Pernette Du Guillet (1520–1545)

Pernette du Guillet was born into a noble family and received an excellent education, becoming fluent in Italian, Latin, and Greek. In about 1538, she married a man with the last name du Guillet. Pernette’s style was greatly influenced by the Italian poet Petrarch. At her death from the plague at age 25, she left a large collection of poems that her husband published under the title of Rhymes (Rymes de gentille et vertueuse dame, Pernette du Guillet).