Guilhelmi CHAUCER clare poeta, tui: Nam tua non solum compressit opuscula formis, Habes nunc, humanissime lector, elegos in nivea tabella depictos, quos Surigonus Visimonasterii columnae, Chauceri sepulchro vicinae, adfixit. Tu saepe eosdem in nostri vatis gratiam legas. Sic tibi, quisquis eris, faveat suadela, leposque. Leland's work, though not published until 1709, was written much earlier; he died in 1552. The sources of his data are unknown; he may well have acquired much or all during the peregrination of England which he undertook at royal command to gather the collections called his Itinerary. His list of Chaucer's works follows closely the order as in Thynne's edition of 1542, see the notes in Section II A below. The lives of Gower and of Chaucer are reprinted in Brydges' Restituta, vol. II, pp. 1 ff. A translation of the life of Chaucer is in Lounsbury's Studies, I: 133 ff.; see ibid. for comment on Leland's work. [Reprint of the life of Chaucer by John Bale in his Illustrium Maioris Britanniae Scriptorum-Summarium, 1548, fol. 198. No heading to the Life.] G ALFRIDUS Chaucer, Anglus, eques auratus, uir tam bonis disciplinis quam armata militia nobilis, exquisita quadam Anglici sermonis eloquentia, aetatem suam multo quam antea ornatiorem reddidit. Praeter Mathesim quam ingenue callebat, poeta lepidus erat. Ac talis apud suos Anglos, quales olim fuere apud Italos, Dantes & Petrarcha. Patrij sermonis restaurator, potius illustrator (& merito quidem) habetur adhuc primus. Boetium de consolatione philosophiae transtulit ad filium suum Ludouicum Chaucerum, & poemate uario, in lingua materna perappositae ac compte tractatus hos fecit, ut partim uidi, partim ab amico quodam fideliter accepi, cum uirescerent, &c. Diuturnis horis donec dolo. O tristem & cruentam lethi. De curia Veneris, li. 1. In Maio Vitam Thysbes Babylonicae, trac. 1. Babyloniae quam Semirannis, Vitam Didonis Carthaginensis, trac. 1. Tuo sit nomine Vergili, De misericordiae sepultúra, trac. I. Quaesitam a multis annis, Immitis belligerantium deus, De Augea & Telepho, trac. I. De ceteris nihil accepi. A Guilhelmo Whyte atque alijs tunc uerbi ministris talia hausisse fertur, quod monachorum otia, missantium turbam ingentem, horas non intellectas, reliquias, ac ceremonias parum probauerit. Ad annum humane redemptionis, 1450, uixisse perhibetur sub Henrico sexto. This, Bale's earlier biographical work, is much briefer than the Catalogus discussed below. The life of Chaucer, like many of the accounts contained in both works, was entirely recast for the later and more extensive catalogue. Bale derived much of his information from Leland; the antiquary Burton says indignantly that "Leland has delivered things impartially and in smooth language, Bale quite contrary and full of scurrilities." The list of Chaucer's works here given is discussed in Section II A below. On Bale see Lounsbury's Studies, I: 149, III: 35. Bale's autograph notebook, MS. Selden supra 64, was annotated and printed as Index Britanniae Scriptorum Quos ex variis bibliothecis non parvo labore collegit Ioannes Baleus, cum aliis (etc.) Edited by Reginald Lane Poole with the help of Mary Bateson. Oxford, 1902. This notebook differs from the two biographical works published by Bale; he arranged it alphabetically, not chronologically, and gave in most cases references to the sources of his information. It was begun about 1549, and its latest note of time is just after the appearance of the 1557 Catalogus, q. v. Little is said in this Index of the life of Chaucer; but the list of his works there preserved, pp. 74-78, is discussed below in Section II A (3). [Reprint of the Life of Chaucer by John Bale in his Scriptorum Illustrium Maioris Britanniae-Catalogus, Basle, 1557-59, vol. I, pp. 525527.1 G GALFRIDVS CHAVCER. XXIIII. alfridvs Chavcer, nobili loco natus, & summae spei iuuenis, Oxonienses scholas tam diligenter quàm qui maximè celebrauit: id quod ut faceret, academiae uicinitas quodammodo inuitauit. Nam quibusdam argumentis adducebatur Lelandus, ut crederet Oxoniensem uel Barochensem prouinciam, illius fuisse natale solum. Hinc acutus dialecticus, hinc dulcis rhetor, hinc lepidus poeta, hinc grauis philosophus, ac sanctus denique theologus euasit. Mathematicus insuper ingeniosus erat, à Ioanne Sombo & Nicolao Lynna, Carmelitis Lynnensibus, uirisque in Mathesi eruditis, instructus: quos ipse in libro suo de Sphaera celebrat, & clericos reuerendos uocat. Constat utique, illum circa postremos annos Ricardi secundi in Gallijs floruisse, magnamque illic ex assidua in literis exercitatione gloriam sibi comparasse. Tum praeterea eadem opera, omnes ueneres, lepôres, delicias, sales, ac postremò gratias linguae Gallicae tam altè imbibisse, quàm cuiquam uix credibile. Laus ista Galfridum in Angliam reuersum sequebatur, tanquam comes eius uirtutis indiuidua. Eiusmodi igitur laetis successibus, forum Londinense & collegia leguleiorum, qui ibidem patria iura interpretantur, frequentauit, familiaremque amicum inter eos Ioannem Gouerum mox habuit. Horum duorum unicus erat studiorum scopus, ut linguam Anglicam numeris omnibus quàm ornatissimam redderent. Nec antea finem fecerant, quàm linguam illam ad eam eloquentiam, ad eam denique breuitatem perduxerant, ut inter expolitas gentium linguas posset rectè quidem connumerari. Huius Chauceri lucubrationum inscriptiones non grauabor hic latinitate donare: ut sic saltem leonem, ut in prouerbio est, homines ex ipsis aestiment unguibus. Adponam ergo syllabon, composuit enim, 'Amores Troili & Chrysidis, Lib. 5. Vt demonstrarem Troili dupli cem. Lamentationem Chrysidis, Testamentum Chrysidis, Amores Heroidum, Somnium Chauceri, Lib. I. Diuturnis horis donec dolo. Lib. 1. O gemitus, offella moerore im. De consolatione philosophiae, Lib. 5. Carmina quae quondam studio. Lib. 1. Admiror hercle plurimum, quali. Chorum auium, De astrolabio, ad filium, Encomium mulierum, De remedio amoris, De peccatis ac remedijs, Lib. r. Vita tam breuis est, artis tam. Lib. 1. Fili mi Ludouice, certis signis. ram. Lib. I. Quibus animus est, mulieres. Lib. 1. Viso multiplici incommodo,quod. tem. Lib. 1. Hieremiae 6 State super uias. Vitam Thisbae Babylonicae Lib. 1. Babyloniae quandoque contigit. Lucretiae Romanae uitam, De Phyllide Thracensi, De Hypermnestra Aegyptia, De cuculo & philomela, dix. Lib. 1. Narrare nunc oportet auxilium. Lib. 1. Tam argumento quàm authori- Lib. 1. In Graecia aliquando duo fratres. Octo quaestiones & responsa, Lib. 1. In Graecia quandoque tam nobili. De curia Veneris, Epigrammata quoque, Narrationes diuersorum, De Ceyce & Halcyona, In obitum Blanchiae ducissae, De Vulcani ueru, De leone et eius dignitate, Lib. I. In Maio cum uirescerent, &. Lib. I. Lib. I. Lib. I. |