JEAN

See also:

• VAUQUELIN, LOUIS NICOLAS (1763-1829)

VAUQUELIN DE LA FRESNAYE (1536-1608)  , French poet, was born at the chateau of La Fresnaye, near Falaise in Normandy, in 1536 . He studied the humanities at Paris and law at Poitiers and Bourges . He fought in the civil wars under Marshal Matignon and was wounded at the siege of Saint-L8 (1574) . Most of his life was spent at Caen, where he was president, and he died there in 16o8 . La Fresnaye was a disciple of Ronsard, but, while praising the reforms of the Pleiade, he laid stress on the continuity of French literary history . He was a student of the trouveres and the old chroniclers, and desired to see French poetry set on a national basis . These views he expounded in an Art poetique, begun at the desire of Henry III. in 1574, but not published until 16o5 .