Nigel de Longchamps, also known as ''Nigel Witeker'', (fl. c. 1190, died c. 1200), ''Neel de Longchamps'', or ''Nigel of Canterbury'', was an
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to:
*Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066
*Anglo-Norman language
**Anglo-Norman literature
*Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 1066 ...
satirist and poet of the late twelfth century, writing in Latin. He is known to have been a monk of
Christ Church, Canterbury, from 1186 to 1193, and perhaps earlier (he claims to have met
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and the ...
, killed in 1170).
Works
Speculum stultorum
He is the author of the ''
Speculum stultorum'' (
A Mirror of Fools), a satire in Latin elegiac verse on the clergy and society in general. The hero is Burnellus, or Brunellus, a foolish
ass
Ass most commonly refers to:
* Buttocks (in informal American English)
* Donkey or ass, ''Equus africanus asinus''
**any other member of the subgenus ''Asinus''
Ass or ASS may also refer to:
Art and entertainment
* ''Ass'' (album), 1973 albu ...
, who goes in search of a means of lengthening his
tail
The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammal ...
. Brunellus first visits
Salernum to obtain drugs for this purpose. However, he loses these when attacked by a
Cistercian monk with dogs. He then goes to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
to study, but makes no progress there, being unable to remember the city's name after eight years of study. He then decides to join a
religious order
A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious pract ...
, but instead founds a new one by taking the easiest parts from the rules of other orders. Finally, his master recaptures him.
The poem was immensely popular for centuries. Under the title "Daun Burnel the Asse" it is mentioned by
Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
in his
Canterbury Tales
''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's '' magnum opu ...
, in the
Nun's Priest's Tale.
Other works
Many other short Latin poems from a thirteenth-century manuscript are attributed to him, along with a prose treatise, ''Contra Curiales et Officinales Clericos''. This treatise is an affectionate reproof to
William Longchamp the Chancellor, in his role as
Bishop of Ely. Wireker takes his intimate friend (possibly a relative) to task for attempting to combine Church with State.
Bibliography
*''Miracles of the Virgin; Tract on Abuses'', ed. and trans. Jan M. Ziolkowski and Ronald E. Pepin,
Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 75 (Cambridge, MA, 2022) – facing-page Latin text and English translation
* ''A Mirror for Fools: The Book of Burnel the Ass'', trans. John H. Mozley (Oxford, 1961) – English translation
*''Speculum Stultorum'', ed. John H. Mozley and Robert R. Raymo (Berkeley, 1960) – critical edition of the Latin text
* ''The Book of Daun Burnel the Ass: Nigellus Wireker's Speculum Stultorum'', trans. Graydon W. Regenos (Austin, 1959) – English translation
* Ward, ''Catalogue of Romances'' (London, 1883–93)
* Wright, ''The Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets'' (London, 1874)
Notes
*
External links
*
Image from ''Speculum Stultorum''From The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Longchamps, Nigel de
Medieval Latin poets
12th-century English poets
12th-century Latin writers
Nigel (satirist)
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
English male poets
Anglo-Normans