Martin le Franc

Martin le Franc (c. 1410 – 1461) was a French poet of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

Life and career

He was born in

Le Franc's most famous work was his huge, 24,000-verse composition Le Champion des Dames (The Champion of Women), dedicated to Philip the Good and dating from 1440 or 1442 (first printed in Lyon in 1485 and again in Paris in 1530). It recounts the nobility and deeds of many women throughout history, including Joan of Arc, and also fiercely attacks corruption in government as well as the hedonistic luxury of the aristocratic class. It was illuminated by Peronet Lamy.

Martin le Franc is famous in music history for penning the phrase "

• Le Franc, Martin. The Trial of Womankind: A Rhyming Translation of Book IV of the Fifteenth-Century Le Champion des Dames. Ed. and trans. Steven Millen Taylor. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2005.
• Le Franc, Martin. The Conception of Mary -- A Rhyming Translation of Book V of Le Champion des Dames by Martin Le Franc (1410-1461). Ed. and trans. Steven Millen Taylor. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010.

Sources

• Strohm, Reinhard (2005). The Rise of European Music, 1380-1500. Cambridge, England:
  ISBN 978-0-521-61934-9
  .
• ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership
  required)