author

François Habert

A lesser-known but lively voice of the French Renaissance, this poet and translator wrote moral, religious, and courtly verse while helping bring classical texts into French. His work opens a window onto the literary world around the reign of Henry II.

1 Audiobook

Les Divins Oracles de Zoroastre, ancien Philosophe Grec, Interpretez en Rime Françoise, par François Habert de Berry; Avec un Commentaire moral sur ledit Zoroastre, en Poesie Françoise, et Latine.

Les Divins Oracles de Zoroastre, ancien Philosophe Grec, Interpretez en Rime Françoise, par François Habert de Berry; Avec un Commentaire moral sur ledit Zoroastre, en Poesie Françoise, et Latine.

by François Habert

About the author

Born in Issoudun in Berry around 1508, François Habert was a French Renaissance poet and translator. Sources identify him as active in the world of court poetry, and he is also known by the pen name Banny de Liesse.

Habert studied law in Paris and then Toulouse, but he became better known for writing than for legal work. He produced original poems as well as verse translations from Latin authors, including Ovid and Horace, and his books range from moral and spiritual writings to works shaped by court life.

Though he is not as widely remembered today as some of his more famous contemporaries, modern reference sources and scholarly work show continued interest in him as a distinctive sixteenth-century voice. He appears to have died around 1561 or 1562.