Pierre Boaistuau

Pierre Boaistuau (c. 1517–1566) was a French humanist writer, translator and compiler born in Nantes and trained in civil and canon law. Around 1550 he served the French ambassador Jean-Jacques of Cambrai and travelled through Italy and Germany, later visiting England and meeting Elizabeth I.

His Théâtre du monde appeared in 1558, and he was the first editor of Marguerite of Navarre's nouvelles, later the Heptaméron. His Histoires tragiques of 1559 translated six tales by Bandello, including Romeo and Juliet, which reached Shakespeare through English adaptations, and he introduced the tragic and prodigious tale as literary genres in France.