Louise Labé

The poet Louise Labé belonged to a literary circle in Lyon that included Pernette du Guillet and Maurice Scève. In 1555, Labé published a collection of sonnets that she and others had written. In the preface, she called for women to pursue literature and other cultural disciplines, rather than leave such studies to men. Her life is surrounded by legends, including one in which it is alleged that she had once fought in a war.