Viau, Théophile de (1590–1626)

French playwright and poet who courted controversy. In 1623, he was condemned to be burned at the stake for his part in the publication of scurrilous verse, but the sentence was commuted to one of imprisonment and banishment.

Viau was born at Clairac, near Agen, and first achieved fame with his pastoral tragedy, Pyrame et Thisbe/Pyramus and Thisbe, 1617. He led a notoriously dissolute life in Paris, and in 1619 was banished from the capital for a period. His death sentence came after the appearance of a collection of verse, Le Parnasse satyrique/The Satirical Parnassus, which contained some licentious poems. The author's name was given as ‘le sieur Théophile’, though Viau protested his innocence.