Geoffrey of Vinsauf

(fl. 1200)

   With his Poetria nova, composed between 1200 and 1202, with last additions and revisions probably from ca. 1215, Geoffrey of Vinsauf was, with Matthew of Vendôme (Ars versificatoria, late 12th century), Eberhard (Evardus) the German (Laborinthus), Gervase of Melkley (Ars poetica), and John of Garland (Parisiana poetria), one of the most influential authors of theoretical studies on poetry, rhetoric, and the arts.We know very little about Geoffrey, except that he is identified in the various manuscripts as “Galfridus Anglicus,” which indicates that he originated in England. He studied in Paris and taught at Hampton in England; in his dedication to Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) he mentions that he had once been sent from England to Rome.

   The Poetria nova begins with the image of a house to be built, which needs first to be visualized before the actual construction can begin, as the basic metaphor to be followed by a poet or artist: “construct the whole fabric within the mind’s citadel; let it exist in the mind before it is on the lips” (Nims 1967, 17). Subsequently, Geoffrey lays out his art of poetics and teaches his reader how to approach the task first by ordering the material, then developing the structure of a poem, exploring modes of description, considering elements of amplification and abbreviation, adding rhetorical ornaments, experimenting with the linguistic aspects, and so forth. Finally, Geoffrey concludes his treatise with some comments on how to create a good memory and train the mind to retain as much as possible.

   He also outlines the principles of good delivery of a speech, emphasizing the mouth, the countenance, and the gestures. Geoffrey recommends to his audience: “let a voice controlled by good taste, seasoned with the two spices of facial expression and gesture, be borne to the ears to feed the hearing” (Nims 1967, 91). At the end of his treatise the author dedicates his work to a certain William, who might have been William of Wrotham, archdeacon of Taunton who held important political posts in England between 1204 and 1215, or William de Sancta Matre Ecclesia, bishop of London (1199–1221), a close adviser to the kings HENRY II, RICHARD I, and John.

   Geoffrey’s major sources were the pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium and Horace’s Ars poetica (Poetria).His treatise has come down to us in more than 200 manuscripts, a majority of which originated in England.Apart from his Poetria nova, he also wrote a prose Documentum de modo et arte dictandi et versificandi, a Summa de coloribus rhetoricis, and a short poem, Causa magistri Guafredi Vinesauf. Geoffrey’s Poetria was undoubtedly the most influential textbook in late-medieval Europe because it proved to be so adaptable to teaching poetry, the art of letter writing (epistolarity), and the art of preaching sermons.

   Bibliography

   ■ Gallo, Ernest, ed. Poetria Nova and Its Sources in Early Rhetorical Doctrine. De proprietatibus litterarum. Series maior 10. The Hague:Mouton, 1971.

   ■ Geoffrey of Vinsauf. Documentum de Modo et Arte Dictandi et Versificandi. Translated by Roger P. Parr. Milwaukee, Wisc.: Marquette University Press, 1968.

   ■ Nims, Margaret F., trans. Poetria Nova of Geoffrey of Vinsauf. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1967.

   Albrecht Classen