Woodcut of Volcyr at his desk, by Gabriel Salmon

Nicolas Volcyr de Serrouville (c. 1480–1541), known in German as Nicolaus Wollick, was a translator, music theorist and historian, one of the most prominent figures of the Renaissance in the Duchy of Lorraine.[1]

Life

Nicolas Volcyr was born in Serrouville in the Duchy of Bar around 1480.[2] His family name was Wolquier, but his published works in French bear the name Volcyr, while his musical work published in Germany bears the name Wollick.[3]

Volcyr began studies at the University of Cologne in 1498. He learnt music under Melchior Schanppecher. He received a master of arts degree in 1501 and a doctorate in theology in 1507.[3] He later also received a maîtrise ès arts from the University of Paris.[2] This type of double degree, one in the Holy Roman Empire and one in France, was common in Lorraine at the time.[4]

In 1507, Volcyr was appointed master of the choirboys of Metz Cathedral. In 1508, he began lecturing at Paris.[3] He arrived at the court of Lorraine by 1513.[3] He was listed as one of the duke's secretaries on 1 January 1514.[2] On 8 May 1520, through the intercession of Théodore Mitte, he was ennobled by Duke Antoine and took the surname "de Serrouville".[2][4] The duke appointed him court historian (indiciaire).[4] The historian William Monter calls him Antoine's "de facto propaganda minister".[5]

In 1540, Volcyr married Jeanne Chastellain. He drew up his will on 23 May 1541 and died later that year at Nancy.[2]

Works

Volcyr's earliest known work is his Gregoriana, a Latin treatise on Gregorian chant published at Cologne in 1501 as part of the Opus aureum of Heinrich Quentell. This went through many editions in Germany and France before 1530.[2][4] A revised edition under the title Enchiridion musices was published at Paris in 1509 by Jean Petit and François Regnault. There is a modern edition edited by Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller under the title Musica Gregoriana.[2][3] Among his sources were Adam of Fulda, Hugo Spechtshart von Reutlingen, Michael Keinspeck and Johannes Cochlaeus. The French edition was praised by Franchinus Gaffurius.[3]

Volcyr's historical works include:

  • L'histoire et recueil de la triomphante et glorieuse victoire obtenue contre les séduits et abusés luthériens (Paris: Galliot du Pré, 1527),[6] an account of the German Peasants' War and his most famous work[3]
  • Traicté nouveau de la desecr actuelle de Jehan Castellan, fanatique (Metz, 1525)[6]
  • Chronicque abregee par petits vers huytains des Empereurs, Roys et Ducz Daustrasie (Paris: Didier Maheu, 1531)[6]

Volcyr may have been most at home as a translator of Latin works into French.[4] Some of his translations include:

  • Cité du cueur divin, a translation of the sermon Civitas cordis divini, delivered by Jean Glapion before the court of Lorraine in 1521. It is unpublished and preserved in a manuscript alongside a transcription of the original sermon.[6]
  • Sermon de charité, a translation of a sermon by Thomas Illyricus (Saint-Nicolas-de-Port: Jérôme Jacob, 1525)[6]
  • Flave Vegece René, homme noble et illustre, du Fait de guerre et fleur de chevalerie; Sexte Jule Frontin, des Stratagemes; Aelian, de l'Ordre et instruction des batailles; Modeste, des Vocables du fait de guerre, pareillement CXX histoires concernant le fait des guerres, a translation of the four military treatises (Vegetius' De re militari, Frontinus' Stratagemata, Aelian's Tactica and Pseudo-Modestus' De vocabulis rei militaris), dedicated to the Dauphin Francis III, Duke of Brittany (Paris: Chrétien Wechel, 1535)[7]
  • Physionomie, a translation of the Liber physiognomiae of Michael Scot (Paris: Denis Janot, 1540)[6]
  • Des gestes des Turcz, a translation of Francesco Negri's translation of the Italian Commentario delle cose dei Turchi of Paolo Giovio (Paris: Chrétien Wechel, 1540)[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Fery-Hue 2015, p. 635: "une des figures marquantes de la cour de Lorraine au début de la Renaissance"; Cullière 2009, p. 441: "une des figures les plus marquantes de la cour lorraine au début de la Renaissance".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fery-Hue 2015, p. 635.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Niemöller 2001.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Cullière 2009, p. 441.
  5. ↑ Monter 2007, p. 40.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fery-Hue 2015, p. 636.
  7. ↑ Fery-Hue 2015, pp. 636–637.

Bibliography

  • Cullière, Alain (2009). "L'«Hérésie» de Nicolas Volcyr (1534)". Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance. 71 (3): 433–455. JSTOR 41239510.
  • Fery-Hue, Françoise (2015). "Un séjour de Nicolas Volcyr au Château de Comines:Trois œuvres inédites dédiées à Georges d'Halluin". Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance. 77 (3): 635–646. JSTOR 44511048.
  • Marot, Pierre (1931). "Notes sur Nicolas Volcyr de Serrouville". Revue historique de la Lorraine. 75: 5–13.
  • Monter, E. William (2007). A Bewitched Duchy: Lorraine and Its Dukes, 1477–1736. Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-600-01165-5.
  • Niemöller, Klaus Wolfgang (2001). "Wollick [Wolquier, Volcyr], Nicolaus [Nicolas]". Grove Music Online (on-line ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
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