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Jean de Meung
Twelfth century
alchemist who owes his celebrity to his poetical genius rather than his alchemical skills;
to his 'Roman de la Rose',
rather than to his rhyming treatise upon the hermetic philosophy. He is also known for his
translation of
Boethius' 'Consolation
of Philosophy'.
Jean de Meung was born about 1280, and
flourished through the reigns of Louis X, Philip the Long, Charles IV, and Philip de
Valois. His real name was Jean or Jehan Clopinel or Chopinel. He appears to have possessed
a light and railing wit, and a keen appreciation of a joke and it may well be doubted
whether he was altogether sincere in his praises of
alchemy. Having composed a quatrain on woman, which
stigmatized her in the strongest terms, the ladies of Charles VI's court resolved to
revenge their affronted honor, and surrounding him in the royal antechamber, desired the
courtiers present to strip him preparatory to their inflicting a sound flagellation. Jean
solicited to be heard before he was condemned and punished; and having obtained an
interval of grace, set forth, with fluent eloquence, that he was certainly the author of
the calumnious verses, but that they were not intended to vilipend all womankind. He
referred only to the vicious and debased, and not to such models of purity as he saw
around him. Nevertheless, if any lady present felt that the verses really applied to her,
he was her very humble servant, and would submit to a, well-deserved chastisement.
Like most of the mediaeval poets, Jean
de Meung was a bitter enemy of the priesthood, and he engineered with great ingenuity a
posthumous satire upon their inordinate greed. He bequeathed in his will, as a gift to the
Cordeliers, a chest of immense weight. As his fame as an alchemist was widespread, the
brotherhood accepted the legacy in the belief that the chest contained the golden results
of his quest of the Philosopher's Stone.
But when they opened it, their dismayed eyes rested only on a pile of slates, covered with
the most unintelligible hieroglyphics and cabalistic characters. The person responsible
for this practical joke was hardly, we think, a very sincere believer in the wonders of
alchemy.
Related
software and
videos.
Related books:
False Roses:
Structures of Duality and Deceit in Jean De Meun's Roman De LA Rose (Stanford French and
Italian Studies, Vol 69).
L'Amour Et LA
Rose: Le Grand Dessein De Jean De Meun (Harvard Studies in Romance Languages, No 41).
Roman de la Rose.
The Romance of
the Rose.
More
books.
Further info:
Jean de Meung - The
Remonstrance of Nature.
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