Chambord: François I’s Hunting Lodge and Home

In French Blog Posts by Brock Bourgase

In 1513, a wild boar entered the chateau in Ambois and raced through its halls. Lords and ladies were terrified as the beast charged towards them. The only person in the Royal Court who could stop the four-legged marauder was the Dauphin, François. The future king slew the animal with his sword, exhibiting his hunting prowess and gallantry. When he became King of France in 1515, François I remained an avid hunter. Following his campaigns in Italy, he ordered the construction of a new chateau in Chambord to serve as a royal hunting lodge. Not only did François I seek …

Pierre de Ronsard’s “The Nightingale”

In French Blog Posts by Brock Bourgase

My Second Essay for FCS369Y: Irony and Pierre de Ronsard’s “Nightingale” All night the nightingale hears Ronsard’s pleas.Singing, sighing, the bird learns of love scorned.It knows life without love is a heart torn,But it may not see the poem’s irony. Pierre de Ronsard constructs the poem by comparing himself to a nightingale, fluttering from tree to tree and warbling its song during the night, hoping to find true love. The foundation of the metaphor is the role the nightingale as a symbol for tragic love in literature. In his cathedral for Marie d’Anjou, Ronsard used some conventional architecture, such as …

Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptaméron

In French Blog Posts by Brock Bourgase

My First Essay for FCS369Y: Allegories and Humour Show how Heroes are RewardedLike the wry smile Leornardo da Vinci painted on Mona Lisa, Jean Clouet’s portrait of Marguerite de Navarre, displays her knowledge and wit. She proved a controversial figure during the French Renaissance, a proponent of the abilities of women and religious integrity but also a writer who was quite risqué. Always supporting her words with actions, she provided protection to persecuted authors like François Rabelais and once rode on horseback from Lyons to Madrid in order to negotiate the freedom of her brother François I from Spanish captivity …