Clément Marot

Epistre envoyée de Venize à Madame la Duchesse de Ferrare par Clement Marot

[for a full scholarly treatment, click his link]

This Epistle Marot sent to Renée, duchess of Ferrara, from Venice (hence the title: envoyée de Venize). Mid 1536 Marot had left Ferrara, in quite obscure circumstances, but probably because he was wanted by the Inquisition. With the help of the French Ambassador of Venice, George de Selve, he had fled Ferrara (overnight it seems, hiding in his escort), a narrow escape. The most intriguing aspect of this epistle is that it is known in two versions, one with a quite explicit attack on the corruption in/of the Church, and the other in which all evangelical tones are carefully removed, because the addressee was no longer Renée who sympathised with the Reformation, but the new Constable of France, Anne De Montmorency, known for his conservatism in religious matters (although one should not overstretch this aspect). Perhaps Marot simply decided to be prudent. After all, he had only just returned from exile, and repented (abjured). Both versions share a severe critique of the materialism and low morals of the Venetians. To mark the sections from the original that can not be found in the version presented to De Montmorency, I used yellow. Partial translations into English can be found in M. Screech, Clément Marot, a renaissance poet discovers the gospel.. (Brill, 1994), also integrated below.

Juxtaposed below as an image... clicking on the image brings you to an old-fashioned page with table containing the texts.