Eustache Deschamps

Who was Eustache Deschamps?

Eustache Deschamps was a medieval French poet, also known as Eustache Morel. Born at Vertus, in Champagne, he received lessons in versification from Guillaume de Machaut and later studied law at Orleans University. He then traveled through Europe as a diplomatic messenger for Charles V. His estate was pillaged by the English, in consequence of which he continuously abuses them in his many poems.

Deschamps wrote as many as 1,175 ballades, and he is sometimes credited with inventing the form. All but one of his poems are short, and they are mostly satirical, attacking the English, whom he regards as the plunderers of his country, and against the wealthy oppressors of the poor. His satires were also directed at corrupt officials and clergy but his sharp wit may have cost him his job as Bailli of Senlis. He also wrote a treatise on French verse entitled L'Art de dictier, completed on 25 November 1392.

His one long poetic work, Le Miroir de Mariage, is a 13,000 line satirical poem on the subject of women. This work influenced Geoffrey Chaucer who used themes from the poem in his own work. Chaucer seems to be one of the few Englishmen Deschamps liked, as he composed a ballade in his honour praising Chaucer as a great philosopher, translator, ethicist, and poet.