William the Breton

Wilhelm the Breton or Wilhelm Brito (French: Guillaume le Breton , lat .: Guillelmus Armoricus ; * around 1165, † 1226 ) was a French chronicler at the beginning of the 13th century.

Brito came from Brittany and was of simple origin. At the age of twelve he began a spiritual career and studied in Nantes , later in Paris . After he had not found a job in his home country, he returned to Paris, where he received a post in the royal court orchestra. In the following years he served as a diplomat with King Philip II August . Brito was in Rome in 1200 for the king in his separation affair against Ingeborg of Denmark with Pope Innocent III. to convey. In 1204 he was at the siege of Château-Gaillard . Eventually he was appointed chaplain to the king and entrusted with the training of the king's son Peter Karlotus , who later became Bishop of Noyon . In 1214 he was an eyewitness to the Battle of Bouvines .

Immediately after the battle, Brito began to write the Verschronik Philippidos (French: La Philippide ), which served to glorify King Philip II August. The work, written in Latin, is based on Virgil's Aeneid and was first finished in 1217 in ten chants. Brito soon revised his work and finally completed it in 1224 in twelve chants and nearly 10,000 verses. It was translated into French prose by the monks of Saint-Denis Abbey in 1274 . At the same time, Brito continued Rigord 's report of the facts by Gesta Philippi Augusti . This work found its way into the Grandes Chroniques de France and was edited with the Philippidos by HF Delaborde in two volumes ( Œuvres de Rigord et de Guillaume le Breton , 1882/95).

Works

• Gesta Philippi Augusti , ed. by Léopold Delisle in: Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France 17 (1878), pp. 62–116
• Philippidos , ed. by Léopold Delisle in: Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France 17 (1878), pp. 117–287
• Biblia: Cum postillis Nicolai de Lyra et expositionibus Guillelmi Britonis in omnes prologos S. Hieronymi et additionibus Pauli Burgensis replicisque Matthiae Doering. - Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1485. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf

literature

• Georges Duby : Le Dimanche de Bouvines. Paris 1973 (Eng. The Sunday of Bouvines - The day on which France was created . Wagenbach, Berlin 2002).