Nicholas Trivet (or Trevet, as he himself wrote) (c. 1258 – c. 1328) was an English

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 * Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature * Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...

chronicler 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 ...

Life

Trivet was born in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

and was the son of Sir Thomas Trevet (died 1283), a judge who came of a

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

family. Nicholas became a Dominican

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and studied first at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and later in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where he first took an interest in English and French chronicles. Little is known of the greater part of his life except that at one time he was

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

of his order in London, and at another he was teaching at Oxford, also that he was at

Santa Maria Novella Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated opposite, and lending its name to, the city's main railway station. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's principal Dominican church. The chu ...

in Florence.

Works

Nicolaus Triveth (Expositio viginti Librorum Titi Livii, 1460s - Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal)

Trivet was the author of a large number of theological and historical works and commentaries on the classics, more especially the works of

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

. A large number of these exist in manuscript in various libraries, but only two appear to have been printed, one being the work by which he is chiefly remembered, the chronicle of the

Angevin Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to: *County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France **Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou **Counts and Dukes of Anjou * House of Ingelger, a Frank ...

kings of England; the other was the last twelve books of his commentary on St. Augustine's treatise ''

De civitate dei ''On the City of God Against the Pagans'' ( la, De civitate Dei contra paganos), often called ''The City of God'', is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response ...

''. The full title of the former work is ''Annales sex regum Angliae qui a comitibus Andegavensibus originem traxerunt'', an important historical source for the period between 1135 and 1307, containing a specially valuable account of the reign of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...

, who was his contemporary. Trivet also wrote a chronicle in

, parts of which were printed by

Henry Spelman Sir Henry Spelman (c. 1562 – October 1641) was an English antiquary, noted for his detailed collections of medieval records, in particular of church councils. Life Spelman was born in Congham, Norfolk, the eldest son of Henry Spelman (d. 1581 ...

. This contains the tale of Constance, from which the popular tale-type derived its name, and from which

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

is believed to have obtained his

Man of Law's Tale "The Man of Law's Tale" is the fifth of the ''Canterbury Tales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer, written around 1387. John Gower's "Tale of Constance" in ''Confessio Amantis'' tells the same story and may have been a source for Chaucer. Nicholas Trivet's ...

. The ''Annales'' were published in Paris in 1668, in Oxford in 1719, and were edited by Thomas Hogg for the English Historical Society in 1845. Manuscripts are at Oxford and in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. Trevet's other historical works are ''Catalogus regum anglo-saxonum durante heptarchia'', and ''Les Cronicles qe frere N. Trevet escript a dame Marie'' (Marie was Edward I's daughter

Mary of Woodstock Mary of Woodstock (11 March 1278 – before 8 July 1332) was the seventh named daughter of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile. She was a nun at Amesbury Priory, but lived very comfortably thanks to a generous allowance from her parents. ...

). Trivet also wrote a number of works of a theological and philological character. Trivet also wrote many biblical commentaries, treatises and translations. While over a hundred manuscripts exist, in Latin, French and Italian, of his commentary on

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the tr ...

, which in turn influenced

Jean de Meun Jean de Meun (or de Meung, ) () was a French author best known for his continuation of the '' Roman de la Rose''. Life He was born Jean Clopinel or Jean Chopinel at Meung-sur-Loire. Tradition asserts that he studied at the University of Paris. He ...

and Chaucer.

Family

A member of Nicholas' family was Sir Thomas Trivit (died October 1383), a soldier of repute, who saw a good deal of service in France.

References

Attribution * *

Editions

* Lagioia, Alessandro (ed.). ''Nichola Trevet. Commento all'Oedipus di Seneca'' (Bari: Edipuglia, 2008) (Quaderni di Invigilata lucernis, 35). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trivet, Nicholas 1257 births 1334 deaths English chroniclers English Christian monks English Dominicans 14th-century English historians 14th-century Latin writers