"Jacques Lefèvre" redirects here. For the 20th-century French fencer, see
Jacques Lefèvre (fencer). For the Sorbonne professor around 1700, see
Jacques Le Fèvre. For Jacob or Jakob Faber, see
Jacob Faber.
Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (
Latinized as Jacobus Faber Stapulensis; c. 1455 – c. 1536) was a French
theologian and a leading figure in
French humanism. He was a
precursor of the
Protestant movement in
France. The "d'Étaples" was not part of his name as such, but used to distinguish him from
Jacques Lefèvre of Deventer, a less significant contemporary who was a friend and correspondent of
Erasmus. Both are also sometimes called by the German version of their name, Jacob/Jakob Faber. He himself had a sometimes tense relationship with Erasmus, whose work on Biblical translation and in theology closely paralleled his own.[1]
Although he anticipated some ideas that were important to the
Protestant Reformation, Lefèvre remained a
Roman Catholic throughout his life, and sought to reform the Church without separating from it. Several of his books were condemned as
heretical, and he spent some time in exile. He was, however, a favorite of the
King of France,
Francis I, and enjoyed his protection.
Life
He was born of humble parents at
Étaples, in
Picardy, but appears later to have been possessed of considerable means. He had already been ordained a priest when he entered the
University of Paris for higher education.
Hermonymus of Sparta was his master in Greek.[2]
In 1507 he took up his residence in the Benedictine
Abbey of St Germain des Prés, near Paris; this was due to his connexion with the family of Briçonnet (one of whom was the superior), especially with
Guillaume Briçonnet, cardinal
bishop of Saint-Malo, father of
Guillaume Briçonnet, the later
bishop of Meaux. He now began to give himself to Biblical studies, the first-fruit of which was his Quintuplex Psalterium: Gallicum, Romanum, Hebraicum, Vetus, Conciliatum (1509); the Conciliatum was his own version. This was followed by S. Pauli Epistolae xiv. ex vulgata editione, adjecta intelligentia ex Graeco cum commentariis (1512), a work of great independence and judgment.[2]
His De Maria Magdalena et triduo Christi disceptatio of 1517, which argued that
Mary the sister of Lazarus,
Mary Magdalene and the penitent woman
who anointed Christ's feet were different people, provoked violent controversy and was condemned by the
Sorbonne in 1521, and by
Saint John Fisher.[4][5] He had left Paris during the whole of 1520, and, removing to Meaux, was appointed
vicar-general to
Bishop Briçonnet on 1 May 1523; he published his French version of the
New Testament later that year. This translation, contemporary with Luther's German version, has been the basis of all subsequent translations into French.[citation needed] From this, in the same year, he extracted the versions of the Gospels and Epistles "a l'usage du diocese de Meaux". The prefaces and notes to both these expressed the view that
Holy Scripture is the only rule of doctrine, and that justification is by faith alone.[2]
After he finished the translation of the New Testament into French, all copies were ordered to be burned, which caused him to go into exile.[6]
He incurred much hostility, but was protected by
Francis I and his intellectual sister
Marguerite d'Angoulême. After Francis was taken captive at the
battle of Pavia on 25 February 1525, Lefèvre was condemned and his works suppressed by commission of the
parlement; these measures were quashed on the return of Francis some months later. He issued Le Psautier de David in 1525, and was appointed royal librarian at
Blois in 1526; his version of the
Pentateuch appeared two years later. His complete version of the
Bible of 1530 was based on the
Vulgate of
Jerome, took the same place as his version of the
New Testament.[2] The publication and its revised edition based on the Hebrew and the Greek texts were printed by
Merten de Keyser in
Antwerp in 1534.[7] Marguerite, now queen of
Navarre, led him to take refuge from persecution in
Nérac in 1531. He is said to have been visited in 1533 by
John Calvin on his flight from France.[2] He died in Nérac in about 1536.
Works
Aristotelian works (selected)
Paraphrases of the Whole of Aristotle's Natural Philosophy [Johannes Higman:] Parisii, 1492[8]
Psalterium quintuplex ; gallicum, romanum, hebraicum, vêtus, conciliatum, 1509 and 1515, published by
Henri Estienne, fol. with footnotes
Commentaires sur
saint Paul, avec une nouvelle traduction latine, Paris, 1512 and 1531. This work, in which one notices the lack of progress which had been made in criticism, was criticised by
Erasmus for the grammatical section, and by
Beda for the theological section, however this did not prevent it from being valued and studied
Commentaires sur les Évangiles, Meaux, 1525; his doctrine appears here to be very orthodox on the points disputed by the innovators, although the syndic Beda reproached him for errors in this respect
Commentaires sur les épîtres canoniques, Meaux, 1525; all his commentaries on the New Testament were put on the Index by the Roman inquisitors, under Pope
Clement VIII. He distanced himself from ancient barbarism
Traduction française du Nouveau Testament, Paris, Colines, 1523, 5 vols. 8vo, anonymous extremely rare, particularly the last volume. The translation was made from the Vulgate, because he intended it for the use of the faithful. It appeared again in his complete version of the Bible, Antwerp, fol.; later editions 1529 and 1532, 4 vol. 4to.; 1528, 4 vol. 8vo. The edition revised by the doctors of
Louvain is the most correct and also the rarest because it was suppressed as was the edition of 1511. It is remarkable that while the Cordeliers of Meaux attacked Lefèvre because of his translations, those of Antwerp approved it in 1528, for printing and for sale. It is true that they did not have in their edition l'Épître exhortatoire, which principally displeased the doctors of Paris
Exhortations en français sur les évangiles et les épîtres des dimanches, Meaux, 1525, condemned by the Parlement
Music theory
Musica libris demonstrata quattuor, published together with
Nemorarius, Arithmetica decem libris demonstrata and Boethius, De Arithmetica, Paris: Johannes Higman and Wolfgang Hopyl, 22 July 1496[9]Full text of 1551 edition
Other works
Arithmetica decem libris demonstrata, the De elementis arithmetice artis of Jordanus Nemorarius (
Jordanus de Nemore) with commentary and demonstrations, published together with Musica libris demonstrata quattuor and Boethius, De Arithmetica, Paris: Johannes Higman and Wolfgang Hopyl, 22 July 1496
Traduction latine des livres de la foi orthodoxe de
saint Jean de Damas ; the first translation of this work
De Maria Magdalena, 1517, followed in 1519 by another entitled: De tribus et unica Magdalena. This work is well done; the author retracts several points from the first work, for example his having said that these three women all bore the name of Magdalene
Rithmimachie ludus, qui et pugna numerorum appellatur, Paris, Henri Estienne, 1514, 4to.; opusculum of five pages, printed at the end of the second edition of the Arithmetica of
Jordanus Nemorarius. Here Lefèvre gives a very curious description of this ancient
Pythagorean game, but with such little detail that cannot understand it properly except by joining it to the extended notice which
Boissière gave to the same game
^
abRhenanus, Beatus (2013). "1". In Hirstein, James (ed.). Rhenanus, Beatus. Epistulae Beati Rhenani. La Correspondance latine et grecque de Beatus Rhenanus de Sélestat. Édition critique raisonnée, avec traduction et commentaire. Vol. 1 (1506–1517).
Brepols. p. 3.
ISBN978-2503513584.
^Paul Arblaster, Gergely Juhász, Guido Latré (eds) Tyndale's Testament, Turnhout: Brepols, 2002,
ISBN2-503-51411-1, pp. 130–135.
^Begin. [fol. 1 verso:] [Iacobi Fabri Stapulen̄: Philosophie Paraphrases ad grauissimū patrē: Ambrosiū de Cambray, etc.] [fol. 2 recto:] Littere librorum P C G M A S MR SV L P. Liber physicorum. C. Liber de celo – mūdo. G. Liber de generatione – corruptione. M. Liber metheororum. A. Liber de anima. S. Liber de sensu – sensato. MR. Liber de memoria – reminiscentia. SV. Liber de somno et vigilia. L. Liber de longitudine et breuitate vite. [A paraphrase on the above books of Aristotle by Jacobus Faber.] [fol. 269 recto:] Dialogus Iacobi. F. Stapulen̄. in Physicam introductionem. [fol. 288 recto:] Dialogus Iacobi F. Stapulen̄ difficiliū Physicalium introductorius
Popkin, R. H., ed. (1999) The Columbia History of Western Philosophy. New York; Chichester: Columbia University Press
Graf, K. H. (1842) Essai sur la vie et les écrits. Strasbourg
Bonet-Maury, G. in Herzog-Hauck's Realencyklopädie (1898)
Porrer, Sheila M. (2009) Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples and the Three Maries Debates. Genève: Librairie Droz
ISBN978-2-600-01248-5
Lesure, François (ed.) (1971) Ecrits imprimés concernant la musique Répertoire international des sources musicales; Internationales quellenlexikon des Musik; International inventory of musical sources B:vi, München-Duisburg: C. Henle.
Further reading
Barnaud, Jean (1900) Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples: son influence sur les origines de la réformation française. Cahors: Coueslant