He was born at the Château de Soliers in the Haute Marche.

His adventures began early, for he killed his enemy in a duel at the age of thirteen, and was obliged to flee to England.

The story of his childhood and youth he embroiders in a burlesque novel, the Page disgracie.

He was, in succession, poet to Gaston d'Orléans, to the duchesse de Chaulnes and the duke of Guise.

[1] He took his pseudonym from Tristan l'Hermite, a shadowy figure of the late Middle Ages who was provost of the marshals of the King's household under Louis XI of France.