Coignard, Gabrielle de (c. 1550–1586)

views updated

Coignard, Gabrielle de (c. 1550–1586)

French poet. Born c. 1550 in Toulouse, France; died in 1586 (some sources cite 1594); dau. of Jean de Coignard (prosperous lawyer in the Parlement); m. Pierre de Mansencal (president of the Parlement), lord of Miremont, 1570 (died 1573); children: 2 daughters.

Wrote devotional lyrics, elegies, and meditations to help cope with practical and spiritual struggles, none of which was published in her lifetime. Eight years after her death, daughters had her work published in Toulouse as Oeuvres chretiennes de feue dame G. de C., veuve a feu M. de Mansencal, sieur de Miremont.

See also Melanie E. Gregg (trans.), Spiritual Sonnets (2003), which contains 129 of her poems.