Nicolas Bourbon the Elder

Nicolas Bourbon the Elder, portrayed by Hans Holbein the Younger (1535)

Nicolas Bourbon the Elder (* 1503 in Vendeuvre-sur-Barse , † 1550 in Candé ) was a French neo-Latin poet .

life and work

Nicolas Bourbon the Elder (not to be confused with his great-nephew Nicolas Bourbon the Younger , 1574–1544) was the son of a wealthy ironworks owner who received an excellent education from Jacques Toussain from Troyes , who later became the first holder of the Greek professorship at the Collège de France adorned. Early on he wrote a didactic poem about his father's ironworks under the title Ferraria in Latin, which was translated twice into German and could serve as an anniversary publication in 1960. After a time in England he settled in Lyon .

Boubon became famous for the extensive Neo-Latin epigram collection Nugae (trivialities), first published in 1533 , which was translated into French in 2008 and critically edited. Margaret of Navarra chose him for the education of her daughter Jeanne d'Albret (* 1528). After doing his duty, he retired to Candé and died there at an unknown date. The last documented sign of life dates from 1550. It was portrayed by Hans Holbein the Younger . A school is named after him in Vendeuvre-sur-Barse.

Verdun-Louis Saulnier and, more recently, Sylvie Laigneau-Fontaine (* 1963) have made an outstanding contribution to his reception.

Works (selection)

• Ferraria
  • (French) Poème sur les forges, composé en 1517 par Nicolas Bourbon . Traduit du latin by Antoine Dufrénoy (1819–1895). In: Annales des Mines Série 3, Volume 12, 1837, pp. 137–148.
  • (French) "Ferraria ou les Forges de Nicolas Bourbon". By Albert France-Lanord (1915-1993). In: Le Pays Lorrain 86, Vol. 70, 1989, pp. 165-174.
  • (German) The iron hammer. A technological poem of the 16th century . Edited by Ludwig Harald Schütz (1873–1941). Dietrich, Göttingen 1895.
  • (German) Ferraria. A 16th century ironworks poem by Nicolas Bourbon , translated from Latin into German by Otto Johannsen (1882–1960). Duisburg 1960. (Presented by DEMAG, Duisburg, for the 100th anniversary of the Association of German Ironworkers)
• Nugae (Bagatelles) 1533 . With French translation ed. by Sylvie Laigneau-Fontaine. Droz, Geneva 2008. (with biography and analysis)
  • Nugarum libri octo . Basel 1540.
  • Les bagatelles de Nicolas Bourbon, présentées et traduites par Verdun-Louis Saulnier. Haumont, Paris 1945. (selection)
• Nicolai Borbonii Vandoperani Opusculum puerile ad pueros de moribus, sive paidagōgeion. Gryphius, Lyon 1536.

literature

• Louis Moréri : Le Grand Dictionnaire historique. Supplement. Vol. 1. 1735, p. 175.
• Jean-Pierre Finot (1803–1873): Notice biographique sur Nicolas Bourbon (l'Ancien), poète latin du XVIe siècle. Troyes 1853.
• Gustave Carré: De vita et scriptis Nicolai Borbonii Vandoperani . Hachette, Paris 1888.
• Sylvie Laigneau-Fontaine: "Nicolas Bourbon, Ferraria - Nugae: De la silve à l'épigramme, mutations, convergences". In: La silve. Histoire d'une écriture libérée en Europe, de l'Antiquité au XVIIIe siècle . Eds. Perrine Galand and Sylvie Laigneau-Fontaine. Brepols, Turnhout 2013, pp. 491–508.

Web links

Commons : Nicolas Bourbon l'ancien  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information on Nicolas Bourbon the Elder in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
• Literature by and about Nicolas Bourbon the Elder in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)