Background
Clément Marot was born on November 23, 1496, at Cahors, France. His father, Jean Marot was a Norman from the Caen region and was a poet.
Clément Marot was born on November 23, 1496, at Cahors, France. His father, Jean Marot was a Norman from the Caen region and was a poet.
Marot appears to have been educated at the University of Paris, and to have then begun studying law.
In 1514 Marot became page to Nicolas de Neufville, seigneur de Villeroi, secretary to the king. Wishing to follow in his father’s footsteps by obtaining a place as court poet, he entered the service of Margaret of Angoulême, sister of Francis I and later queen of Navarre. On his father’s death, he became valet de chambre to Francis I, a post he held, except for his years of exile (1534–1536), until 1542.
Marot was arrested in 1526 for defying Lenten abstinence regulations, behaviour that put him under suspicion of being a Lutheran. A short imprisonment inspired some of his best-known works, especially "L’Enfer" ("The Inferno"), an allegorical satire on justice. In 1527 he was again imprisoned, this time for attacking a prison guard and freeing a prisoner; an epistle, addressed to the king and begging for his deliverance, won his release. In 1531 Marot was again arrested for eating meat during Lent, but this time he avoided imprisonment. By 1530, in any event, his fame had become firmly established, and his many poems seem to have enjoyed a wide circulation.
After the Affaire des Placards, when placards attacking the Mass were posted in the major cities and on the door of the king’s bedchamber (1534), Marot fled to Navarre, where he was protected by Margaret. When persecution of the Protestants increased, he again fled, this time to the court of Renée de France in Ferrara, Italy. Marot subsequently returned to Paris in 1537 after Francis I had stopped the persecutions.
When he was not engaged in writing the official poems that his duties at the French court compelled him to write, Marot spent most of his time translating the Psalms; a first edition of some of these appeared in 1539, the Trente Pseaulmes de Davíd in 1542. These translations were notable for their sober and solemn musicality. Their condemnation by the Sorbonne caused Marot to go into exile again. But they were greatly admired by John Calvin, who gave Marot sanctuary in Geneva. Marot’s behaviour became unacceptable in that strict and sober city, however, and he was forced to return to Italy.
Clément Marot died on September 12, 1544, at Turin and was buried in the Cathedral there at the expense of the French ambassador to Rome.