BERTAUT, JEAN. - French bishop and poet, b. at Donnay, diocese of Bayeux, in 1552, d. at Séez (Savoy) on 8 June 1611. Thanks to his learning he was held in great honor by Henry III and Henry IV, so much so that he became the official court poet.

A Petrarchist, a disciple of Ronsard and of Desportes, he at first treated frivolous and gallant subjects in a rather sentimental manner, and later, having become bishop of Séez in 1606, he concerned himself chiefly with religious themes, which he developed with fluid prolixity and almost always without any personal character. In his paraphrase of the Psalms, however, the poetry is more spontaneous and is not lacking in deeply felt lyrical accents. Let us recall the Cantique en forme de confession and the Cantique sur la naissance de N. S. Jésus-Christ.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: G. Grente, J. B., Paris 1909; J. Vianey, Le Pétrarquisme en France au XVIe siècle, ibid. 1909, pp. 271-79; H. Vaganay, Les repentirs littéraires de B., in Bulletin du bibliophile, 9 (1930), pp. 161-63, 205-11.

Giovanna Fusco

@incollection{ec2_bertaut_jean, author = {Fusco, Giovanna}, title = {Bertaut, jean}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {1465}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/bertaut-jean} }

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Bertaut, Jean

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