted ideas. Even centuries later, his mix of comedy and intellectual mischief still feels surprisingly fresh.