Louise Labé

Pollie Bromilow (University of Liverpool)

Ed. by Tim Unwin, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.02: French Writing and Culture in the Renaissance, 1400-1600.
Vol. editors: Robert J. Hudson (Brigham Young University), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), Phillip John Usher (New York University), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born c. 1521
Died 1566
Activity 1552-1566

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

Labé's Works

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Louise Labé was a writer active in Lyon in the 1550s. She is best known for her poetical works, although her complete works (

Œuvres

) also include a prose debate between Folly and Love. Labé is thought to have been born in Lyon between 1520 and 1522. Little is known of her early life, but she was the daughter of a rope maker and, as was common amongst families who sought to consolidate their position within networks of trades people, her father arranged her marriage to another rope maker, Ennemond Perrin, between 1542 and 1544. Labé enjoyed an unusually full education for a woman of her time and was schooled in ancient and modern languages as well as more typically female pastimes such as music and needlework.

The only surviving evidence of Labé’s intellectual production are her

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1775 words

Citation: Bromilow, Pollie. "Louise Labé". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 February 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5832, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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