The mad cap adventures of Francois Villon - "a 15th-century French poet-maudit, burglar, and vagabond".

We first meet 7yo Francois when left in the cate of his great uncle (c.1438) and steadily follow his pranks and escapades in Paris (1451), Orleans (1460), Meung (1461), and back to Paris (1463), where he cheats the noose on more than one occasion (Francois seems to have more lives than a cat).

Whilst this is a fictional account of Francois Villon, I don't think the author could have had a better foundation to work with - a rollicking good read, up there with Dumas.