Guillaume Budé | |
|---|---|
 Guillaume Budé, c. 1536 portrait byJean Clouet | |
| Born | January 26, 1467 |
| Died | August 20, 1540(1540-08-20) (aged 73) Paris, Kingdom of France |
| Other names | William Budaeus |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | University of Orléans |
| Academic advisors | Janus Lascaris[1] George Hermonymus[1] |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Renaissance philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Renaissance humanism |
| Institutions | Collegium Trilingue |
| Notable students | Melchior Wolmar John Colet |
| Main interests | Law |
Guillaume Budé (French:[ɡijombyde];Latinized asGuilielmus Budaeus; January 26, 1467 – August 20, 1540)[2] was a French scholar and humanist. He was involved in the founding ofCollegium Trilingue, which later became the Collège de France.
Budé was also the first keeper of the royal library at the Palace of Fontainebleau, which was later moved to Paris, where it became theBibliothèque nationale de France. He was an ambassador to Rome and held several important judicial and civil administrative posts.
Budé was born inParis. He went to theUniversity of Orléans to studylaw, but for several years, having ample means, he led an idle and dissipated life. When about twenty-four years of age, he was seized with a sudden passion for study, and made rapid progress, particularly inLatin andAncient Greek.[3]
The work which gained him greatest reputation was hisDe Asse et Partibus Eius (1514), a treatise on ancient coins and measures. He was held in high esteem byFrancis I, who was persuaded by him, and byJean du Bellay,Bishop of Narbonne, to found theCollegium Trilingue (afterwards theCollège de France) and the library atFontainebleau, which was removed to Paris and was the origin of theBibliothèque Nationale.
He also induced Francis to refrain from prohibiting printing in France, which had been advised by theSorbonne in 1533. Earlier, he had been sent byLouis XII toRome as ambassador toLeo X, and in 1522 was appointedmaître des requêtes and was several timesprévôt des marchands.[3]
Before his death in Paris, he requested to be buried at night, and his widow's open profession ofProtestantism atGeneva (where she retired after his death), caused him to be suspected of leanings towardsCalvinism.[3]
Sections of his correspondence with Erasmus also suggest this religious inclination. At the time of theSt. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, the members of his family were obliged to flee from France. Some took refuge inSwitzerland, where they worthily upheld the traditions of their house, while others settled inSwedish Pomerania under the name Budde or Buddeus (seeJohann Franz Buddeus).[3]
Budé was also the author ofAnnotationes in XXIV. libros Pandectarum (1508), which, by the application ofphilology andhistory, had a great influence on the study ofRoman law, and ofCommentarii linguae Graecae (1529), an extensive collection of lexicographical notes, which contributed greatly to the study ofGreek literature in France.[3]Epistolae (1520, 8vo) is a collection that contains only a small part of the voluminous correspondence of Bude, written in Greek with remarkable purity.
Budé corresponded with the most learned men of his time, amongst themErasmus, who called him the "marvel of France", andThomas More. He wrote with equal facility in Greek and Latin.[3]
Guillaume was the son ofJean Budé (d. 1502) and Catherine Le Picart. He married Roberte Le Lieur when she was about 15 years old.[4] Their children included:[5]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Budé, Guillaume".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 749–750.
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