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Jean de Vignay (c. 1282/1285 – c. 1350) was a French monk and translator. He translated from Latin into Old French for the French court, and his works survive in many illuminated manuscripts. They include two military manuals, a book on chess, parts of the New Testament, a travelogue and a chronicle.
Some details of Jean's life can be gleaned from the additions he made to the chronicle of Primat of Saint-Denis for his translation. He was born in the Duchy of Normandy, probably near Bayeux.[lower-alpha 1] He had relatives in this area and was educated in the school at Molay Bacon, where his cousin was a classmate. In August 1298, when his cousin was thirteen years old, he was a witness to a miracle of Saint Louis in the chapel of Saint Michael at Bayeux.[lower-alpha 2] If Jean was born between about 1282 and 1285, as seems likely from the date of schooling, his father must have been quite old at his birth, since Jean records that his father witnessed a miracle at the time Saint Louis returned from the Seventh Crusade in 1254. Jean records another miracle that took place in the chapel of Saint Michael in 1302—a drowned child was revived on the altar of Saint Louis—although he does not say if he witnessed it himself.[2]
Jean is described in many manuscripts as a hospitaller of the Order of Saint James of Altopascio, serving at the hospital of Saint-Jacques in Paris. He is depicted in many miniatures as a monk and wearing the insignia of his order, a tau cross. A reference he makes to the Place Maubert confirms that he was familiar with Paris.[3]
The date of his death is unknown. His last precisely datable work was executed in 1333, but he certainly produced translations after that. His death has been placed in 1348, but without any basis.[3] Lenora Wolfgang places it around 1350.[4] In the two centuries following his death, he was a famous figure whose works were widely reproduced both as manuscripts and printed editions. In the middle of the sixteenth century, however, he and his work fell into obscurity.[5]
Jean made at least twelve translations from Latin into Old French, eleven of which survive. They are all preserved in sumptuously illuminated manuscripts made for King Philip VI (1328–1350), Queen Joan (died 1348) and their son, John, Duke of Normandy, who became king in 1350. Jean's knowledge of Latin was only basic and his mostly very literal translations do not make for easy reading.[4]
Christine Knowles distinguishes sharply between the last four surviving translations and the rest. These—Jeu des échecs, Miroir de l'Église, Enseignements and Chronique—are different in style. For the last two, the original Latin works are lost and we have only the French translation of Jean. For the first two, a comparison with the Latin versions shows that he has omitted parts, added to others and reworded in a way wholly unfamiliar to his other translations. Knowles assigns all four of these works to a later period than the rest.[6] Jean's eleven surviving translations are:
There is one lost translation that can be confidently ascribed to Jean. A catalogue of the library of Charles VI made in 1423 lists a prose version of the Alexander Romance translated by Jean de Vignay in 1341.[1][17] There are also works that have been falsely attributed to Jean. The Margarita Philosophiarum was written in 1298 by a certain Jean de Vignay of Dijon, who was a different person.[18] The Livre royal, now lost, was a verse encyclopedia written between 1343 and 1348, possibly by the poet Watrigues. It was assigned by mistake to Jean de Vignay in the 19th century.[19] Finally, Les Bonnes meurs, a French translation of De bonis moribus by the Augustinian Jacques le Grant, is mistakenly attributed to Jean de Vignay in the prologue of an English translation made in the mid-15th century by John Shirley.[20]
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