The French Renaissance of literature had its beginning in the early years of the sixteenth century. It had been preceded by that of Italy, which opened in the fourteenth century, and reached its limit with Ariosto and Tasso, Macchiavelli and Guicciardini during the sixteenth century. Towards the end of the fifteenth century modern French poetry may be said to have had its origin in Villon and French prose in Comines. The style of the former was artificial and his poems abounded in recurrent rhymes and refrains. The latter had peculiarities of diction which were only compensated for by weight of thought and simplicity of expression. Clement Marot, who followed, stands out as one of the first landmarks in the French Renaissance. His graceful style, free from stiffness and monotony, earned for him a popularity which even the brilliancy of the Pléiade did not extinguish, for he continued to be read with genuine admiration for nearly two centuries. He was the founder of a school of which Mellia de St. Gelais, the introducer of the sonnet into France, was the most important member. Rabelais and his followers concurrently effected a complete revolution in fiction. Marguerite of Navarre, who is principally known as the author of "The Heptameron," maintained a literary Court in which the most celebrated men of the time held high place. It was not until the middle of the sixteenth century that the great movement took place in French literature which, if that which occurred in the same country three hundred years subsequently be excepted, is without parallel in literary history.