Original works‎ > ‎

De auibus

Number

lt.017

Title

De Auibus (livro primeiro da obra De Bestiis et Aliis Rebus).

De columba deargentata, De tribus columbis, De natura avium, Aviarium ou Libellus quidam ad Rainerum conversum cognomine Corde Benignum

Name of the Portuguese translation

Livro das Aves (pt.017)

Author

Hugo de Folieto (initially the text was attributed to Hugo of St. Victor), or Hugues de Fouilloy, Hugo Folietanus, Hugo de Fouilloy or Hugues de Fouilloi (Fouilloy-Amiens, ca. 1096/1111 – 1172).

Little is known of his life, although it is known that he joined as a young man, a religious community (Order of Saint Augustine in St.-Laurent-au-Bois or St.-Laurent-d'Heilly), becoming the prior of the Order in St-Nicholas-de-Regny in 1132. Later, in 1152, he was elected prior of St.-Laurent.

He wrote works of monastic spirituality as De claustro animae or De medicina animae, and were attributed to him works as De nuptiis, De pastoribus et ouibus, De rota uera et falsa religionis and the translation De auibus.

This last work has undergone many influences of a work of classical antiquity - the Physiologus - whose author is not known. The first Latin translation (and Christian) of Physiologus is attributed to several authors: Origen, St. Ambrose, St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, etc. (Gonçalves, 1999: 11; Varandas, 2006: 5).

Language

Latin

Characterization

Moral treatise that describe allegories related to animals (commonly called 'bestiary'), which compiles bird characteristics and customs, using a symbolic and allegorical interpretation, with theological considerations. It therefore has a moral and didactic purpose, so that the descriptions made work as exempla (having a moral bottom, are used as a source of teaching).

The manuscript had about 60 chapters and was divided into two parts: the book I was called from De Auibus book II was devoted to mammals. According to the classification of Physiologus manuscripts (as shown below), belongs to Family I.

 

This work also collects information from the Bible and the works of other authors, such as St. Gregory the Great, St. Isidore of Seville, Hrabanus Maurus, St. Ambrose and St. Jerome. According to Clark (1992, 12), some text data support the conclusion that, in addition to these Christian authors, Hugo Folieto also used classical texts, for example, from Pliny, Ovid or Varro.

Date

Between 1132 and 1152.

Place

Probably St.-Nicholas-de-Regny.

Extant testimonies

According to Clark (1992, 27-30), there are close to a hundred manuscripts containing De Avibus, along with other texts. The oldest manuscript dates from the VIII century.

These manuscripts are divided into 5 groups, that were originated from two models (both lost). The existing manuscripts in Portugal belong to the group of the Heiligenkreuz Abbey (Austria), perhaps the closest to the original. It incorporates the manuscripts from Monastery of Lorvão, Monastery of Alcobaça and Santa Cruz de Coimbra. These three manuscripts are different copies from the Livro das Aves but seem to have relations with each other, suggesting that have been copied from a common model, probably in Coimbra, since Santa Cruz was an Order of the Monastery of the Augustinians (Hugo Folieto belonged to this order: Clark, 1992, 44-45):

- Mosteiro do Lorvão (1184): it is perhaps the oldest known copy and is in Lisbon, at the Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo (MS. 90 – Casa Forte, 90: PT-TT-MSML/B/5);

- Mosteiro de Alcobaça (1200-1210): Lisbon, Biblioteca Nacional (MS. ALC. 238-c);

- Mosteiro do Santa Cruz de Coimbra (XIII century): Oporto, Biblioteca Pública Municipal (MS. 43).

 

Apparently, the Portuguese translation did not come from any of these testimonies.

Studies

Online database:

http://www.arlima.net/eh/hugues_de_fouilloy.html#avi

 

References:

BERLIOZ, Jacques e CORDONNIER, Rémy (2004), Le convers et les oiseaux. Monde animal, morale et milieu monastique: le De avibus d'Hugues de Fouilloy (XIIe siècle) , In Homme-animal, histoires d'un face à face, catalogue de l'exposition de Strasbourg (Galerie Heitz, Musée archéologique, Musée de l'oeuvre Notre-Dame, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, 7 avril-4 juillet 2004), Paris: Adam Biro; Estrasburgo:Musées de Strasbourg, 73-81, 125.

BIBOLET, Françoise (1984), Portraits d'oiseaux illustrant le De avibus d'Hugues de Fouilloy (manuscrit de Clairvaux, Troyes 177), In CHAUVIN, Benoît (ed.) Mélanges à la mémoire du Père Anselme Dimier, Arbois: Pupillin, , t. 2, vol. 4, 409-447.

CARLINO, Laura (1992), L'illustrazione dell'Aviarium di Ugo di Folieto nel cod. 199 della Biblioteca Statale di Cremona, In CECCANTI, Melania e CASTELLI, Maria Cristina (eds.), Codice miniato: rapporti tra codice, testo e figurazione. Actes du 3e congrès d'histoire de la miniature (Cortone, 20-23 oct. 1988), Florença: Olschki, 327-335.

CARLINO, Laura (1988), Un manoscritto spagnolo in Lombardia: il cod. 199 della Biblioteca Governativa di Cremona, Miniatura 1, 19-35.

CARMODY, Francis J. (1938), De bestiis et aliis rebus and the Latin Physiologus, Speculum 13, 153-159.

CLARK, Willene B. (1992). The Medieval book of birds : Hugh of Fouilloy's De avibus. Binghamton, NY.

CLARK, Willene, B. (1990), The aviary-bestiary at the Houghton Library Harvard. In CLARK, Willene B. e MCMUNN, Meradith T. (eds.), Beasts and Birds of the Middle Ages: The Bestiary and its Legacy, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 26-43.

CLARK, Willene, B. (1982), The illustrated medieval aviary and lay brotherhood, Gesta 21, 63-74.

CORDONNIER, Rémy (2004), Des oiseaux pour les moines blancs: réflexions sur la réception de l'Aviaire d'Hugues de Fouilloy chez les cisterciens, La vie en Champagne 38, 3-12.

CORDONNIER, Rémy (2009), Enluminure et spiritualité: le sens du signe et ses difficultés. In Histoire et images médiévales, Thématique 15: les arts de la couleur, 24-29.

CORDONNIER, Rémy (2010), La plume dans l'Aviarium d'Hugues de Fouilloy: sénéfiance(s) d'une "propriété" aviaire. nIn Pomel, Fabienne (ed.), La corne et la plume dans les textes médiévaux, Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 167-202.

CORDONNIER, Rémy (2005), Haec pertica est regula. Texte, image et mise en page dans l'Aviarium d'Hugues de Fouilloy. In VAN DEN ABEELE (ed.), Bestiaires médiévaux. Nouvelles perspectives sur les manuscrits et les traditions textuelles. Communications présentées au XVe colloque de la Société internationale renardienne (Louvain-la-Neuve, 19-22.08.2003), Louvain-la-Neuve: Publications de l'Institut d'études médiévales de l'Université catholique de Louvain, 71-110.

CORDONNIER, Rémy (2010), Un 128e exemplaire de l'Aviarium de Hugues de Fouilloy: Bruxelles, KBR, MS. II 2313, Signum 11:1, 358-411.

DE CLERCQ, Charles (1963), Hugues de Fouilloy, imagier de ses propres oeuvres?, Revue du Nord, 45, 31-43.

DE CLERCQ, Charles (1970), La nature et le sens du De avibus d'Hugues de Fouilloy, In ZIMMERMANN, Albert e HOFFMANN, Rudolf, Methoden in Wissenschaft und Kunst des Mittelalters, Berlin, de Gruyter (Miscellanea Mediaevalia, 7), 279-302.

EDSALL, Mary-Agness (2003),"True anchoresses Are called birds": asceticism as ascent and the purgative mysticism of the Ancrene Wisse, Viator 34, 156-186.

FEISS, Hugh e PEPIN, Ronald (1994), Birds in Beinecke ms 189, Yale University Library Gazette 68, 110-115.

FINNAZZI-AGRÒ, E. (1993), "Bestiários" in Dicionário de Literatura Medieval Galega e Portuguesa, org. G. Lanciani e G. Tavani, Lisboa, Caminho, 83-85.

GONÇALVES, Maria Isabel Rebelo (trad.) (1999), Livro das aves – Hugo de Folieto. Lisboa: Colibri.

GONÇALVES, Maria Isabel Rebelo (1993), "Livro das Aves" in Dicionário de Literatura Medieval Galega e Portuguesa, org. Lanciani, G. e Tavani, G., Lisboa, Caminho, 404-405.

HÄRING, Nicolas Martin (1979), Notes on the Liber avium of Hugh of Fouilloy. Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 46, 53-83.

MEIRINHOS, José Francisco (1995), A escrita nos códices de Santa Cruz de Coimbra. Porto: Biblioteca Pública Municipal.

MIGNE, Jacques-Paul (1844-1865) Patrologia Latina. In http://pld.chadwyck.com/.

OHLY, Friedrich (1968), Probleme der mittelalterlichen Bedeutungsforschung und das Taubenbild des Hugo des Folieto. Frühmittelalterlischen Studien 2, Berlin, De Gruyter, 162-220.

OHLY, Friedrich, NORTHCOTT, K. J. (trad.), JAFFE, Samuel (ed.) (2005), Sensus Spiritualis: Studies in Medieval Significs and the Philology of Culture, Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 68-135.

SAINTE-MARIE, Martine (1993), Note sur un "traité des oiseaux" conservé parmi les manuscrits de la Société archéologique de Montpellier. In ROMESTAN, Guy (ed.), Hommage à Robert Saint-Jean: art et histoire dans le Midi languedocien et rhodanien (Xe-XIXe s.), Mémoires de la Société archéologique de Montpellier 21, 393-401.

SANSON, Manuela e ZAMBON, Francesco (1987), Pictura e scriptura la symbologia della colomba nel De avibus di Ugo di Fouilloy, Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa 23:1, 37-67.

VAN DEN ABEELE, Baudouin (2003), Trente et Un Nouveaux Manuscrits de l'Aviarium: Regards sur la Diffusion de l'Œuvre d'Hugues de Fouilloy. Scriptorium 57:2, 253-271.

VARANDAS, Angélica (2006), A Idade Média e o Bestiário. Medievalista on line ano 2, número 2, IEM - Instituto de Estudos Medievais. In www.fcsh.unl.pt/iem/medievalista, página 5