Étienne Jodelle (1532-1573) was a French writer who belonged to the Pléiade group that formed in Paris in the mid-16th century. Jodelle introduced several innovations to the French theatre with the comedy L’Eugène (1552) and the tragedy Cléopâtre captive (1533). Another tragedy Didon se sacrifiant was written in 1555. Around 1558 he temporarily came into conflict with the court. He died impoverished of natural causes.
In 1598, Francis Meres, in Palladi’s Tamia, calls Jodelle an Epicurean and atheist who died a tragic death and whom he compared to Marlowe.1 The only literary similarity between the two may be that each wrote a drama about Dido. Mere’s statements about Jodelle seem to lack any basis. I had to dig deep before I found another clue to Jodelles attitude. However, it dates from 1806. Friedrich Ludewig Bouterweck writes in the 5th volume of Geschichte der Poesie und Beredsamkeit seit dem Ende des 13. Jahrhunderts that Jodelle had been called an atheist by strict Catholics. Bouterwek refers to Charles de la Mothe’s introduction to Jodelle’s Les oeuvres et mélanges poétiques2 of 1574 and the Bibliothèque françoise.3 I have not been able to find out which work this refers to. With a publication year of 1574, Les oeuvres et mélanges poétiques seems obvious to me anyway as a common source for Bouterwerk and Meres. However, I could not find any reference to Jodelle’s atheism in de la Mothe’s introduction, which may also be due to my poor French, or non-existent Middle French.
