Agrippa d'Aubigné

Théodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné (February 8, 1552 – April 29, 1630) was a French poet, soldier, propagandist and chronicler. His epic poem Les Tragiques (1916), is widely regarded as a French Baroque masterpiece.

Life

Born Pons in the present day Charente-Maritime, Aubigné studied in Paris, Orléans, Geneva and Lyon before joining the Huguenot cause of Henry of Navarre (Henry IV) as both soldier and counsellor. Henry's accession to the throne of France entailed an, at least nominal, conversion to the Roman Catholic Church and Aubigné left his service to tend to his own Poitou estates, even though his Huguenot confederates welcomed Henry's religious tolerance. When Maria de Medici became regent following Henry's assassination in 1610, she embraced the Counter-Reformation and Aubigné's isolation made him an easy target. He was proscribed in 1620 and fled to Geneva where he lived for the rest of his life.

His son Constant d'Aubigné led a scandalous life of adventure, fathering Madame de Maintenon.

Literary and historical works

• Histoire universelle (1616–1618)
• Les Tragiques (1616)