Jean de Sponde

Jean de Sponde (* 1557 in Mauléon (now Mauléon- Licharre in the Basses- Pyrénées), † 1595 in Bordeaux) was a French humanist and poet.

Life and work

Jean de Sponde came from a Calvinist family from the Béarn. His father was an official at the court of the Queen of Navarre, Jeanne d' Albret. From 1569 he studied at the College of Lescar, where he was enthusiastic about Hellenism. At the age of 20 he began his work on a Latin translation of the works of Homer with detailed commentary. He also wrote several love poems, which were published posthumously.

In 1580 he traveled with the support of Henry of Navarre to Basel. He frequented the local scholarly circles and dealt with alchemy. After intensive examination of the psalms he wrote his major work, the Meditations sur les Pseaumes, and the Essay de quelques poemes chrestiens, whose poems next to theological issues such as the Last Supper ( Stances de la Cene ) mainly deal with the death ( Stances de la Mort ).

After 1583 he returned to France, where he was employed by the Registry of the King of Navarre. 1585 he studied in Paris with the search for artesian wells.

From 1588 he was a resident of La Rochelle. In 1589 he stayed in Paris for unknown reasons, which was then ruled by the Catholic League, and was imprisoned. 1591 he published Latin translations of annotated logic of Aristotle and the works of Hesiod.

In 1593 he converted - almost simultaneously with King Henry IV - to Catholicism, which earned him the hatred of his former co-religionists, including Agrippa d' Aubigné earned. Henry IV also rejected his conversion from because he wanted a strong Protestant party, and deprived him of his support.

1594, he learned of the martyrdom of his Calvinist father, who was murdered by Catholic partisans. Embittered, he withdrew to Bordeaux, where he died impoverished in 1595.