Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies

A collection of anecdotes about the amorous lives of the sixteenth-century French nobility, by an author writing frankly about the licentious world of the age he knew so well. Although the content is often of the most scandalous nature they give a wonderfully vivid picture of the author's times, are of high literary merit and of great historical interest. Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantome, was a French chronicler (about 1527-1614). Born at Perigord, he was for many years a traveler or soldier. He retired to his estate twenty years before his death, and used his leisure in writing his Memoirs. The author is vain and egotistical, but thoroughly naive and honest. The style is charmingly piquant, with frequent sallies of wit and flashes of eloquence. He is indeed a fascinating chronicler.