Guillaume the Senior

Guillaume the Senior , (° ~ 1460 Laval - † ~ 1540 Laval), notary, chronicler, poet mayennais 15th century.

Biography

Guillaume the Senior was born towards 1460 with Laval close to the Manoir- Ouvrouin in a house which had been built on a site conceded with its grand' father by Jean Auvé, the shortly after the Guerre One hundred Year old, and whose principal lot him échut in 1490.

After having studied with the “ grant escolle ” French and Latin under the direction of a Master named by the chapter of Saint-Tugal, he became secretary of the chapter of Cemetery-God, then, “ or all foul or all saige ”, Maria in 1486 with a woman which one knows only the first name of Jeanne , and who gave him place “ loser ”.

About same time, it took a load of notary of the County of Laval which it kept all his life, having had happiness, by seek the favor of the people and the friendship of large, like the lord of Laval, to see the confirmed first, in 1515, by severe the Jacques Tahureau , that Louise of Savoy had sent in the Maine to reduce the number of the notaries. Its customers were rather selected besides, and among the many acts which the tabellion-chronicler accepted, much interest the counts de Laval, the Dominicains, the clergy of the city and the community of the inhabitants.

That did not prevent it exerting other functions, like that of sergeant of the Manor-Ouvrouin (district of Laval), that of “general sergeant” of the county, and from filling since 1493 near the jurisdiction of Hauterive some office similar. In 1530, it had even the receipt of the Saint-Julien hospital where, PEN, dant 16 month, says he, “ Jamais it did not have there day of deduyt sancté ”. All this work at the hospital is represented today by a receipt of some lines.

In relations day laborers with the officers of Manor-Ouvrouin, an open door in the surrounding wall of the two close houses making the communications constant, Guillaume the Senior lived “ still thus maintained well ” a few years, close to his wife like him almost octogenarian, and died, seems it, towards the end of the year 1540, without child, leaving with great nephews, like Jean and Robert , this last notary with Laval, the care to perpetuate the name.

Studies and Written

A pilot chronicler of his time

But the inkstand was used for the tabellion with another thing that to draw up minute S. When the new parish of Saint-Vénérand was based with the Bridge-with-Mayenne , the Senior, on the request of clergy and of the middle-class men benefactors, recorded the names of the commercial rich person who took part in the pious foundation, and told the various incidents which led work to a relative perfection. This chronicle in prose, registered at the head first religious register of Saint-Vénérand, reports accurately what refers to the parish Saint-Vénérand since 1480.

the Senior had also held, since the same time, a newspaper of the events concerning the city and the county of Laval; it resumed later this first work, perhaps towards about sixty, before 1522 seems it, developing what it had written “ jà enough old aage and mys by escript ”, and this labor, since then continued year per year until 1537, was worth us Annals and “ Chronicques of feed and county of Laval and neighbouring parts ”, if invaluable for the history of the area.

Poor poet, interesting chronicler

The Senior, who had read the Vigilles of Charles VII of his contemporary Martial of Auvergne, and perhaps also the Bréviaire of the Breton S of the chaplain of Saint-Julien, Pierre the Baud, was able to versify, and it is of this work of versification ebntrepris towards 1520 that he requests the reader of him to know gré.
the worms are frankly bad , known as the Abbé Angot, the rhyme brings to it as it can, i.e. strong evil, and the language is embarrassed and incorrect . But what makes the weakness even poem, the complete absence of imagination, made work interesting, because one finds there in great number of the precise and sincere details which import even with the general History of France and the literary history. One finds there very well depicts the way of life of a middle-class small town of the 16th century, curious characteristics on the price of the things, of the foodstuffs especially, - then that the least food shortage became fatal, of the information on the mystery S which were played of Ci from there. The mysteries, the chronicler composed some on the occasion, like the Mystery of the Nativity , mixing with the actors, or, when the age did not allow him any more this entertainment, there however taking an active share like blower: “… carrying the second paper/to help with the entremetier” .

Publications

Annals of Guillaume the Senior were published by Louis-Julien Morin of Beauluère (Laval, Godbert, 1859, in-8°), according to a faulty copy which is with the library of Laval and which the municipality had made draw up in 1828 on an old manuscript that Mr. Duchemin de Villiers had discovered with the royal library, already mentioned by the Father Jacques Lelong. This manuscript, today with dimensions under N° 11.512 of the French funds, must be, in spite of the opinion stated in 1882 per Mr. Marius Sepet, an autograph of Guillaume the Senior. It is him whom it would be necessary to consult for a final edition of the work of the Senior.

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