Jean Pierier of Mailly, called Jean de Mailly, was a
Dominican chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
r working in
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
in the mid-13th century. In his Latin chronicle of the
Diocese of Metz
The Diocese of Metz ( la, Dioecesis Metensis; french: Diocèse de Metz) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. In the Middle Ages it was a prince-bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire, a ''de facto ...
, ''Chronica universalis Mettensis'', the fable of
Pope Joan
Pope Joan (''Ioannes Anglicus'', 855–857) was, according to legend, a woman who reigned as pope for two years during the Middle Ages. Her story first appeared in chronicles in the 13th century and subsequently spread throughout Europe. The s ...
first appears in written form.
''Catholic Encyclopedia'':, ''s.v.'' "Popess Joan"
/ref> He is also the compiler of the ''Abbreviatio in gestis sanctorum'', a collection of legends about the saints which is an important forerunner of the Golden Legend
The ''Golden Legend'' (Latin: ''Legenda aurea'' or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary ...
.
Notes
Further reading
* Antoine Dondaine, "Le dominicain Jean de Mailly et la Légende dorée", Archives d’histoire dominicaine, Le Saulchoir, 1946, p. 53-102.
Editions
Jean de Mailly, ''Abbreviatio in gestis et miraculis sanctorum. Supplementum hagiographicum''. Ed. Giovanni Paolo Maggioni (Florence, SISMEL/Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2013). .
French chroniclers
Writers from Metz
13th-century French writers
Pope Joan
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