Agrippa d ' Aubigné Théodore - Agrippa d ' Aubigné ( February 8 , 1552 – April 29 , 1630 ) was a French poet , soldier , propagandist and chronicler . His epic poem " Les Tragiques " ( 1616 ) is widely regarded as his masterpiece . Life . Born at the Aubigné château of Saint - Maury near Pons in the present day Charente - Maritime , the son of Jean d ' Aubigné , who was implicated in the Huguenot Amboise conspiracy to kidnap the King ( 1560 ) . Aubigné studied in Paris , Orléans , Geneva and Lyon before joining the Huguenot cause of Henry of Navarre ( Henry IV ) as both soldier and counsellor . Henry ' s accession to the throne of France entailed an , at least nominal , conversion to the Roman Catholic Church and Aubigné left his service to tend to his own Poitou estates , even though his Huguenot confederates welcomed Henry ' s religious tolerance . When Marie de ' Medici became regent following Henry ' s assassination in 1610 , she embraced the Counter - Reformation and Aubigné ' s isolation made him an easy target . He was proscribed in 1620 and fled to Geneva where he lived for the rest of his life . His daughter Louise Arthemise d ' Aubigné , Madame de Villette , was born in 1584 at Mursay to Suzanne de Lusignan de Lezay ; at an early age on the 22 of October 1610 she married Benjamin Valois de Vilette in Maillezais . His son Constant d ' Aubigné led a scandalous life of adventure . Constant was twice married . His first wife , Anne Marchant , left a son Theodore . His second wife , Jeanne de Cardilhac , was the mother of Mme . de Maintenon ( who , by many interesting turn of life events , married the King of France , Louis XIV ) and Chevalier D ' Aubigné . The d ' Aubigné line was continued through Ann Marchant ' s son , Theodore ( 1613 – 1670 ) . His great grand daughter Françoise Charlotte d ' Aubigné married into the House of Noailles . From Françoise Charlotte and her husband , Adrien Maurice de Noailles , Agrippa is an ancestor of include the present duc de Noailles , who has three children . Others include Adrienne de Noailles , wife of the famous marquis de Lafayette ; the Duke of Brabant , Princess Astrid of Belgium , Archduchess of Austria - Este and Prince Laurent of Belgium . Literary and historical works . Les Tragiques . Written over some three decades , the alexandrine verse of this epic poem relies on multiple genres as well as stylistic familiarity with the work of the opposing , Catholic poets of the Pléïade , headed by Pierre de Ronsard . Divided into seven books , a number symbolic of the author ' s ultimate , apocalyptic intent , the Tragiques incorporates literary influence from classical sources , such as tragedy and satire , palpable in the first three books ( " Les Misères , " " Les Princes " and " La Chambre Dorée " respectively ) , before resorting to influence from genres like ecclesiastical history , martyrology and apocalypse in the creation of the remaining books ( " , " " " " " and " " ) . In the first of two liminal paratexts , the introduction " Aux Lecteurs , " Aubigné endorses the account ( also found in his autobiographical " " ) , that the inception of the Tragiques came to him as an ecstatic vision during a near - death experience . In the second , " L ' Auteur À Son Livre , " Aubigné adopts the metaphor of father as author to name the text that follows ( Les Tragiques ) as a more pious son than the less religious works of his youth ( c . f . : Le Printemps ) . The intent of the epic is subsequently spelled out as an attack against the falsely beautiful , verisimilar works written by the Catholic poets of the Pléïade for their patrons in the midst of the religious wars .