Louise Labé

Louise Charly (dite Labé) (Known as "La Belle Cordière")

Renaissance Poet of the Lyon School, Feminist Thinker, Sonnets of Passion

Born c. 1524

Lyon, France

Passed Away Apr 25, 1566 Parcieux-en-Dombes (near Lyon), Kingdom of France

Lifespan 42 years old

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Notice / Correction

"Je vis, je meurs; je me brûle et me noie / J'ai chaud extrême en endurant froidure (Sonnet VIII)."

Archival Overview

Pioneering Renaissance poet of the Lyon School known as 'La Belle Cordière' whose impassioned sonnets and feminist manifesto in Débat de Folie et d'Amour voiced female sexual agency and intellectual autonomy.

Biographical Record

Daughter of a wealthy Lyon ropemaker, Labé received an exceptional humanist education in Latin, Italian, music, and horsemanship. Married to ropemaker Ennemond Perrin, she hosted a dazzling humanist salon in Renaissance Lyon, welcoming poets Maurice Scève and Olivier de Magny.

In 1555, Jean de Tournes published her Œuvres, featuring twenty-four sublime Petrarchan sonnets of burning erotic desire and emotional torment ('Je vis, je meurs; je me brûle et me noie'). In her dedicatory epistle to Clémence de Bourges, she famously exhorted women to transcend needlework and pursue the sciences and letters.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial

Church of Parcieux-en-Dombes (Burial site on her private country estate)
Parcieux (Ain), France

                         GPS: 45.9167, 4.8333                    

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