Jacques Yver

[1] He went to school in Poitiers where he studied law and frequented the literary circles of the day.

[1] He appears to have been inspired by the translations of the stories of Matteo Bandello made by François de Belleforest to write his own work.

[1] The full title of his short story collection is Le Printemps d'Yver, contenant plusieurs histoires discourues en cinq journées (English: The Spring of Yver or, of Winter, as Yver could also refer to hiver) containing several stories told over five days.

[1] The work follows the frame tale technique made famous by Boccaccio's Decameron and Marguerite de Navarre's Heptaméron: in a castle in Saintonge, a group of gentlemen and ladies (presented as real people, albeit under assumed names) gather together and tell each other five stories followed by debates on love.

[1] Four of the tales are tragic in nature[1] (similar to the tales of Bandello and other "histoires tragiques" popular in the period): The fifth tale is lighter in tone:[1] The work also includes verse passages, including Complaincte sur les misères de la guerre civile (Complaint on the Miseries of the Civil War).