Ballade des dames du temps jadis

Ballade des dames du temps jadis
by François Villon
The poem in the Stockholm manuscript, late 15th century
Original title	Ballade des dames du temps jadis
Written	1461
Country	France
Language	Middle French
Subject(s)	Lives of illustrious women
Form	Ballade
Meter	iambic tetrameter
Rhyme scheme	ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC
Media type	Manuscript
Lines	28

The "Ballade des dames du temps jadis" ("Ballade of Ladies of Time Gone By") is a Middle French poem by François Villon that celebrates famous women in history and mythology, and a prominent example of the ubi sunt? genre. It is written in the fixed-form ballade format, and forms part of his collection Le Testament in which it is followed by the Ballade des seigneurs du temps jadis.

The section is simply labelled Ballade by Villon; the title des dames du temps jadis was added by Clément Marot in his 1533 edition of Villon's poems.

Flora

Thaïs

Echo (right)

Héloïse (right)

Margaret of Burgundy

Blanche of Castile

Aélis

Bertha Broadfoot

Alcibiades ("Archipiada")

Joan of Arc

Beatrice (right)

Eremburga of Maine (drawing of 12th-century lady's costume)

The women (and man) mentioned in the Ballad