The ideas
of humanism has contributed to a significant extant to the ideas of the
Renaissance. Humanist learned to know the Classics from the original texts.
A
significant humanist from France is Guillaume Budé (1467-1530).
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| Guillaume Budé (bron: wikimedia.org) |
Budé was
born at Paris in 1467 as member from a family with many people working in
court. His father was a counselor of the king.
Budé began
studying law in Orléans, but did not finish it. It might not have been the
right study for him, or he may have had not enough motivation. He by himself
said that he 'spoilt his youth by dealing with horses and hunting.' Only at 23,
he got interested in literature.
By then, he
started to read rapidly the books from his father's library, and spent most of
his money on books in Latin and Greek. He went on autodidactic tour and learnt
himself Latin and Greek, becoming more fluent in the last one. He may be
regarded as one of the greatest specialists in Greek language of his time. To
me it is not known if he also mastered Classical Hebrew, the 'third classical
language.' His son Louis Budé knew it, because he taught the language in
Geneva.
Budé also
learned philosophy, theology and medicines. It is not clear to which extant he
knew these subjects.
As his
father, he became secretary at court under Louis XII. In this time Budé
travelled to Venice and Rome. These travels may have influenced his humanist
thoughts.Under king François I, who was fond of Budé, Budé's influence rose.
His
knowledge of the Latin and Greek language brought him to the idea to restore the
classic education in France. Real Christian students had to not only learn the
Bible and the writings of the church fathers, but also especially classical and
original texts. This would give the students the skill to recognize truth
whenever they encounter a text.
He
suggested the king the idea building a school in which Greek, Hebrew and
mathematics should have been taught. In
1530, the school was built and got the name Collegium Trilinguae. Today, the
school is known as the Collège de France. Budé asked the Dutch humanist Erasmus
to lead the school, but he refused.
Budé also
was involved by setting up the Bibliothèque de Fontainebleau, which later moved
to Paris to become the Bibliothèque National.
Budé lived
in a religiously restless time, when the church began falling apart. By
himself, he stayed Catholic till his death. It is however claimed that towards
the end of his life he developed Calvinist tendencies. In 1540 he died in
Paris. He made the awkward request to bury him at night.
His widow,
Roberte le Lieur, and his family certainly was Calvinistic, and went to Geneva.
Budé's son-in-law, Guillaume de Trie, was a friend of Calvin himself.
From his
actions, Budé clearly can be seen as a humanist. His intention for building the
Collegium Trilinguae, make clear he attached importance to studying original
sources in their original languages.
From his
books, Budé's interest in the Classics can be drawn. In his book
"Annationes in XXIV libros Pandectarum", he compares Roman pandectae,
in where Roman law is described, and molded it in a standard work on Roman law.
In 1514,
Budé gained publicity from his book "De asse et partibus", in where
he deals with ancient Greek and Roman coins, weights and measures.
Another
important work written in 1533 is "De studio literarum recte et commode
instituendo". This work is important for humanists because it deals with
the "ideal of a whole culture as preparation for a Christian mind.".
Budé seemingly wanted to spread the improved Christianity, drawn from original
sources.
Further on,
Budé left mostly books that improved the study of Greek, letters written in
Greek, and dictionaries.
Conclusion
Budé is of
importance for later people, because of his restoration of the in the medieval
period decayed study of Greek language, books on other topics from the classic
period, and because of his foundation of the contemporary Collège de France.
A search
for Guillaume Budé (or in Latin: Budaeus) on google books shows a lot of books
about him.
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