CHASTELARD, PIERRE DE BOCSOZEL DE (1540-1563)

This article appears in Volume V05, Page 958 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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CHASTELARD, PIERRE DE BOCSOZEL DE (1540-1563) , French poet, was born in Dauphine, a scion of the

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

Bayard

. His name is inseparably connected with Mary, queen of Scots. From the service of the Constable Montmorency, Chastelard, then a page, passed to the household of Marshal Damville, whom he accompanied in his journey to

Scotland

in escort of Mary (1561). He returned to Paris in the marshal's

train

TRAIN (M. Eng. trayn or trayne, derived through Fr. from Late Lat. trahinare, to drag, draw, Lat. trahere, cf. trail, trace, ultimately from the same source)

, but left for

Scotland

again shortly afterward, bearing letters of recommendation to Mary from his old protector, Montmorency, and the Regrets addressed to the ex-queen of France by Pierre Ronsard, his master in the art of song. He undertook to transmit to the poet the service of

plate

PLATE

with which Mary rewarded him. But he had fallen in love with the queen, who is said to have encouraged his passion. Copies of verse passed between them; she lost no occasion of showing herself partial to his person and conversation. The

young

man hid himself under her bed, where he was discovered by her maids of honour. Mary pardoned the offence, and the old familiar terms between them were resumed. Chastelard was so rash as again to violate her privacy. He was discovered a second time, seized, sentenced and hanged the next morning. He met his fate valiantly and consistently, reading, on his way to the

scaffold

, his master's noble Hymne de la mort, and turning at the instant of doom towards the palace of Holyrood, to address to his unseen mistress the famous farewell" Adieu, toi si belle et si cruelle, qui me tues et que je ne puis cesser d'aimer." This at least is the version of the Memoires of Brantbme, who is, however, notoriously untrustworthy. But for his madness of love, it is possible that Chastelard would have left no shadow or shred of himself behind. As it is, his life and death are of

interest

INTEREST

as illustrating the wild days in which his lot was cast.

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