François Villon

François Villon was born around 1431 and became the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. His life tangled with criminal behavior and repeated brushes with law enforcement. Rather than hide it, he wrote it down: the experiences that should have ruined him became the material. His poems carry that edge, the unmistakable texture of someone who knew the inside of a cell. He was last heard from after 1463, the record goes cold, and the work he left is all that remains.