L'Astrée

The first three parts were published in 1607, 1610 and 1619; after Honoré d'Urfé's death in 1625 the fourth was completed by Balthazar Baro, and a fifth and sixth were supplied in 1626 by Pierre Boitel, sieur de Gaubertin.

The plot is immensely complex, but the main thread of the storyline is the perfect love between a shepherd and shepherdess of fifth-century Forez, the heroine Astrée (named after Astræa) and her lover Céladon.

The perfidies and political ambitions of the other characters, which result in many misadventures for the couple, occupy the greater proportion of the novel, which is frequently interrupted by digressions into stories that are strictly unrelated but which serve to flesh out the world in which they live.

Visitors to Boën can today follow the chemins de l'Astrée ("paths of Astrée") by visiting the Grand Pré in the grounds of d'Urfé's old estate.

In his work The social destiny of man: or, Theory of the four movements, Charles Fourier discussed celadony (l'amour Céladonique), describing it as purely spiritual love embodied by Céladon in L'Astrée.