Michel de L'Hospital, Carmina, Livre II

Michel de l’Hospital wrote the twenty letters included in book two of his Carmina between 1546 and 1560. The letters trace his political rise and were destined to figures such as Henry II, Marguerite de France, and French Church, literary, and legal authorities. L’Hospital presents himself as a figure of ethical and moral authority, reconsidering his contemporaries in the light of Classical authors. He mixes legal and courtly satire with political, moral, and literary reflections, ranging from thoughts on the ideal ruler, judicial eloquence, and war, to considerations on the poet’s trade.