Vie De Seint Auban: A Poem in Norman-French, Ascribed to Matthew Paris; Now for the First Time Edited, From a Manuscript in the Library of Trinity ... and Notes (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Vie De Seint Auban: A Poem in Norman-French, Ascribed to Matthew Paris; Now for the First Time Edited, From a Manuscript in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, With Concordance-Glossary, and NotesThe poem here published is edited from a Ms. [E. 1. 40] preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and of which only this one copy is believed to be extant. Besides being unique, it has claim to a special notice as being traditionally the composition of no less a personage than Matthew Paris, and his own handwriting. The evidence for this is based on statements of Stowe and Ussher, given in Sir F. Madden's edition of Paris' "Historia Anglorum", Vol. III., Pref. liii. Stowe's words (Annales, 1631, p. 43) are as follows: - "Matthew Paris, a munke of St. Alban, turned out of Latine prose into French verse the life and martyrdom of St. Alban and Amphibalus, both of which bookes I have seen." Archb. Ussher's testimony is to the following effect (Brit. Eccl. Antiq. v. 190): - "Hoc dramate tantopere delectatus est Matthaeus (Parisiensis) ut illud in metrum Gallicum nova metaphrasi transfuderit. Gallicum illud Matthaei cum Latino Guilielmi et Radulphi opere conjunctum habetur in codice Ms. ecclesiae S. Albani ab Henrico VI. donato".On the statements of these two writers, Sir F. Madden remarks: - "They must both have derived this information from the same source, namely, a manuscript still fortunately preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, which contains the French Life referred to, together with the Latin original, and other legends of the same saints. It does not appear on what precise grounds Stowe and Ussher gave the above statement, but it is certain it could not have been from mere conjecture." The learned editor quotes also a passage of Walsingham, to the effect that M. Paris "Vitas SS. Albani, Thomae, et Edmundi, conscripsit et depinxit elegantissime".The joint evidence of these three writers seems sufficient to furnish a fair ground of belief in the authorship of M. Paris, till proof to the contrary should be forthcoming.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.