Jean d'Outremeuse

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Jean d'Outremeuse (center) in the Palais Provincial in Liège

Jean d'Outremeuse , originally Jean des Preis (born January 2, 1338 in Liège ; † November 25, 1400 ibid) was a cleric who, in addition to an extensive history of Liège in (French) verse, also wrote a world chronicle , Ly Myreur des Histors ( "Mirror of Stories"). He is considered the first civil chronicler .

D'Outremeuse, who got his nickname after the Liège district from which he came, worked at the prince-bishop's court in his hometown. As an avid reader of chivalric novels , he began to write poetry himself early on, for example about the Danish legendary hero Holger Danske ( Ogier le Danois ), a work that is lost today. From his three-volume story of Liège, Geste de Liège , around 53,000 verses have survived from the first two volumes, only a few from the third volume, plus prose summaries . In it he tells the story of the Liege rulers starting from the end of the Trojan War .

He finally integrated both works into his prose Ly Myreur des Histors , a four-volume work, the last volume of which has again been lost. The title comes from his copyist Jean de Stavelot, who also wrote a sequel. D'Outremeuse declares that he has viewed his Latin sources critically and that he is now offering the proceeds to an audience who cannot speak this language. In fact, he is careless in dealing with his sources, confuses places and times, is devoid of any historical and geographical understanding. He adorns the stories presented to him in any way he wants and thereby also creates colorful descriptions that make the work a rich source for the customs and manners of his own time.

A smaller work is ascribed to him on the manufacture of precious stones from glass, Tresorier de philosophie naturelle des pierres precieuses ("Treasurer of the natural philosophy of precious stones").

Works

  • Ly myreur des histors, chronique de Jean des Preis dit d'Outremeuse ed. by Adolphe Borgnet and Stanislas Bormans, (Collection de chroniques Belges inédites et de documents inédits relatifs à l'histoire de la Belgique 11), 7 volumes, Brussels 1864–1887.
  • Ly myreur des histors. Fragment du second livre (Années 794-826) ed. by André Goosse, (Collection des anciens auteurs belges, NS, vol. 6), Brussels 1965.

literature

  • Louis Michel: Les légend epiques Carolingiennes dans l'oeuvre de Jean d'Outremeuse , (Mémoires Académie Royale de Langue et de Littérature Françaises de Belgique, Vol. 10), Brussels 1935.
  • Harald Nissen: L 'ordre des mots dans la Chronique de Jean d'Outremeuse , Uppsala, Univ., Diss., 1943.

Web links

proof

  1. ↑ The life dates, which are often given differently, here after Sylvain Balau: Les sources de l'histoire de Liège au Moyen-Age. Étude critique , Brussels 1903, pp 559 and 560. Balau refers to the date of birth on d'Outremeuses self-information for which the date of death to a church book entry .
personal data
SURNAME Jean d'Outremeuse
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jean des Price
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Liège cleric, chronicler
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1338
PLACE OF BIRTH Liege
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 1400
Place of death Liege