Editing Mellin de Saint-Gelais (section)

== Life ==
He was born at [[Angoulême]], most likely the natural son of Jean de Saint-Gelais, marquis de Montlieu, a member of the [[Angoumois]] gentry.  His forename was the French-Norman [[malapropism]] of the British wizard [[Merlin (wizard)|Merlin]] featured in [[King Arthur|Arthurian legends]]. He was close to his uncle [[Octavien de Saint-Gelais]] (1466–1502), [[bishop of Angoulême]] since 1494, himself a poet who had translated the ''[[Aeneid]]'' into [[French language|French]].<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Saint-Gelais, Melin de |volume=24 |page=5 |inline=1}}</ref>

Mellin, who had studied at [[Bologna]] and [[Padua]], had the reputation of being doctor, [[astrologer]] and musician as well as poet. He returned to [[France]] around 1523, and soon gained favour at the court of the art-loving [[Valois Dynasty|Valois]] ruler Francis I by his skill in light verse. He was made almoner to the [[Dauphin of France|Dauphin]], abbot of [[Reclus]] in the [[diocese of Troyes]] and librarian to the king at [[Blois]].<ref name=EB1911/>

He enjoyed immense popularity until the appearance of [[Joachim du Bellay]]'s ''Défense et illustration...'' in 1549, where Saint-Gelais was not excepted from the scorn poured on contemporary poets. He attempted to ridicule the innovators by reading aloud the ''Odes'' of [[Pierre de Ronsard]] with burlesque emphasis before [[Henry II of France|Henry II]], when the king's sister, [[Marguerite de Valois]], seized the book and read them herself.<ref name=EB1911/>

Ronsard accepted Saint-Gelais's apology for this incident, but Du Bellay satirized the offender in the ''Poète courtisan''. He translated the ''[[Sophonisbe|Sofonisba]]'' of [[Gian Giorgio Trissino]] (1478–1550) which was represented in 1556 before [[Catherine de' Medici]] at Blois.  Saint-Gelais was the champion of the ''style marotique'' (see [[Clément Marot]]) and the earliest of French [[sonnet]]eers and [[Petrarch#Petrarchism|petrarchist]].<ref>{{cite book |surname=Minta |given=Stephen |year=1980 |title=Petrarch and Petrarchism: the English and French Traditions |place=Manchester; New York |publisher=Manchester University Press; Barnes & Noble |isbn=0-719-00745-3}}</ref> He died in Paris in 1558.<ref name=EB1911/>