Claude Dupuy (1545–1594), a Parisian jurist,

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

and

bibliophile Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads and/or collects books. Profile The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often ama ...

, was a leading figure in the circle of French legal humanists and historians that gathered around

Jacques Cujas Jacques Cujas (or Cujacius) (Toulouse, 1522 – Bourges, 4 October 1590) was a French legal expert. He was prominent among the legal humanists or ''mos gallicus'' school, which sought to abandon the work of the medieval Commentators and conce ...

and Jacques-Auguste de Thou. Dupuy (''Puteanus'') assembled a great library of manuscripts that was inherited by his sons

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, a noted scholar himself, and Jacques, but when Jacques died in 1657, the books and manuscripts entered the Royal Collection and are now in the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

, Paris. Codices from his library are identifiable under the title ''Codex Puteanus''. Among his most celebrated manuscripts are the St. Paul's ''Epistles'' in Greek and Latin (BN grec 107 & A); a collection of

Tironian notes Tironian notes ( la, notae Tironianae, links=no) are a set of thousands of signs that were formerly used in a system of shorthand (Tironian shorthand) dating from the 1st century BCE and named after Tiro, a personal secretary to Marcus Tullius Ci ...

(BN lat 8777). His ninth-century

Statius Publius Papinius Statius ( Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; ; ) was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid''; a collection of occasional poetry, ...

, his

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...

''Apologeticum'' and his fifth-century codex of

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

's ''Third Decade'' were among the group of his manuscripts that came from the

Abbey of Corbie Corbie Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery in Corbie, Picardy, France, dedicated to Saint Peter. It was founded by Balthild, the widow of Clovis II, who had monks sent from Luxeuil. The Abbey of Corbie became celebrated both for its library ...

, acquired by foul means or fair. "Claude Dupuy was not interested in illuminated manuscripts; he looked for good and correct texts, elegantly written. He read, and sometimes annotated them." He died too young to publish the results of his research, but his long correspondence with

Gian Vincenzo Pinelli Gian Vincenzo Pinelli (1535 – 31 August 1601) was an Italians, Italian Humanism, humanist, born in Naples and known as a savant and a mentor of Galileo. His literary correspondence put him at the center of a European network of ''virtuosi'' ...

has been edited by Anna Maria Raugei.Raugei (ed.), ''Gian Vincenzo Pinelli et Claude Dupuy. Une correspondance entre deux humanistes,'' (Florence) 2001

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Further reading