Schwan, E. “La vie des anciens pères.” Romania 13(1884):233–63.
VIGNAY, JEAN DE
(ca. 1282/85–1350). Translator. Born near Bayeux, Vignay was a monk of the order of
Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas in Paris. Eleven of his twelve translations from the Latin (one
is lost) are preserved in magnificent illuminated manuscripts made for King Philip VI (r.
1328–50); his widow, Jeanne of Burgundy; and their eldest son, the future John II the
Good. His most important translations are of Vegetius’s De re militari (De la chose de la
chevalerie), Vincent de Beauvais’s Speculum historiale (Miroir historial), Hugues de
Saint-Cher’s Speculum Ecclesiae (Miroir de l’Église), Jacobus of Voragine’s Legenda
aurea (Légende dorée), and Jacques de Cessoles’s Liber super ludo scaccorum (Livre des
eschez). The latter two were translated into English and printed by William Caxton. The
Livre des eschez was the second book to be printed in the English language (1475). Jean
de Vignay’s Latin was rudimentary and his French style halting; moreover, his extreme
faithfulness to the vocabulary and syntax of his originals frequently makes his
translations difficult to follow.
Lenora D.Wolfgang
[See also: TRANSLATION]
Knowles, Christine. “Jean de Vignay: un traducteur du XIVe siècle.” Romania 75(1954):353–83.
Meyer, Paul. “Les anciens traducteurs français de Végèce, et en particulier Jean de Vignai.”
Romania 25(1896):401–23.
VIGNEULLES, PHILIPPE DE
(1471–1528). All the works of this rich bourgeois deal with Lorraine and, more
specifically, with his beloved city of Metz. Vigneulles left us a Journal, a long Chronique
de Metz, de Lorraine et de France, the epic Garin le Lorrain (translated de ancienne rime
en prouse), and a collection of contes a rire: the Cent nouvelles nouvelles. His Journal
gives a vivid picture of Metz and describes his education, Italian voyage, capture by
brigands and payment of a ransom, the ravages of the plague, and so on. The Chronique
begins with Adam and ends in 1525. The Nouvelles and the prose Garin (unedited) were
completed in 1515.
The Nouvelles are preserved in a unique manuscript, now in Bowdoin College. The
lascivious character of the stories accounts for the severe mutilation of the manuscript,
probably by Philippe’s heirs. Of the 110 stories (Phillipe added ten stories to the original
hundred, without bothering to change the title), about forty are incomplete and fourteen
are missing altogether.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1806