Hugues, born at Fouilloy, in Artois, towards the beginning of the 12th century, probably studied with the Benedictines of Corbie, became a secular cleric, then entered the priory of the canons regular of Saint Augustine at Saint-Laurent-au-Bois, near Heilly. He was prior there in 1152 and held this office until 1174. He wrote the De claustro animae and many other works3. The first two books of the De bestiis et aliis rebus... are attributed to him, but it seems that only the two prologues and chapters 1 to 56 of book I, or the De avibus with the exception of the last two chapters, are really his. There are many manuscripts of this work, mainly from Cistercian abbeys: one of the best, that of the abbey of Heiligenkreuz in Austria, no. 226 [Stiftsbibliothek Heiligenkreuz, Codex Sancrucensis 226], from the beginning of the 13th century, fol. 129 r°-145 v°, reproduces only the authentic part and is also one of those which contains the complete series of thirty miniatures which are found as illustrations of this part; the oldest manuscript which contains the whole series is currently deposited in the National Archives of Torre do Tombo in Lisbon, Casa Forte no. 90 [Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, MS. 90], and comes from the abbey of Lorvâo, it dates from 1222 of the Portuguese era, or 1184 of ours and from the abbacy of Dom Joâo: we find there on fol. 3 r°—65 r° the authentic part of the De avibus... - [Author]

Language: French

DOI: 10.1515/9783110826869.279