Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas

Who was Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas?

Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas was a French poet. A Huguenot, he served under Henry of Navarre. He is known as an epic poet. La Sepmaine; ou, Creation du monde was a hugely influential hexameral work, relating the creation of the world and the history of man. It was translated into many languages, including English, and helped inspire John Milton's Paradise Lost. It was followed quickly by La Seconde Sepmaine which Du Bartas did not manage to finish before falling fatally ill.

As a member of Henry III of Navarre's court, he was a writer in the Gascon dialect of the Occitan language. His name in classical Occitan is Guilhèm de Sallusti deu Bartàs and his main work in Occitan is an Entry written in French, Latin and Occitan in which three muses challenged each other in order to claim the honour of welcoming King Henry of Navarre and his wife Queen Marguerite de Valois at Henry's court of Nerac. In the end, the Gascon muses win the contest.