New Advent
 Home   Encyclopedia   Summa   Fathers   Bible   Library 
 A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z 
New Advent
Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > W > William of Digulleville

William of Digulleville

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

(DEGULLEVILLE).

A French poet of the fourteenth century. Nothing is known of his life, except that he was a monk in the celebrated Cistercian abbey of Chalis. Three allegorical poems are attributed to him with some certainty: "Pélerinage de vie humaine", a description of a journey to Paradise, composed between 1330 and 1332, revised by the author in 1355; "Pélerinage de l'ame", a vision of hell, purgatory, and heaven; "Pélerinage de Jésus-Christ", a verse transposition of the Gospel with the addition of a few allegories, probably composed in 1358. We possess numerous manuscripts of these poems adorned with splendid miniatures, said to be the finest ever made. Several editions of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries do not give the original text of the author, but a text amended by Peter Virgin, a monk of Clairvaux, or even a prose version made by John Gallopes, at the request of the Duchess of Anjou. These allegorical poems, containing not less than thirty thousand lines, met with a tremendous success in the Middle Ages, and were circulated throughout France and England. John Lydgate translated them into English, and Chaucer put a few passages into English verse, while John Bunyan imitated them in his famous poem, "Pilgrim's Progress". A new edition has been made by Stürzinger for the Roxburghe Club, London, 1893.

Sources

PIAGET in DE JUELEVILLE, Histoire de la litterature francaise, II (Paris, 1896); Histoire litteraire de la France, XXIV (Paris, 1856 sqq.).

About this page

APA citation. Delamarre, L. (1912). William of Digulleville. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15632c.htm

MLA citation. Delamarre, Louis. "William of Digulleville." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15632c.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Thomas M. Barrett. Dedicated to the memory of William of Digulleville.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.

Copyright © 2023 by New Advent LLC. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

CONTACT US | ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT