Nicholas Bozon

Nicholas Bozon is the author of religious texts composed in England from the late 13th to the early 14th century in a wide range of forms, including sermon exempla, allegories, verse proverbs, saints’ lives, and devotional lyrics. Bozon’s works are composed primarily in the dialect of French used in England in the later period of Anglo-Norman literary activity, with occasional use of Latin and Middle English. For eight of the works in which his name is given, Bozon is associated in at least one manuscript with the Order of Saint Francis, del ordre de freres menours, and indeed his entire literary production, in both prose and verse, transmits a penetrating spiritual message by means of striking imagery and entertaining stories. Bozon’s oeuvre is marked, both in form and technique, by a penchant for collecting and assembling images, stories, and examples that might well be used in preaching; however, the manuscript transmission of the works, as well as the pastoral and devotional content, lead us to consider the possibility of both lay and religious audiences. A compilation structure in which elements of various kinds are listed and developed is found in the following works: a collection of moralized facts of nature, a sequence of sermonizing poems, a collection of verse adaptations on aphoristic sayings, two allegorical poems itemizing and visualizing lists of sins, and a legendary of female saints’ lives. Other works of a more devotional nature include a verse description of the Incarnation and Passion as a courtly tale of love, and poems to the Virgin. Bozon’s texts are of interest for multiple reasons: they demonstrate the focus on identifying and understanding vice and virtue that marks so much of vernacular literature in the post-Lateran IV period; they offer evidence of the vitality and evolution of the French language in late medieval Britain; and they show the importance of translation and adaptation in the development of vernacular literature. Also, the textual trace of Bozon as a preacher and poet provides a window onto the wider activities and methods of the Franciscan order, whose pastoral mission was to indoctrinate and inspire the lay public. Bozon’s literary production is an excellent example of how sermon literature had a cultural impact extending well beyond the context of the pulpit. Bozon’s works have almost all been edited, albeit in somewhat piecemeal fashion and in editions that are sometimes dated. Studies of Bozon are surprisingly scarce, however, given the breadth and variety of his output. This neglect may in part be explained by the tendency of earlier (predominantly Continental) scholarship to disparage Insular French and the deviations from the norm of Continental versification that characterize its poetry.