Lancelot de Carles
| Lancelot de Carle | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Riez | |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Diocese | Riez |
| Elected | 1550 |
| Term ended | 1568 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c.1508 Bordeaux, France |
| Died | July 1568 (aged 59–60) Paris |
| Nationality | French |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Parents | Jean de Carle Jacquette de Constantin |
Lancelot de Carle (also Carles) (c. 1508 – July 1568), Bishop of Riez, was a French scholar, poet and diplomat. He was in London in 1536, in the service of the French Ambassador, Antoine de Castelnau. Carle was an eyewitness to the trial and execution of Anne Boleyn, Queen consort of Henry VIII, and shortly afterwards, he wrote a poem detailing her life and the circumstances surrounding her death.
Lancelot de Carle was the son of Jean de Carle, seigneur de Peyrissac, and Jacquette, daughter of Baude de Constantin, who married in Bordeaux in 1500 and had three sons and a daughter:
His father was a lawyer and second president of the Parlement Bordeaux from 1519 to 1521. His two brothers distinguished themselves in local government service. Carle was related by marriage to Étienne de La Boétie and Montaigne.
His father died before 1556, his mother died around December 1556 in Bordeaux.
Lancelot de Carle wrote verses in French, Latin as well as Italian, and was recognised in his lifetime as an accomplished poet. He also translated biblical and classical texts. He socialized in literary circles, and was esteemed by La Pléiade. Both Pierre de Ronsard and Joachim du Bellay dedicated works to him
Carle is best known for a 1,318-line poem about the life and death of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII. The poem, Épistre Contenant le Procès Criminel Faict à l'Encontre de la Royne Anne Boullant d'Angleterre, (A Letter Containing the Criminal Charges Laid Against Queen Anne Boleyn of England), is dated 2 June 1536, but not published until 1545. It was written in 1536, while Carle was in London, serving as secretary to Antoine de Castelnau, ambassador to the court of Henry VIII. Since Francis I soon became aware of the circumstances, the poem may have begun as a diplomatic report. The poem relates Anne Boleyn's early life, as well as the arrests, trials and executions, of the Queen and her co-accused, in May 1536. It proclaims that it relates matters heard from a variety of sources in England, but does not name them, nor address their veracity, and it contains a number of factual errors that Carle could have checked.
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