Born: 1524, France
Died: 25 April 1566
Country most active: France
Also known as: NA
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Louise Charlin Perrin Labe (1525-1566), a French poet, born at Lyons, daughter of a rich ropemaker, named Charlin. At the siege of Perpignan she is said to have fought on horseback in the ranks of the Dauphin, afterwards Henry II. After her marriage in 1550 to Ennemond Perrin, like her father, a ropemaker, she formed a library and gathered round her a society which included many of the learned men and women of her day. About this time she met the poet Olivier de Magny, who was passing through Lyons on his way to Italy. As the friend of Ronsard, “Prince of Poets,” he met with an enthusiastic reception from Louise, who straightway fell in love with him. There seems little doubt that her passion for Magny inspired her eager, sincere verse, and the elegies probably express her grief at his first absence. His influence is shown in her Sonnets, which printed in 1555, quickly attained great popularity. During Magny’s long absence, Louise, despairing of his return, encouraged another admirer, Claude Rubys, when her lover came back unexpectedly. Louise dismissed Rubys, but Magny’s jealousy found vent in an ode which ruined her reputation, while Rubys avenged himself in his “True History of Lyons.” This scandal struck a fatal blow at her position, and she retired to her country house, where she died soon after, leaving her fortune to the poor. She was called La belle cordiere (the beautiful ropemaker) and was the most celebrated of the sixteenth century French women poets.
IW note: In 1555, Labé published a sonnet collection written by herself and others. In its preface, she called for women to pursue literature and other cultural studies, rather than leave them to men.
The following is excerpted from “Female Warriors: Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era,” by Ellen C. Clayton (Mrs. Needham), published in 1879 and shared online by Project Gutenberg.
In the annals of French poetry few names stand higher than that of Louise Labé, La Belle Cordière. She was born at Lyons in 1526 or 1527. Nature was lavish in her gifts; to personal beauty and an exquisite voice, were added talents for literature and music. Her education included music, languages, riding, and military exercises. The last named acquirement excited in the mind of Louise a wish to enter the army. At the age of sixteen she served, under the name of Captain Loys, in the campaign of 1542, which ended in the siege of Perpignan. Some say she followed her father, others her lover to the field; but whatever was the cause of her presence in camp, she earned great praises for her courage. But the French were obliged to raise the siege; and Louise Labé, after sharing in the fêtes and tournaments held by the Dauphin, gave up the military profession, henceforth devoting her time to music and poetry.
She married Ennemond Perrin, a wealthy rope-maker, and thus acquired the opportunity to follow her literary inclinations. She possessed a valuable library of books in Greek, Latin, Spanish, and[177] Italian, which languages she knew perfectly. Her spacious and tastefully laid-out gardens became the resort of nobles, poets, savants, wits, artists, musicians, and men of genius of every kind; and at these re-unions the musical skill of La Belle Cordière showed to advantage. She excited at the same time the admiration of the poets and the envy of the ladies. The street in Lyons where she lived was christened after her. She died in 1566, one year after her husband, who had left her sole heir to his large property.
Her chief works were an “Epistle to Clemence de Bourges,” the “Débat de la Folie et de l’Amour,” a drama in prose, three elegies, and twenty-four sonnets. The first edition of her writings appeared in 1555.