1 Introduction
The circulation and reception of the Castilian Secretum secretorum (Sirr-al-asrar) and of the French version of Giles of Rome’s De regimine principum in the Occident is a subject that lends itself especially well to comparative study. The choice, though, is legitimately open to question. It may seem fairer to compare comparable items—circulation of texts within languages or geographically similar regions. However, the state of current research has not allowed us to go beyond different viewpoints. In this chapter, therefore, we hope to benefit from research on these two major texts, which were among the most widely circulated and read in western Europe between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Through comparing what we know of the circumstances of their writing, their reception, and their spread, we will try to shed light on the convergences and specificities of their histories. We will pay particular attention to the historical, social, and cultural contexts that affected how they were received. Where did they circulate? Who owned the manuscripts? What were the social and cultural backgrounds of these people? How, and in what form, were these texts transmitted from one environment to another? These are the kinds of questions we considered in our research.
This comparative perspective has also given us a better understanding of the way in which the medieval West re-appropriated the heritage of Aristotle in various ways. The two works we discuss here represent a fundamental link in this transmission.
On the Iberian Peninsula, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were an era of great cultural renewal. A large number of scientific works were arriving, especially from the Arabic world, to revive fundamental knowledge. Among these were the works of Aristotle. Interest in the various sciences that the Greek philosopher had developed led to the translation of all kinds of treatises circulated under his name. Spain, like other European cultural centers of the time, made no distinction between strictly Aristotelian texts and those attributed to him. The Aristotelian corpus was so widely circulated on the peninsula, and its adaptation to Spanish culture was so complete, that toward the middle of the thirteenth century a scholar as eminent as the Franciscan friar Juan Gil de Zamora (1241–1318), educated in the university classrooms of Paris, believed that Aristotle was a Spanish philosopher: “De Hispania fuit Aristoteles, Philosophorum perfectio et consummatio” (Aristotle, the most perfect and accomplished of philosophers, was from Spain).1
In the thirteenth century, a growing interest in the figure of Alexander the Great became part of this current. Amaia Arizaleta has called this period, during which Alexander the Great represented the ambivalent image of the warrior and the philosopher, a paradigm of the perfect prince, the aetas alexandrina.2 The thirteenth century was a time when great texts on Alexander in Latin and French were circulating throughout Spain, giving rise to the poem Libro de Alexandre and to the hero’s biography in the General estoria. The confluence of the two currents, Aristotelian and Alexandrine, created an atmosphere that favored the spread throughout the peninsula of one of the most important texts that combined the two figures: the Secretum secretorum. Social, cultural and political conditions certainly fostered the appearance of these writings in Castile. The coexistence of Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities on the peninsula also aided in their dissemination. The cultural weight of cities like Seville and Toledo, even during the Moorish era, mattered too. The undertaking of the Reconquest was also certainly encouraged by models of nobility like that of the monarch advised by a great sage.
This treatise was one of the most widely read Aristotelian texts in Spain.4 As in other parts of Europe, it was the political treatise par excellence until Guillaume de Moerbeke’s5 translation of Aristotle’s Politics and the great Summa of Aristotle’s work by Giles of Rome in his De regimine principum in about 1279, which we will discuss.6 Even so, none of these works could overshadow the importance on the peninsula of this apocryphal treatise. The Secretum secretorum offered an ideal model of the relation between the prince and his advisor, mingled with non-traditional knowledge that remained relevant during the entire Hispanic Middle Ages.
This treatise, written in Arabic in the east around the year 975, engendered two different versions, which we briefly present here and will discuss further on. The first, shorter version is called SS/A and was probably written in about 1145. From it came the longer Poridat de las poridades. The book led to such an interest in nontraditional knowledge that John of Seville, a 12th-century
John of Seville translated this version between 1112 and 1128, under the title of De Regimine sanitatis (On the regimen of health) or Epistula Alexandro de dieta servanda.8 A second, longer version is called SS/B. It was translated into Latin about 1243 by Philip of Tripoli.9 This translation later gave rise to various Castilian versions.
From the middle of the 13th century onward, the Secretum secretorum was a constant presence in Spain. Alfonso X use it as one of his sources in the Partida II, wisdom literature made frequent reference to Aristotle’s advice to Alexander, and the book was an authoritative source for the entire corpus of political treatises. In the 14th century, it was the base for the Poema de Alfonso Onceno, a piece of propaganda for the monarchy, which created the fictitious episode of a servant’s advice to King Alfonso XI (1325–1350) before he takes the reins of his kingdom.10
In contrast to translations of Giles of Rome’s work, translations of the Secretum secretorum are usually more faithful to their source. Additional elements and changes are rare. While we have been able to identify a large number of people who ordered or possessed French copies of Giles of Rome’s work, we know almost nothing about the owners of manuscripts of the Secretum secretorum. There are, however, considerable differences between various manuscripts. These are sometimes the result of handwritten transmission, and we cannot now know whether these changes were made by the copyists or at the request of the people who ordered them.
3.1 Pedro Alfonso: First Spanish Recipient of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Treatise
We do not have a definite date for the first appearance of the Secretum secretorum in Castile. The earliest stage of its dissemination is shown by Pedro Alfonso de Huesca (1062–1140), who mentions it in the definition of true nobility in his Disciplina clericalis.
Edissere michi, pater karissime, ueram nobilitatis definicionem. Et pater: Vt, inquid, Aristoteles in epistola sua quam Alexandro regi composuit meminit: qui cum ab eo quereret quem sibi ex hominibus consiliarium faceret, taliter per epistolam respondit: Accipe, ait, talem, qui septem liberalibus artibus sit instructus, industriis septem eruditus, septem eciam probitatibus edoctus, et ego hanc estimo perfectam esse nobilitatem.11
Show me, dearest father, what is the true definition of nobility. And the father said: I remember that Aristotle answered a letter from Alexander, who had asked him how to choose an advisor: Take—he said to him—someone educated in the seven liberal arts, a scholar of the seven industries an adept of the seven probities, because I believe that that is perfect nobility.
In this passage, Pedro Alfonso reveals himself to us as the first known Hispanic reader of the Pseudo-Aristotelian treatise; the letter he refers to can only be the Secretum secretorum. Pedro Alfonso had received a typical Andalusian education. At that time, this meant being taught in Arabic, and becoming familiar with Greek philosophy, but also with works on astronomy, physics and medicine. The Upper March of Al-Andalus, with cities like Saragossa, Lérida and Huesca, was an Islamicized zone, where sciences, philosophy, mysticism and moralistic literature flourished to an astonishing degree. The region reached its apogee with the taifa kingdoms between 1031 and 1110, exactly the years of Pedro Alfonso’s education. Poets like Sulaymān al Qaysī (Abu Hamid al-Gharnati), Ibn Darrāŷ al-Qasţallī (Ibn Darrāj al-Qasṭallī), Ibn Gabirol, Judah Halevi and Abraham ibn Ezra united poetry and knowledge. In the sciences, astronomy became prominent thanks to King Al-Muʾtaman (Yusuf al-Muʾtaman ibn Hud),
To return to Pedro Alfonso, part of his life was spent between Saragossa and Huesca. His astronomical knowledge led him to a long sojourn in England (between 1106 and 1116). Although particularly knowledgeable about science, his literary education was also extensive. In the prologue of Disciplina clericalis, he mentions that he uses allegories, fables, comparisons of birds and animals, proverbs, and Arabic advice.13 In 1106, he decided to convert to Christianity; his godfather was Alfonso I the Battler, king of Aragon. Despite his connection with the royal court, Disciplina was clearly an urbane, scholarly work, one reason that eastern-influenced allegory and the tradition of fables made inroads.
However, Moorish culture did not leave its mark on this region alone. The reconquered lands continued to benefit from the circulation of Arabic books. This was the case further south, in the three great reconquered capitals of Andalusia: Toledo, Córdoba and Seville.
3.2 John of Seville’s Epistola Aristotelis ad Alexandrum de dieta seruanda
In the time of John of Seville, the young kingdom of Castile was expanding. In 1085 Alfonso VI of Castile seized Toledo, making him the most powerful king on the peninsula. The long years of Moorish domination had left a treasure trove of scientific texts in the old Gothic capital, which became a crossroads of the three great cultures of Spain: Moorish, Jewish and Christian. In this Islamicized Toledo, Raymond, Bishop of Toledo, encouraged a series of translators, including Dominicus Gundissalinus, Judah ben Solomon, Abraham Ibn Daud,
Who was the true instigator of this version? John of Seville worked under the orders of Bishop Raymond of Seville, without mentioning him here. He might have translated the work at the request of the queen, or simply on his own initiative. One way or another, John of Seville’s translation demonstrates that the Secretum secretorum was circulating in the courts of kings, either as a regimen sanitatis or as a regimen principum.
We know almost nothing of the diffusion and circulation of this Epistola on the peninsula. For that, we would need a complete list of Latin manuscripts there. Recently two Castilian versions have been discovered. The first, in the Zabálburu Library in Madrid, is a complete translation included in a manuscript that is an anthology of medicinal and wisdom literature texts.
The Zabálburu manuscript contains a complete translation of the Epistola, made by a translator who took into account the text of Poridat de las poridades, which influenced the translation. Jesús Pensado Figueiras dates it to about 1330. The dating of the manuscript that contains it, however, is harder to determine, as its watermark, a hunting horn, was in use during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.17
We have little information on the context of the production of this translation. On the other hand, we may note that, although the Castilian translation closely follows the Latin version, it omits the initial dedication to the queen (Domine T. gracia dei Hispanorum regine J. Hispanensis salutem!).18 This may
In a gloss to folio 2va of the Zabálburu manuscript, mention is made of a certain “Cristóbal de Robles”; in folio 48va, a certain “Robles”. Figueiras Pensado has suggested that this probably refers to the brothers Lorenzo and Diego de Robles, printers in the kingdom of Aragon and Saragossa from 1582 onwards.19 In this codex, also in a very general manner, the “vecinos de la Nava” and a “vecino de Miranda” are also mentioned. Again, Figueiras Pensada maintains that these allusions could refer to two communities in the province of Burgos, Nava de Orduña and Miranda del Ebro, which would indicate that the manuscript had come through the northeastern part of Castile-León, relatively near the Basque country and Navarre.20 All this evokes the widespread circulation of this Epistola into milieus with no links to its original production. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the tradition of wisdom literature spread further, to the nobility.
The second version of the Epistola is found in manuscript 155 of the Royal Spanish Academy, which mixes wisdom literature and medical texts. It is a codex that consists of four fragments of independent manuscripts.21 The Epistola is in the first fragment (folios 1 to 90). The version in this manuscript is not the complete text. It contains only the second part of the Epistola, the part focusing on advice concerning the four seasons of the year and the “health regimen” that follows the description of the seasons. We do not know if this was a partial translation, or if its first section was lost. In the manuscript, this translation is found after a collection of maxims translated from Catalan to Castilian at the request of Lorenzo Suárez de Figueroa, 23rd Master of the Order of Santiago, by his Jewish physician Jacob Zadique of Uclés. We know nothing about the translator. On the other hand, there is a great deal of information on the Master, as he was one of the most celebrated political personalities of his day. Employed as an advisor first to King John I, then, after participating in the regency during King Henry III’s minority, to Henry as well, he then became an active warrior in the struggle against the Muslim kingdom of Granada. He also played the role of reformer of the Order, organizing two councils (Uclés 1395 and Mérida 1403), in which the Establishments were promulgated, that is, laws for the Order that reinforced the idea of a life of poverty.22
Moreover, manuscript RAE 155 of this second version gives us a hint as to its owners. In folio 86v, after the copying of Dichos de sabios of Jacopo Zadique de Uclés was finished, we find in a fifteenth-century hand an annotation on the birth of two children of the Molina family of Córdoba, in 1447 and 1451.
En la cibdat de cordoua mjercoles enla noche ahora de las doze que media noche vn poco antes quatro dias de enero año de Mill cccc° xlvij años nasçio mj fijo pedro de moljna enlas casas de fernando angulo su padrino de la pila.
Enla çibdat de seujlla lunes enla noche xvj dias de agosto podia ser a tres oras & media despues de media noche año de Mill cccc° lj años nasçio mj fijo diego de moljna enlas casa de gomez de morales asanta catalyna en cal de sardjnas arriba delas casas de diego de ferrera fijo del mariscal ponga su padrino de la pila.
We know nothing about this family, but it is to be noticed that this manuscript, in the fifteenth century, belonged neither to a monarch nor even to a noble. It was already part of the private library of the Córdoban bourgeoisie.
3.3 The Diffusion of Versions of the Secretum secretorum Translated for Alfonso X of Castile
Two versions of Secretum secretorum circulated in Castile: the SS/A version of Guido of Valencia, under the name Secreto de los secretos, and the SS/B version, an anonymous translation under the name Poridat de las poridades. The more archaic title of the latter already indicates its close connection to Arab
The king’s interest in Arabic culture is well known. It led him to revive the legendary translators’ school of Toledo; according to the Arabist Millás-Vallicrosa, Alfonso was its last patron.25 The reconquest of Seville by Ferdinand III in 1247 gave new impetus to Muslim cultural influence in Castile. The city was an important cultural center of Al-Andalús, and Alfonso was so taken by it that he spent his last years there.
From his youth onwards, Alfonso had been interested in the Arabic literature that circulated in the peninsula. Before taking the throne, he seems to have occupied himself with the translation of Calila e Dimna. Once he was ruler, he may also have encouraged the translation of similar work, such as Bocados de oro, the Libro de los buenos proverbios, the Historia de la doncella Teodor, and versions of the Secretum secretorum. The scholar-king then took up translation in its twelfth-century form, that is, the production of literal translations. In 1269, a new, more creative period of cultural creation began. The king no longer worked on literal translations, but in a syncretic manner, combining several translated sources, as in the compilation of the General estoria. Christians, Jews and Muslims took part in the work groups he created. Some of their names have survived, including those of Judah ben Moses ha-Kohen, the alfaquí Abraham, Garcí Pérez, Guillén Arremón, and Juan Daspa.26 As a consequence, the context of the production of these translations at the royal court of Castile was deeply influenced by the Arabic culture of Al-Andalús.27
There is no surviving manuscript of the Secretum secretorum from the earliest period of its translation. The Secreto de los secretos version is preserved within a late codex, from the fifteenth century, in the Spanish National Library, Manuscript 9428. It is difficult to determine its date more precisely. Likewise, we know nothing of its history or its owners. The work is preserved with other
In the 15th century, the audience for collections of maxims and mirrors of princes grew considerably. The Castilian translations of the Secretum secretorum, initially used and read only by royalty, gradually began to be read by the nobility of Castile. However, nothing within the text allows us to perceive this new orientation. The original work was simply read more widely, but new versions were not created.
3.4 Number 46, the “Old” Illuminated Manuscript in the National Library in Lisbon
Poridat de las poridades, preserved in five manuscripts, was circulated in three different forms, although this does not imply a chronological succession, but only three specific forms of reception.29 The first of these, an independent work, is the Number 46 illuminated manuscript of the National Library of Lisbon. It was written on parchment at the end of the thirteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century. It also contains the earliest version of this work, that is, the seven chapters with their numerology and physiognomy sections.
Although this manuscript is incomplete, it is the one that best preserves the original work that had interested Alfonso X. Its Arabic character is obvious, especially in the last section, which concerns esoteric arts. The most unusual is the one that draws on huruf, a technique based on giving a numerical value to each letter, through which its magical properties could be discovered.30 This version also divided the work into seven chapters, following the initial outline
3.5 The Manuscripts Escorial L.III.2, Escorial h.III.1, and University Library of Salamanca 1763: A Fusion of Poridat de las poridades and the Libro de los buenos proverbios
Another form of reception is attested by the manuscripts Escorial L.III.2, Escorial h.III.1, and University Library of Salamanca 1763. These manuscripts are derived from an archetype that fused the text of Poridat de las poridades with another collection of wisdom literature, both originating in the same intellectual circles of Baghdad: the Libro de los buenos proverbios.31 This is a collection of maxims written in the 11th century by Hunayn ibn Ishāq (809–873), with sayings of Greek philosophers. Among them, Alexander the Great and Aristotle play a fundamental role. This version of Poridat de las poridades had not lost its integrity nor its Arabic character. However, the two treatises, inserted after Aristotle’s lapidary, were combined as if they were a single work, due to the importance of Alexander the Great’s advice in Hunayn’s collection. This version seems to indicate the way in which the figure of Alexander the Great gained ground against that of Aristotle as the work spread through the peninsula.
3.6 National Library of Spain Manuscript 6545: A Late Anthology of Alexander
A last form of reception, perhaps more personal, is preserved in the 6545 manuscript of the National Library of Spain. Like its predecessor, it is an anthology
The manuscript presents the work Bocados de oro (fols. 1–70v) by Mubashshir ibn Fātik (ca 1048), successor to Hunayn.33 It is a collection of twenty-four biographies of Greek sages, with their maxims. In it, the life and sayings of Aristotle and Alexander once more take center stage. Alexander the Great is the only philosopher who is, in reality, not a sage; despite many wise sayings, Alexander never loses his character as a hero. In the middle of Alexander’s biography, as if wedged in, the text of Poridat de la poridades (fols. 6r–19v) is inserted, with the aim of amplifying the sage-hero’s story. Poridat thus loses its autonomy and becomes part of Bocados de oro. Although both works are of Arabic origin, their natures are very different. Bocados is a work that recreates the image of the Greek schools, “private schools” where each sage taught individually. This may have had some parallel in Castilian contemporary reality, where, along with the royal court and monastery schools, there were also several “private schools” where teachers gave classes. Toledo was internationally recognized for them.34
The text of Poridat was well adapted to the intellectual atmosphere of Toledo. The chapters of general advice on ruling the kingdom were followed by other sections concerning numerology, lapidary, physiognomy, and astrology. All of these, however, were omitted in this copy of Bocados de oro, which kept only the first three chapters of Poridat de las poridades, with the general advice on ruling the kingdom. Thus it picks up only the elements that could be combined with the hero’s biography in Mubashshir’s work, supplementing it.
Ultimately, this manuscript does not provide a version of Poridat like its predecessors, but rather demonstrates the absorption of the Poridat text into
To summarize, different versions of Secretum secretorum maintained their presence all through the Hispanic Middle Ages. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were the time when the work was introduced to the peninsula, more precisely into the Arab-influenced circles of the Hispanic courts. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries added nothing new: there were no new translations nor creations of new versions. The time when Arabic texts were fashionable had come and gone, giving way to a culture based on western sources. The book was then read, like all the other wisdom literature texts, by a wider public, that of the nobility. But at no time did the “receiving” social group change the text in any major way. Contrary to what we see in the reception and circulation in France of Giles of Rome’s De regimine principum, the different Hispanic versions of the Secretum secretorum were only slightly modified. This relative stability can perhaps be explained by the fact that these works were judged to be perfectly adapted to Spanish culture, itself at the crossroads of eastern and western literary forms.
4 Circulation and Reception of Giles of Rome’s De regimine principum (c. 1279) in French
Giles of Rome wrote his De regimine principum for the heir to the throne of France, the young Philip the Fair, in about 1279. Following the example of Thomas Aquinas, Giles of Rome drew on writings of Aristotle that were just being rediscovered through their Latin translations. His “mirror for princes”, written in Latin, was the first to take systematic advantage of Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics. Like the Secretum secretorum, it played a major role in the transmission of Aristotelian ideas in the Christian West at the end of the Middle Ages.35 His work was well received and, along with the Secretum secretorum,
5 Different French Translations of De regimine principum; Varied Strategies, Depending on the Intended Audience
Giles of Rome’s De regimine principum was translated into French for the first time in 1282. This French version was followed by six more, the last at the end of the fifteenth century. The translators appropriated his thought; they compiled, manipulated, developed or abridged his writing depending on their intended
Each of these versions conveys different intentions, ramified as they spread into new manuscripts. To identify the various French versions of Giles of Rome’s De regimine principum among the 42 inventoried manuscripts, we have examined the work’s structure and content. Giles of Rome’s book usually comprises a dedication to Philip the Fair and three books corresponding to the Aristotelian division of practical philosophy (ethics, economics, and politics), with the first containing four sections, and the second and third each containing three sections. Seven different French versions, dated to between 1282 and the end of the fifteenth century, have these characteristics.
Henri de Gauchi’s version for Philip the Fair (1282): 36 manuscripts41
“Guillaume’s” version for Guillaume de Belesvoies (1330): ms. Paris, Arsenal Library, ms. 2690
Anonymous version for Charles V (1372): ms. Besançon, Bibl. mun., ms. 434
Gilles Deschamps’ version (1420): ms. London, British Library, ms., Egerton 811
Version of a “Brother of the order of preaching friars” for the Count of Laval (1444): Paris, Arsenal Library, ms. 5062
Jean Wauquelin’s version for Philip the Good (1452): Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, ms. 9043
An anonymous version (15th century): Berlin, State Library of Berlin, in Berlin, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, ms. Ham. 672.
5.1 Henri de Gauchi’s Version (1282)
Henri de Gauchi, who was probably canon of the abbey of Saint Martin in Liège, addressed his translation to Philip the Fair in 1282, as the oldest of the manuscripts indicates (Dole, BM, 157). Unlike other French versions, this one was widely disseminated. Henri de Gauchy abridged the text in major ways and deliberately omitted certain passages he thought were too difficult for a layman, because they were “propres a clers”.42 He wanted to keep only the essence of Giles of Rome’s thought. Thus, although Giles refers explicitly to Aristotle’s books, Henri de Gauchi merely remarks “The Philosopher says”, or completely ignores any reference to Aristotle. In general, his translation displays a real effort to popularize; he worked to make Giles of Rome’s text as intelligible as possible. Henri de Gauchi’s attempts at simplification, however, reveal the difficulties of this undertaking. Thus, where Giles of Rome defines a man as a being who is “communicativum et sociale”, Henri de Gauchi translates it like this: “l’omme a enclinance naturel a vivre en communeté et en compaignie”.43 (Man has a natural inclination to live in communities and with others.) The following example shows the need that Henri de Gauchi felt to explicate what the Latin text expresses much more concisely than French can.
Patet ergo quod ad hoc quod domus habeat esse perfectum, oportet ibi esse tres communitas, unam viri et uxoris, aliam domini et servi, tertiam patris et filii.44
La meson doit estre parfete, quant il i a assemblée d’omme et de femme. Et doit estre par nature l’omme sires. Et covient que il iait serjant et seignour por le profit de l’un et de l’autre, et covient que il i ait pere et enfanz et que li pere commande as enfanz. Et cele meson est parfete, quer il i a femme et mari et seignour et serjant et pere et fiz. (The home must be perfect when there is a union of man and woman. And there must be, by the nature of man, lords. And it is suitable that there are servant and master, for the benefit of one and the other, and it is suitable that there are father and children, and that the father commands the children. And this home is perfect, where there is husband and wife, master and servant, father and sons.)45
Henri de Gauchi offers us an abridged French version—thus more quickly copied—of De regimine principum. This text was manifestly designed to be read aloud in public. This translation was very successful, and circulated under the name of Giles of Rome, as well as, usually but not always, the name of the translator. The oldest copy of Henri de Gauchi’s translation, preserved in the Municipal Library of Dole as Document 157, is a good example. This manuscript, produced in France toward the end of the thirteenth century, and by the way the oldest attributed to Giles of Rome, is the only one that mentions the date of 1282 in the incipit. In these first lines of text, the translator’s name also appears, as we can observe in other manuscripts. Philip the Fair is clearly designated as the recipient of this translation.46
Ci commance li livres du gouvernemant des rois et des princes estrait de politiques que frere Gile de Rome de l’ordre de saint Augustin a feit pour monseignour Phelippe anne filz mon soigneur Phelippe tres noble roi de France qui est devisez par III livres et apre par chapitres en chascun livre et est translatez de latin en françois par maistre Henri de Gauchi par le commandemant au noble roi devant dit en l’an MCCIIIIxxII. A son especial seigneur nez de lingnie roial et seinte monseignour Phelippe tres noble roi de France par la grace de dieu frere Gile son clerc de Rome humble et devot frere de l’ordre seint Augustin salut et quanque il puet de service et donneur.
Here begin the books of the rule of kings and princes, extracted from Politics, which Brother Giles of Rome of the Order of Saint Augustine made for My Lord Philip’s eldest son My Lord Philip very noble king of France,
which is divided into three books and afterwards into chapters in each book and is translated from Latin into French by Master Henri de Gauchi by order of the noble king mentioned above in the year MCCIIIIxxII. To his especial lord, born of royal lineage and sainted My Lord Philip very noble king of France by the grace of God, Brother Giles his clerk of Rome, humble and dedicated brother of the Order of Saint Augustine, health and as much as he can do of service and honor.47
In substance, this translation includes the content of the original text. Through his considerable cuts, however, the translator produced an original work, quite different from the Latin version.
5.2 Guillaume’s Version (1330)
Et li Juys, si tost comme li enfant soivent parler, leur enseignent petit et petit, aussi comme en juant, espeler. Et pour ce qu’il pouissent delectablement aprendre […] les peres leur donnent pometes et pain chaut, figues et autre fruit […] et par raison des dons il aient bon cuer de apprendre.49
And the Jews, as soon as children know how to speak, teach them bit by bit, also as if playing, how to spell. And so that they may learn in delight […] their parents give them little apples and warm bread, figs and other fruit […] and because of these gifts they are encouraged to learn.
5.3 The Anonymous Version Written for Charles V (1372)
The anonymous version produced for Charles V is close to that of Guillaume; but it is still independent. More concise than Guillaume’s copy, the translation for Charles V presents a version in which some passages are abridged even more drastically than in Henri de Gauchi’s work. The anonymous translator wishes to offer the king a text that transmits the most essential knowledge, directly useful in his performance of his duties. The passage in which Giles
Adhuc quaedam morales scientiae, ut Ethica, quae est de regimine sui. Oeconomica, quae est de regimine familiae. Politica, quae est de regimine civitatis et regni, valde sunt utiles et necessariae filiis liberorum et nobilium. Immo filii nobilium, maxime filii regum et principum, si velint politice vivere, velint alios regere et guvernare, maxime circa has debent insistere.50
Il y a science moral qui est moult necessaire au gouvernement de la maison, de la cité et du royaume. A quoi doivent entendre les filz des roys qui doivent civilement vivre et autres gouverner.51
There is moral science, which is very necessary for the rule of the home, the city and the kingdom. This must be heeded by the sons of the kings, who must live civilly and govern others.
The manuscript that contains this translation is preserved today in the Municipal Library of Besançon as Document 434. This manuscript was finished in 1372, at the request of the king, as indicated by the ex-libris at the bottom of the last column of text, recorded by the king himself.52 According to François Avril, the handwriting of the manuscript is that of Henri de Trévou, the official copyist for the king, and its illustration was done in the Parisian workshops that worked for Charles V.53 The manuscript that contains this translation is sumptuous, both in its lettering and its miniatures. The choice of texts in this volume clearly has the aim of exalting the person of the king, to whom these treatises demonstrate how to elevate his soul through wisdom and faith.
5.4 Gilles Deschamps’ Version (1420)
In the prologue to his translation, dated to 1420, Gilles Deschamps (Ægidius de Campis), possibly the son of the poet Eustache Deschamps (1344–1406),54
Afin aussi que plusieurs bonnes parsonnes de nete voulenté et sain entendement, ausquelx Dieu n’a pas donné ceste grace qu’ilz entemdent latin, puisse prouffiter et soy et autruy ediffier en honneste et virtueuse vie me suis mis a translater et mettre de latin en francois selon mon petit sens et entendement cest present livre intitulé du gouvernement des princes, fait et compilé par frere Giles de Rome, religieux des freres ermites de saint Augustin. Comment par moy simple et ignorant a translater le quinzeyeme jour de juillet l’an mil quatre cens et vint. Mon nom trouverés en la fin de ceste presente translation se Dieu me donne grace de l’achever.55
With the aim also that many good persons of clean will and healthy understanding, to whom God did not give the grace of understanding Latin, may benefit and edify themselves and others in honest and virtuous life, I began to translate and set from Latin into French according to my small sense and understanding this present book entitled Of the Rule of Princes, made and compiled by Brother Giles of Rome, a cleric of the hermit brothers of Saint Augustine. As by myself, simple and ignorant to translate, the fifteenth day of July in the year one thousand four hundred and twenty. My name you will find at the end of this present translation if God gives me grace to finish it.
Unlike Henri de Gauchi, Gilles Deschamps gives a literal translation. At no time does he seem to think it necessary to summarize or simplify the thought of the author he is translating. He proceeds “by prose without adjusting or diminishing anything from the existing Latin sentence or substance”, trying to keep as close as possible to the text he is translating to give himself the most credibility. His almost literal translation is, incidentally, difficult to understand without recourse to the Latin. This translation testifies to the ongoing interest in Giles of Rome’s treatise among the leaders and upper officials of the French state in the fifteenth century, more than 140 years after it was written in Latin.
Accomply est le livre du Regime des princes, composé par frere Gilles de Rome de l’ordre des freres hermites de sainct Augustin, translaté de latin en françois par ung frere de l’ordre des freres prescheurs, par le commandement de tres puissant seigneur le comte de Laval ; et fut accomplie ceste translation le septieme jours de decembre, l’an mil 1444, en la cité de Vennes en Britaigne.56
The book of the Rule of Princes, written by Father Giles of Rome of the Order of the Hermit Brothers of Saint Augustine, translated from Latin into French by a brother of the Order of Preaching Friars, by the command of the very powerful lord the Count of Laval, is finished; and this translation was accomplished on the seventh day of December, in the year 1444, in the city of Vannes in Brittany.
The “Brother of the Order of Preaching Friars” addresses his translation to the Count of Laval, Guy IX, a nobleman raised at the court of John V of Brittany. The translator, like Gilles Deschamps, transposes the entire text of Giles of Rome, but, unlike all the other translators, keeps certain expressions in Latin, without apparently feeling the need to translate them. This leads us to think that the translator knows, or at least supposes, that the reader of his text knows enough Latin to understand these. Many expressions are close to those in Guillaume’s version, and suggest that the translator had probably drawn from that version as well as a Latin one to make his own translation. The manuscript containing this translation is preserved in the Arsenal Library in Paris as Document 5062. Illuminated by a master of Bourges, probably in the years 1470–1480,57 it bears the arms of Robert Stuart (1470–1544), who was engaged in the service of Charles VIII and Louis XII, and became a marshal of France in 1514.58
Jean Wauquelin offered this French version of De regimine principum to the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, in whose service he worked as compiler and copyist.59 In his prologue, he explains that he undertook to translate Giles of Rome’s work to replace an old version that had become difficult to read and understand. Jean Wauquelin includes the entirety of Giles of Rome’s work, showing himself careful to omit nothing. In translating the passage on the place of the moral sciences, he strives to translate Giles of Rome’s thoughts precisely, unlike the anonymous translator who worked for Charles V.
[Les fils des rois et des princes] doient estre aussy enseigniés en plus haultaines sciences. Et quelles aultres, ou plus haultaines sciences, on les doit enseignier et proposer, il appert aussy par les choses dessus dictes car se ilz veullent vivre politiquement, c’est a dire selonc la policie du monde et estre chevaliers, ils doivent bonnement estudier les sciences morales car par elles ils porront savoir comment ils deveront eulz meismes et les aultres gouverner.60
[The sons of kings and princes] must also be taught the highest sciences. And what[ever] others, or higher sciences, they must be taught and offered, it appears also by the things said above that if they want to live politically, that is according to the policy of the world, and to be knights, they must study well the moral sciences, for through those they will be able to know how they should govern themselves and others.
The volume that includes this translation (Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, ms. 9043) is an in-folio; its writing and decoration are particularly meticulous.61 In ordering a new translation of Giles of Rome’s treatise more than 170 years after it was written in Latin for Philip the Fair, the Duke of Burgundy was calling attention to his connection to the lineage of the kings of France, and legitimizing his dynastic claims. Giles of Rome’s text is clearly invested here with a
5.7 The Anonymous Version (Fifteenth Century) Contained in the Hamilton 672 Manuscript of the Berlin State Library
The version contained in the Hamilton 672 manuscript of the Berlin State Library is a surprising one. Its most astonishing aspect lies in the translator’s particular effort to interpret Aristotle from a Christian perspective, although Giles of Rome mentions neither the Bible nor the fathers of the Church. He translated the entire text, enriched it with exempla, and added Biblical quotations, thus profoundly transforming the original text. Even more than Giles of Rome himself, this translator insists on the place that theology must occupy in the program of education for young princes. He mentions only in passing the place that moral sciences should have in the instruction of the prince, although Giles of Rome considered this crucial. Although the translator’s identity has remained a mystery, it may well have been a preacher eager to teach the prince the basics of irreproachable morality and the virtues of a good Christian. The manuscript in which this anonymous version appears is of modest dimensions and appearance.62 Unlike the great majority of manuscripts containing a French version of Giles of Rome’s treatise, this one includes no illustrations, not even decorated initials. This manuscript belonged to Louis de Challant (1454–ca. 1488), who served the house of Savoy, as indicated by several sketches of weapons on the last flyleave (fol. 71r). Louis de Challant’s godfather was King Louis XI (1423–1483). It is not at all impossible63 that the signature of the king also appears on this same flyleave, where the name Loys is written five times in the background of other inscriptions. The flyleave, used to strengthen the book as it was made, are extracts from a text taken from an older work written in northern Italy, where it was possibly composed.
We have enough information to identify the owners of 33 French manuscripts of De regimine principum, of the 42 that we know of today.64 Most of these manuscripts belonged to the high nobility or to the wealthiest classes of society. Although some volumes seem relatively plain in appearance, most of them are objets de luxe that only the richest people and the most powerful nobles could buy.65 Their patronage had a direct influence on their circles, which often tried to imitate them.66 Some manuscripts of lesser value also belonged to members of lower social classes. Their limited number is probably explained by the fact that these copies were seen as less precious and were therefore more easily lost.
From the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, French translations of Giles of Rome’s treatise met with truly “international” success. There were copies in the royal libraries of France, England, Castile, in the princely courts of the Dukes of Berry, Burgundy, Milan, Ferrara, in the collections of the popes and of wealthy bourgeois in the cities. Many manuscripts, indeed, belonged to rich bourgeois who were clearly eager to own a copy of Giles of Rome’s work as a tool for their own possible intellectual and social promotion. This lay readership
7 Conclusion
The French versions of Giles of Rome’s treatise were received with lively interest by lay readers, to whom culture, more or less impartial, had become not only the sign of a certain level of wealth but also an ideal tool for their intellectual and social advancement. The social conditions for the transmission and diffusion of the Secretum secretorum in Castilian show a similar process, although the number of manuscripts recorded is smaller and allows more specific observations. Like the French version of Giles of Rome by Henri de Gauchi, the dissemination of John of Sevilla’s Epistola circulated outside the royal milieu to which it was initially addressed. This translation, perhaps made at the request of Teresa, the sister of Alfonso VI of Castile and León, was read at the royal court, but also among the aristocracy and the urban bourgeoisie.
To own one or the other of these treatises destined for a royal reader—books that were often, incidentally, bound together in manuscripts—obviously demonstrated a certain prestige, as well as a growing interest in wisdom literature. Even more visibly than the Castilian manuscripts of the Secretum secretorum, the French copies of Giles of Rome, which circulated among the courts and the high aristocracy, were often perceived as symbolic objects, showing membership in a refined society. These famous works, spreading the values of ideal royal ethics, and often copied in particularly beautiful material forms, celebrated the splendor of the prince and his court. It is interesting to note that wealthy commoners did not necessarily try to procure the least expensive copies, as shown by the manuscript Ms. 533 in the University of Chicago Library, which testifies that the Livre du gouvernement des rois et des princes found an audience among the English gentry. This deluxe copy, produced in France in about 1310, contains the translation of Henri de Gauchi.
Moreover, some wealthy commoners, like Guillaume in 1330, did not stop at ordering a copy of an existing translation of Giles of Rome’s treatise, but requested a new one for their own use, wishing for a more precise, more faithful translation of the Latin text, as if to take complete ownership of enlightening wisdom meant originally for a king. Alfonso X, too, was concerned to have a faithful version when he ordered the translations of the Secretum secretorum.
The attitude of the translators to their original source seems to have varied widely here. The Letter of Aristotle to Alexander had a far greater ascendancy
Translated by Julie Sullivan
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Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, “Al-Razi’s Buch Geheimnis der Geheimnisse. Mit Einleitung und Erläuterungen in deutscher Übersetzung von Julius Ruska”, in Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Medizin, vol. 6, ed. Julius Ruska (Berlin, 1937, repub. 1973).
Ilaria Zamuner provides an overview of the diffusion of this work throughout the world: “La tradizione romanza del Secretum secretorum pseudo-aristotelico. Regesto delle versioni e dei manoscriti”, in Studi Medievali 46/1 (2005), pp. 31–116. In the specific case of Spain, I refer to the work of Hugo O. Bizzarri, “Difusión y abandono del Secretum secretorum en la tradición sapiencial castellana de los siglos XIII y XIV”, in Archives d’Histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Âge 63 (1996), pp. 95–137 and to Ilaria Zamuner, “Il volgarizzamento catalano Ct3 del Secretum secretorum ps.-aristotelico e il códice 1474 della Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid”, in Quaderni de Lingue e Litterature 31 (2006), pp. 237–245.
Aristotle’s Politics was translated into Latin twice in the 13th century; a translatio imperfecta was done in 1255–1261, and a translatio completa, attributed to Guillaume de Moerbeke, before 1267/1268. The reference editions of these translations are: Aristoteles Latinus, Politica (Libri I–II. 11). Translatio prior imperfecta interprete Guillelmo de Moerbeka (?), ed. P. Michaud-Quantin (Bruges, 1961), and Aristotelis Politicorum libri octo cum vetusta translatione Guilelmi de Moerbeke, ed. F. Susemihl (Leipzig, 1872). On this subject, see Christoph Flüeler, Rezeption und Interpretation der Aristotelischen Politica im späten Mittelalter, 2 vols. (Amsterdam, 1992).
Jürgen Miethke, Las ideas políticas en la Edad Media (Buenos Aires, 1993). On the spread of this treatise in Spain, see María Jesús Díez Garretas, José Manuel Fradejas Rueda, Isabel Acero Durántez and Deborah Dietrick Smithbauer, Los manuscritos de la versión castellana del De regimine principum de Gil de Roma (Tordesillas, 2003).
Mario Grignaschi, “L’origine et les métamorphoses du Sirr-al-asrâr (Secretum secretorum)”, in Archives d’Histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Âge 43 (1976), pp. 7–112 and idem, “La diffusion du Secretum secretorum (Sirr-ar-asrâr) dans l’Europe occidentale”, in Archives d’Historie Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Âge 55 (1980), pp. 7–70, as well as Regula Forster, Das Geheimnis der Geheimnis. Die arabischen und deutschen Fassung des pseudo-aristotelischen Sirr-al-asrâr / Secretum secretorum (Wiesbaden, 2006).
De regimine sanitatis, ou Epistula Alexandro de dieta servanda, partial Latin translation by John of Seville (v. 1145): Johannes Brinckmann, Die apokryphen Gesundheitsregeln des Aristoteles für Alexander den Grossen (Leipzig, 1914).
Secretum secretorum Aristotelis ad Alexandrum Magnum (Cambridge, Mass., 1990), reprint of the 1555 Venice edition.
Hugo O. Bizzarri, “Difusión y abandono”, pp. 95–137; Fernanda Nussbaum, Claves del entorno ideológico del Poema de Alfonso XI (Saragossa, 2012), pp. 66–82, and Gaetano Lalomia, “I Consigli di Aristotele ad Alessandro: tradizione orientale e rielaborazione occidentale”, in Revista de literatura medieval 14 (2002), pp. 31–48.
Alfonso Hilka and Werner Söderhjelm (eds.), Die Disciplina clericalis des Petrus Alfonsi (das älteste Novellenbuch des Mittelalters), nach allen bekannten Handschriften (Heidelberg, 1911), p. 10.
Joaquín Lomba, “El marco cultural de Pedro Alfonso”, in Estudios sobre Pedro Alfonso de Huesca ed. María Jesús Lacarra (Saragosse, 1996), pp. 147–175; José S. Gil, La escuela de traductores de Toledo y sus colaboradores judíos (Toledo, 1985).
John Tolan, Petrus Alfonsi and his Medieval Readers (Gainesville, 1959); Carlos Alvar, Traducciones y traductores. Materiales para una historia de la traducción en Castilla durante la Edad Media (Alcalá de Henares, 2010), pp. 57–60.
Heinrich Schipperges, “Zur Rezeption und Assimilation arabischer Medizin im frühen Toledo”, in Sudhoffs Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften 39 (1955), pp. 261–283.
Lynn Thorndike, “John of Seville”, in Speculum 34/1 (1959), pp. 20–38.
Thorndike, “John of Seville”, pp. 24–25.
Jesús Figueiras Pensado, El códice Zabálburu de medicina medieval: edición crítica y estudio de fuentes (Corunna, 2012), pp. 16–20; idem, “La traduction castillane de l’Epistola Aristotelis ad Alexandrum de dieta servanda de Jean de Séville”, in Trajectoires européennes du Secretum secretorum du Pseudo-Aristote (XIIIe–XVIe siècle), eds. C. Gaullier-Bougassas, M. Bridges and J.-Y. Tilliette (Turnhout, 2015), pp. 215–241.
Hugo O. Bizzarri, Pseudo-Aristóteles. Secreto de los secretos. Poridat de las poridades (Valence, 2010), p. 167.
Figueiras Pensado, El códice, p. 19.
Figueiras Pensado, El códice, pp. 19–20.
For details on this manuscript, see Hugo O. Bizzarri (ed.), Dichos de sabios. Jacobo Zadique de Uclés (San Millán de la Cogolla, 2019), pp. 50–51.
Bizzarri, Dichos de sabios, pp. 14–23.
Derek W. Lomax, La Orden de Santiago (1170–1275), 2 vols. (Madrid, 1965).
Marta Haro Cortés, Los compendios de castigos del siglo XIII: Técnicas narrativas y contenido ético (Valencia, 1995), pp. 57–62; idem, Literatura de castigos en la Edad Media: libros y colecciones de sentencias (Madrid, 2003), pp. 12–16; Alvar, Traducciones y traductores, pp. 55–63.
José M. Millás-Vallicrosa, “El literalismo de los traductores de la corte de Alfonso el Sabio”, in Al-Andalus 1 (1933), pp. 155–187; Francisco Márques Villanueva, El concepto cultural alfonsí (Madrid, 1995), pp. 65–105; Alvar, Traducciones y traductores, pp. 67–81.
Gonzalo Menéndez-Pidal, “Cómo trabajaron las escuelas alfonsíes”, in Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica 5/4 (1951), pp. 363–380.
Evelyn S. Procter, Alfonso X de Castilla, patrono de las letras y del saber (Murcia, 2002); H. Salvador Martínez, El humanismo medieval y Alfonso X el Sabio. Ensayo sobre los orígenes del humanismo vernáculo (Madrid, 2016).
Hugo O. Bizzarri, “El Secretum secretorum en Castilla: una consecuencia de la censura parisina”, in Studia Hispanica Medievalia III. IV Jornadas Internacionales de Literatura Española Medieval, eds. R. E. Penna and M. A. Rosarossa (Buenos Aires, 1993), pp. 9–14.
Bizzarri, Pseudo-Aristóteles, pp. 40–41.
Hugo O. Bizzarri, “Las ‘figuras’ de Poridat de las poridades”, in Revista de poética medieval 30 (2016), pp. 47–54.
Haro Cortés, Literatura de castigos, pp. 16–24.
Hugo O. Bizzarri, “Les enseignements d’Aristote à Alexandre d’après le manuscrit 6545 de la Biblioteca Nacional de España: un manuscrit pour la noblesse”, in Alexandre le Grand à la lumière des manuscrits et des premiers imprimés en Europe (XIIe–XVIe siècle) ed. C. Gaullier Bougassas (Turnhout, 2015), pp. 117–131.
Haro Cortés, Literatura de castigos, pp. 25–38.
This activity seems to have continued into the 14th century. In his Conde Lucanor (ex. n° 11) Juan Manuel tells the story of a cleric who goes to Toledo to learn the art of magic (nigromancia) under the master Don Illán; see Jaime Ferrero Alemparte, “La escuela de nigromancia de Toledo”, in Anuario de estudios medievales 13 (1983), pp. 205–268.
On this subject, see Jean-Philippe Genet, “L’évolution du genre des miroirs des princes en Occident au Moyen Âge”, in Religion et mentalités au Moyen Âge. Mélanges en l’honneur d’Hervé Martin, eds. S. Cassagnes-Brouquet et al. (Rennes, 2003), pp. 531–541.
The number is probably even larger. See Francesco del Punta and Concetta Luna, Ægidii Romani opera omnia, vol. I: Catalogo dei manoscritti (1001–1075): “De regimine principum” 1. 11: Citta del Vaticano, Italia, (Florence, 1993) p. 5.
See the database directed by Jean-Philippe Genet, Studium Parisiense, dedicated to the members of the schools and university of Paris between the 12th and the 16th centuries. Under the label “Aegidius Romanus”, Genet has a list of manuscripts in Latin and vernacular languages of De regimine principum: lamop-vs3.univ-paris1.fr / stadium.
Charles F. Briggs provides a study of the milieus of Giles of Rome’s audience in England in Giles of Rome’s ‘De Regimine Principum’. Reading and Writing Politics at Court and University, c. 1275–c. 1525 (Cambridge, 1999) (“Cambridge Studies in Paleography and Codicology”, 5). In our 2011 study, we carefully examine the reception of seven French manuscript versions. N.-L. Perret, Les Traductions françaises du ‘De regimine principum’ de Gilles de Rome. Parcours matériel, culturel et intellectuel d’un discours sur l’éducation (Leiden, 2011).
Cf. Schmitt, Ch. B. and Knox, D., Pseudo-Aristoteles latinus. A Guide to Latin Works Falsely Attributed to Aristotle before 1500 (London, 1985), pp. 54–75.
Because of its success, Giles of Rome’s De regimine principum was often translated, abridged, reworked, imitated, and commentated, with the result that there are many false attributions, both in manuscripts and in library and archive catalogs and inventories, ancient and modern. This confusion is a testimony to the variety of meanings that medieval people gave to the words “author”, “translator”, and “translation”. At that time, the creation of almost every written work was based on pre-existing models; translators did not hesitate to give themselves broad freedom to interpret and adapt the text. Many medieval authors were inspired by De regimine principum to write their own book. For more information, see N.-L. Perret, Les Traductions françaises du ‘De regimine principum’. Also see Outi Merisalo, “De la paraphrase à la traduction : Gilles de Rome en moyen français (De regimine principum)”, in Traduction et adaptation en France à la fin du Moyen Âge et à la Renaissance. Actes du Colloque organisé par l’Université de Nancy II, 23–25 mars 1995, ed. C. Brucker (Paris, 1997), pp. 107, 119 as well as Outi Merisalo and Leena Talvio, “Gilles de Rome ‘en romanz’ : un ‘must’ des bibliothèques princières. Traduction en ancien français d’un texte latin”, in Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 94 (1993), pp. 185–194.
For a list and description of these manuscripts, see above Perret, Les traductions françaises du ‘De regimine principum’, pp. 335–376 (ch. XIII: “Catalogue des manuscrits contenant une traduction française du De regimine principum de Gilles de Rome (xiiie–xve s.)”).
Li Livres du Gouvernement des Rois: a XIIIth Century French Version of Egidio Colonna’s Treatise ‘De regimine principum’, ed. S.P. Molenaer (New York, 1899), p. 347.
Li Livres du Gouvernement des Rois, p. 146.
Aegidius Romanus, De regimine principum…, Book II, second part, ch. 6, p. 236.
Li Livres du Gouvernement des Rois…, p. 151.
Some manuscripts mention only “par le commandement du roi de France Philippe”.
Dole, Bibl. mun., 157 (France, fin xiiie), fol. 1. For this manuscript, see the following works: Jules Gauthier, Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France, Départements - Dole, Belfort, vol. 13 (Paris 1891), p. 415; Henri Séguin, “La Bibliothèque municipale de Dole”, in Richesses des Bibliothèques Provinciales de France, vol. 1 (Paris, 1924), pp. 161–162; Danielle Ducout, “La Bibliothèque municipale de Dole”, in Patrimoine des bibliothèques de France, vol. 4 (Paris, 1995), pp. 64–79; Léopold Delisle, Inventaire général et méthodique des manuscrits français de la Bibliothèque nationale, Jurisprudence - sciences et arts, vol. 2 (Paris, 1878), p. 175; Félix Lajard, “Gilles de Rome”, in Histoire littéraire de la France (Paris, 1888), p. 532; Gerardo Bruni, “De regimine principum di Egidio Romano”, in Aevum 6 (1932), p. 348; Gerardo Bruni, Le opere di Egidio Romano (Florence, 1936), p. 85; Charles F. Briggs, Giles of Rome’s ‘De Regimine Principum’, p. 174.
On this subject, see Perret, Les traductions françaises du “De regimine principum”, especially ch. II, p. 66 ff. As the historian Bernhard Blumenkranz has noted, a fairly large Jewish community had come to live in and near Salins, Burgundy, in about the 1330s. As Guillaume’s glosses indicate, there was trade between the Christian and Jewish communities despite the persecutions and expulsions of Jews (Jews were expelled from the kingdom of France in 1306, and again in 1322 under Philip V after they were briefly allowed to return in 1315). Bernhard Blumenkranz also mentions the case, which he considers rather surprising, of a certain Guillaume, a Jew of Salins, to whom the chapter rented in perpetuity (baille à cens) a vineyard and a house in the rue du Temple. Cf. Bernard Blumenkranz, Juifs en France. Écrits dispersés (Franco-Judaïca 13) (Paris, 1989).
Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, ms. 2690, fol. 119r.
Aegidius Romanus, De regimine principum, Book II, second part, ch. 5, pp. 308–309.
Besançon, Bibl. mun., 434, fol. 176r.
Bibl. mun., 434, fol. 244. Auguste Castan was the first to discover this ex-libris of Charles V. See his article “Un manuscrit de la bibliothèque du roi de France Charles V retrouvé à Besançon. Notice lue à l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres le 14 avril 1882”, in Bibliothèque de l’École des Chartes 43 (1882), pp. 211–218.
François Avril et al., La librairie de Charles V (Paris, 1968), p. 106.
Gilles Deschamps was said to have been a notary at the Chambre des requêtes (1408 et 1413), counselor to Parliament (1418, 1419 et 1420), and secretary to the king in 1418 and is said to have owned a manor in Champagne. Cf. Carla Bozzolo, and Hélène Loyau, La Cour amoureuse dite de Charles VI. Édition critique des sources manuscrites, armoiries et notices biographiques, 301–700, vol. 2 (Paris, 1982), p. 239.
London, British Library, ms. Egerton 811, fol. 1r.
Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, ms. 5062 (end of 15th-beginning of 16th century), fol. 225v.
François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à peintures en France (1440–1520) (Paris, 1995), p. 325.
Philippe Contamine, “Entre France et Écosse : Bérault Stuart, seigneur d’Aubigny (vers 1452–1508), chef de guerre, diplomate, écrivain militaire”, in The Auld Alliance: France and Scotland over 700 years, ed. J. Laidlaw (Edinburgh, 1999), pp. 59–76.
Concerning Jean Wauquelin, see the collective work Jean Wauquelin. De Mons à la cour de Bourgogne, ed. M.-C. De Crécy, with the collaboration of G. Parussa and S. Hériché Pradeau (Turnhout, 2006), in particular the chapter by Outi Merisalo, “Jehan Wauquelin, traducteur de Gilles de Rome”, pp. 25–31.
Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, ms. 9043, fol. 197v.
Concerning this manuscript, see especially Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, “[Notice du] manuscrit KBR 9043”, in La Librairie des ducs de Bourgogne : manuscrits conservés à la Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, t. II : textes didactiques, eds. B. Bousmanne et al. (Turnhout, 2003), pp. 54–60.
Dominique Stutzmann and Piotr Tylus, Les Manuscrits médiévaux français et occitans de la Preußische Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin et de la Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Wiesbaden, 2007), pp. 235–23; Helmut Boese, Die lateinischen Handschriften der Sammlung Hamilton zu Berlin (Wiesbaden, 1966), p. 323; Siegfried Lemm, Kurzes Verzeichnis der romanischen Handschriften. Mitteilungen aus der Königlichen Bibliothek IV, (Berlin, 1918), p. 33.
Cf. Jean-Baptiste Rietstap, Armorial général, vol. 1 (Gouda, 1884), p. 232.
Gavino Scala (Università degli studi di Siena - Universität Zürich, Romanisches Seminar) is the author of a doctoral thesis devoted specifically to the manuscript tradition of Henri de Gauchi’s French translation of De regimine principum. His research has brought to light two manuscripts not listed before: Leiden, Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit, BPL 2514 A:27 (six short fragments) and Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, 951/857.
Taking advantage of abundant documentation from northern France from the 14th and 15th centuries, Carla Bozzolo and Ezio Ornato have estimated that the average price of a manuscript in circulation was 5 livres 10 sous parisis in the 14th century and 2 livres 16 sous parisis in the 15th. The decrease in price is to be explained by the greater use of paper and the unfavorable economic situation. As a comparison, the price of a book owned by the Duke of Berry was as high as 74 livres 10 sous (Carla Bozzolo and Ezio Ornato, Pour une histoire du livre manuscrit au Moyen Âge. Trois essais de codicologie quantitative (Paris, 1980), pp. 25–26).
Hanno Wijsman, who became interested in the phenomenon of bibliophilia among the aristocratic elite of the Burgundian Netherlands, has pointed out the strong textual, material and esthetic identity of these nobles’ collections, and the influence of the ducal library upon them (Hanno Wijsman, Luxury Bound: Illustrated Manuscript Production and Noble and Princely Book Ownership in the Burgundian Netherlands (1400–1550) (Turnhout, 2010); Idem, La Librairie des ducs de Bourgogne. Manuscrits conservés à la Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, t. 2, Textes didactiques, eds. B. Bousmanne, F. Johan and C. van Hoorebeeck (Turnhout, 2003), especially the chapter by Hanno Wijsman, “La librairie des ducs de Bourgogne et les bibliothèques de la noblesse dans les Pays-Bas, 1400–1550”, pp. 19–37.