Guillaume Budé

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Guillaume Budé
Guillaume Budé, c. 1536 portrait by Jean Clouet
BornJanuary 26, 1467
DiedAugust 20, 1540(1540-08-20) (aged 73)
Paris, Kingdom of France
Other namesWilliam Budaeus
Alma materUniversity of Orléans
EraRenaissance philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolRenaissance humanism
InstitutionsCollegium Trilingue
Academic advisorsJanus Lascaris[1]
George Hermonymus[1]
Notable studentsMelchior Wolmar
John Colet
Main interests
Law

Guillaume Budé (French:

Latinized as Guilielmus Budaeus; January 26, 1467 – August 20, 1540)[2] was a French scholar and humanist. He was involved in the founding of Collegium Trilingue
, which later became the Collège de France.

Budé was also the first keeper of the royal library at the Palace of Fontainebleau, which was later moved to Paris, where it became the Bibliothèque nationale de France. He was an ambassador to Rome and held several important judicial and civil administrative posts.

Life

Budé was born in Paris. He went to the University of Orléans to study law, but for several years, having ample means, he led an idle and dissipated life. When about twenty-four years of age, he was seized with a sudden passion for study, and made rapid progress, particularly in Latin and Ancient Greek.[3]

The work which gained him greatest reputation was his De Asse et Partibus Eius (1514), a treatise on ancient coins and measures. He was held in high esteem by

Bibliothèque Nationale
.

He also induced Francis to refrain from prohibiting printing in France, which had been advised by the

maître des requêtes and was several times prévôt des marchands.[3]

Death

Before his death in Paris, he requested to be buried at night, and his widow's open profession of Protestantism at Geneva (where she retired after his death), caused him to be suspected of leanings towards Calvinism.[3]

Sections of his correspondence with Erasmus also suggest this religious inclination. At the time of the

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, the members of his family were obliged to flee from France. Some took refuge in Switzerland, where they worthily upheld the traditions of their house, while others settled in Swedish Pomerania under the name Budde or Buddeus (see Johann Franz Buddeus).[3]

Budé was also the author of Annotationes in XXIV. libros Pandectarum (1508), which, by the application of philology and history, had a great influence on the study of Roman law, and of Commentarii linguae Graecae (1529), an extensive collection of lexicographical notes, which contributed greatly to the study of Greek literature in France.[3] Epistolae (1520, 8vo) is a collection that contains only a small part of the voluminous correspondence of Bude, written in Greek with remarkable purity.

Budé corresponded with the most learned men of his time, amongst them Erasmus, who called him the "marvel of France", and Thomas More. He wrote with equal facility in Greek and Latin.[3]

Works

Libri V de Asse et partibus ejus, 1522
Statue de Guillaume Budé at the Collège de France, Paris
  • Translations from Plutarch, from 1502 to 1505
  • Annotationes in XXIV libros Pandectarum, Paris, 1508
    • Annotationes in quattuor et viginti pendectarum libros. Paris, Josse Bade, 1532
    • Annotationes in XXIV Pandectarum libros (in Latin). Lyon: Sébastien Gryphius. 1541.
    • Annotationes in XXIV Pandectarum libros (in Latin). Lyon: Sébastien Gryphius. 1546.
  • De contemptu rerum fortuitarum libri tres, Paris, 1520
  • Epistolae, in 8vo, 1520
  • Libri V de Asse et partibus ejus (in Latin). Venice: Aldo Manuzio, eredi & Andrea Torresano. 1522.
  • Summaire ou Epitome du livre de Asse, Paris, 1522
  • De studio litterarum recte et commode instituendo, Paris, 1527
  • Commentarii linguae graecae, Paris, 1529
    • Commentarii Linguae Græcae, Gulielmo Budaeo, consiliario Regio, supplicumque libellorum in Regia magistro, auctore. Ab eodem accuratè recogniti, atque amplius tertia parte aucti. Ex officina Roberti Stephani typographi Regii, Parisiis, 1548
  • De philologia, Paris, 1530
  • Libellorumque magistri in praetorio, altera aeditio annotationum in pandectas, Paris, Josse Bade, 1532
  • De Studio Literarum Recte Et Commode Instituendo. Item Eiusdem G. Budaei De Philologia Lib. II. Basileae, apud Ioan. Walderum, martio 1533
  • De transitu Hellenismi ad Christianismum libri tres, Paris, Robert Estienne, 1534
  • De l'institution du prince, in-folio, 1547
  • Opera omnia, 4 vol. in-folio, Basel, 1557

Family

Guillaume was the son of Jean Budé (d. 1502) and Catherine Le Picart. He married Roberte Le Lieur when she was about 15 years old.[4] Their children included:[5]

  • Dreux Budé (d. 1547), married Marthe Paillart
  • François (d. 1550)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Gerald Sandy (ed.), The Classical Heritage in France, Brill, 2002, p. 58.
  2. ^ "Guillaume Budé". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Budé, Guillaume". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 749–750.
  4. . Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  5. ^ Sylie Charton le Clech, Chancellerie et Culture (1993), 324

References

  • Loys Leroy (or Regius), Vita G. Budaei (1540)
  • D. Rebitté, G. Budé, restaurateur des études grecques en France (1846)
  • E. de Budé, Vie de G. Budé (1884), who refutes the idea of his ancestor's Protestant views
  • D'Hozier, La Maison de Budé
  • L. Delaruelle, Études sur l'humanisme français (1907)
  • D. McNeil, Guillaume Budé and Humanism in the Reign of Francis I (1975)

External links