François Villon (c. 1431–1464) is a French poet, thief, killer, barroom brawler, and vagabond.

He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison.

The question "Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?

", taken from the Ballade des dames du temps jadis and translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?

", is one of the most famous lines of translated secular poetry in the English-speaking world.

He is the best and most famous realist poet of the middle ages.