1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:08,280 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: a show that shines a light on the lesser known 4 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: figures of everyday history. I'm Gabe Lousier and today we're 5 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: looking at the hard knock life of Francois Villon, the 6 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: wandering poet slash career criminal who left his mark on 7 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: French literature by questioning his place in the world. The 8 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: day was January five, fourteen sixty three. The Parliament of 9 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: Paris sentenced medieval poet Francois Villon to ten years of 10 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:47,520 Speaker 1: banishment from the city. The poet's crime was his involvement 11 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:51,200 Speaker 1: in a violent brawl on the Rue de la parchet Mineri, 12 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: a historic street and the center of the Parisian book 13 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:58,760 Speaker 1: trade at the time. A decade long exile may seem 14 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: like an extreme punished meant for a simple street fight, 15 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: but Villon had crossed the lawn many times before and 16 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: had spent much of his youth in and out of 17 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: French prisons. The brawl was the last straw for Paris officials, 18 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:15,959 Speaker 1: and their sentence was originally much harsher, condemning the poet 19 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:21,119 Speaker 1: to be quote hanged and strangled until dead. Villon appealed 20 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: that sentence and at the last minute was saved by 21 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: a pardon from King Louis the eleven. His punishment was 22 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: commuted to ten years of banishment, but once the poet 23 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,400 Speaker 1: left the French capital, he disappeared from the historical record 24 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:39,960 Speaker 1: and was never seen or heard from again. What little 25 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: we know of Villon's life comes from his own poetry 26 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: and from the research of a nineteenth century French scholar 27 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: named Auguste Longnan. He dug up numerous historical documents concerning Villon, 28 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: most of which were judicial records relating to his many 29 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 1: criminal exploits. Villon was apparently born in Paris in fourteen 30 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: thirty one, the same year that Joan of Arc was 31 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: burned at the Stake. Orphaned at an early age by 32 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: his impoverished parents, Villon was raised by a foster father, 33 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: from whom he took his surname. He became a student 34 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: of the arts in his teenage years, and later earned 35 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: both a bachelor's and a master's degree from the University 36 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,839 Speaker 1: of Paris. Not much is known about what Villon did 37 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: for the first three years following his graduation, but he 38 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: emerged again in dramatic fashion on June fifth, fourteen fifty five, 39 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,959 Speaker 1: when he was arrested for killing a drunken priest in 40 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: a bar brawl in Paris. Villon fled the city to 41 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: escape punishment, but it turned out he needn't have bothered. 42 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: The priest had forgiven his killer on his deathbed, and 43 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: Villon was later granted a royal pardon, a recurring theme 44 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: in the young poet's life. Francois Villon returned to his 45 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: home in Paris and early fourteen fifty six, but before 46 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,239 Speaker 1: the year was out he was on the run again. 47 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: Just before Christmas, he was implicated in the theft of 48 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 1: five hundred gold crowns from a coffer at the Collage 49 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: day in the var and was compelled to leave Paris 50 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:13,919 Speaker 1: once again. Around the same time, possibly just after the robbery, 51 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: Villan wrote one of the most famous poems of his career. 52 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: He titled it Lillay or the Legacy, but it's better 53 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: known today by the title assigned by his editors, Le 54 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: Petite Testament. The poem takes the form of a tongue 55 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: in cheek list of bequests, a kind of will, addressed 56 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: to friends and acquaintances just ahead of his hasty departure 57 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: from the city. Among the sarcastic offerings were clippings of 58 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: his hair bequeathed to the local barber, and his personal sword, 59 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: a gift to the clerk of criminal Justice, although he 60 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: would have had to pony up some cash to claim it, 61 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: as Villon had already pawned his sword. Following his second 62 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: flight from Paris, Villon continued to get himself into trouble. 63 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: He was imprisoned and bourged for much of fourteen fifty seven, 64 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: and in the summer of fourteen sixty one he got 65 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: locked up again, that time in the bou Bournais region. 66 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 1: Villon made the most of his incarceration that year, using 67 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: his free time to pen his longest and perhaps most 68 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: famous work, Le Grand Testament. In the more than two 69 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: thousand line poem, Villon laments his wasted youth in the 70 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: bars and brothels of Paris, although he was only thirty 71 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,679 Speaker 1: years old at the time. He express his immense fear 72 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:37,359 Speaker 1: of sickness, old age, and death, a common theme in 73 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: a time racked by pestilence, plague, and war. The poet 74 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: also mournfully reflects on former friends lost loves and partners 75 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: in crime, many of whom he had made bequests to 76 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 1: in his earlier work, despite some of the names being 77 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,039 Speaker 1: the same. Though, Villon's tone is much more melancholy and 78 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: regretful here than it was in Le Lay. In one stanza, 79 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: he claims he would gladly die for his transgressions if 80 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 1: it would benefit the common good, but then concludes it 81 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: would make no difference, as people like himself have no 82 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 1: effect on society one way or the other. As he 83 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: put it, quote, if the world were bettered by my 84 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: death or story left untold, I would condemn myself to 85 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 1: die for misdemeanor's manifold. Yet I bring no harm to 86 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,919 Speaker 1: young or old, alive or dead in either case. A 87 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: man so needy never rolled a mountain from its resting place. 88 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: Villan seemed keenly aware of the destructive path he was on, 89 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: but felt powerless to change direction. That sense of doomed 90 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: resignation led him to make the same bad choices following 91 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 1: his release from prison in the fall of fourteen sixty one. 92 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:55,839 Speaker 1: Shortly after returning to Paris, Villon was arrested again for robbery, 93 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: and in the following year he was condemned to death 94 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: for his role in a dry can brawl. His eventual 95 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: pardon and subsequent banishment from Paris is the last known 96 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: record of Francois Villon. No one knows what he did next, 97 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: or when, where or how his life came to an end. However, 98 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: the legacy of his life checkered, though it was lived 99 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,840 Speaker 1: on through his poetry. Several of his manuscripts were discovered 100 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,799 Speaker 1: shortly after his disappearance in fourteen sixty three. The first 101 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: printed collection of his work was published in Paris nearly 102 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: three decades later, and since then more than a hundred 103 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: other editions have followed. Today, Villon is probably the best 104 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:41,040 Speaker 1: known French poet of the Middle Ages. Set apart by 105 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: his direct emotional appeals, by his talent for across dicks, 106 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,160 Speaker 1: and by his use of thieves slang also known as 107 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: thieves can't. Villon's criminal acts sometimes overshadow his remarkable contributions 108 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: both the literary canon and to our understanding of what 109 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 1: life was like in medieval Paris. His poems offer a 110 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 1: fascinating look into the seedy underworld he moved in, but 111 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: they also reveal a man grappling with the same fears 112 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: and insecurities that still keep many of us awake at night, 113 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: regardless of our respective social standings. In one poem, ViOn 114 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: described the sense of isolation he felt within his own society, 115 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: and the feeling that he would forever remain out of step, 116 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: unable to get ahead or to ever feel at peace 117 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: in my own country. I am in a far off land, 118 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: he wrote. I am strong, but have no force or power. 119 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: I win all, yet remain a loser. At break of day, 120 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: I say good night. When I lie down, I have 121 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: a great fear of falling. The great irony is that, 122 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: by expressing his sense of detachment, ViOn effectively linked himself 123 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: to any reader who's ever felt the same way. In fact, 124 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: all of the poets doubts and fears, his obsession with 125 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: what he would leave behind his legacy are the very 126 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: things that still make him relatable today, nearly six centuries 127 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: after his death. Chances are you've never killed a priest 128 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: or robbed your alma mater. But if you've ever remembered 129 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: something with regret or felt the familiar pang of the 130 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: old wound known as nostalgia, then you'll still find plenty 131 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: to connect with and Vion's poetry because at one point 132 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: or another, no matter how well we live our lives, 133 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 1: we still all look back and wonder, just as he 134 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: did Mussain Launige D'Anton, where are the snows of yesteryear? 135 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: I'm Gay Blusier and hopefully you now know a little 136 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:44,680 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you 137 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: enjoy today's show, consider keeping up with us on Twitter, Facebook, 138 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:52,559 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i HC Show. He can 139 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or 140 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: you can get in touch directly by writing to This 141 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler 142 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: Mays for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. 143 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 144 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: in History class.