Primat (died c. 1277) was a French Benedictine monk and historian of the abbey of Saint-Denis near Paris. He composed two histories of France with a royal focus, one in Latin and the other in Old French . His Latin chronicle covers the years 1248 to 1277 but now survives only in an Old French translation and in excerpts incorporated into the works of others. It contains a detailed account of the reign of Louis IX , making it one of the most important contemporary sources for that reign. His French chronicle, the Roman des rois , covers the entire history of France down to 1223. It was completed around 1274 for Philip III and its presentation copy is extant. It is the earliest version of what would become the Grandes Chroniques de France , the first official history of France.
27-460: Long regarded as a mere scribe or translator, the 20th-century discovery that he authored a Latin chronicle spurred a reassessment of his role in creating the Grandes Chroniques . Together the influence of these works make him one of the most important authors in 13th-century France. Of the life of Primat, almost nothing is known. Given the rarity of his name, the translator is almost certainly
54-468: A sou , is the name of a number of different coins, for accounting or payment, dating from Antiquity to today. The name is derived from the late-Roman and Byzantine solidus . Its longevity of use anchored it in many expressions of the French language . The solidus is a coin made of 4.5 g of gold , created by emperor Constantine to replace the aureus . Doing honour to its name, the new currency earned
81-605: A manuscript in a private Swiss collection. The first two were made between 1285 and 1314, while the Swiss copy was made in the 1320s or 1330s. The Roman des rois was organized around genealogy with an eye to demonstrating political continuity in France. It covers the Merovingian , Carolingian and Capetian dynasties down to the end of the reign of Philip Augustus (1223). It therefore did not overlap with his Latin chronicle. Its reliability
108-507: A single coin. This phrase is used mostly without the knowledge of the source of the word 'sou'. In Canadian French , the word "sou" is used in everyday language and means the 1/100 division of the Canadian dollar . The official term is "cent". Canadian one-cent coins (no longer in circulation) have the vernacular name of " sou noir ". The Canadian quarter , valued at 25 cents, is called trente sous ("thirty sous"). This usage dates from when
135-511: Is highly dependent on Primat's sources. The Roman becomes simpler from the early 11th century, when the complex account of Aimoin comes to an end. Thereafter it tends to rely on a single source for its narrative at any time. From the reign of Louis VI on, it relies on contemporary histories. Primat's Latin chronicle became a source for the first continuation of the Grandes Chroniques de France , much of its text appearing verbatim (in translation) there. French sol The sol , later called
162-526: Is lost. Jean's translation was made for Queen Joan the Lame around 1335. It survives in a single manuscript, now in London, British Library , Bibl. Reg. 19 D.i. It appears that Primat's chronicle only covered the years 1248–1277 and was a continuation of the chronicle of Gilon of Reims . It was thus part of a series of royal histories produced at Saint-Denis. Jean translated Primat as an addendum to his translation of
189-624: The Speculum historiale of Vincent of Beauvais running from 1250 until 1277, but it does not actually appear alongside the Speculum in any manuscript. The anonymous Chronicle of Baldwin of Avesnes also uses Primat as a source in this way. Guillaume de Nangis , in his Vita Ludovici IX , borrows directly from Primat without citing him, apparently because he considered his work just an extension of Gilon's. Although Jean de Vignay states that Primat's chronicle ran down to 1285, it appears from comparison with Baldwin of Avesnes and Guillaume de Nangis that
216-481: The Vita Sigeberti III ; Aimon of Fleury 's De gestis regum Francorum with its continuation; Einhard 's Vita Karoli Magni and Annales ; the chronicle of Pseudo-Turpin ; Hugh of Fleury 's Historia regum Francorum with its continuation; William of Jumièges 's Gesta Normannorum ducum with its continuation; Suger 's lives of Louis VI and Louis VII ; Rigord 's life of Philip Augustus; and William
243-445: The denarius was for a long time in practice the only coin in circulation, with solidi and pounds used only as accounting units. Charlemagne's general principle of 12 denarii worth one sol and of twenty sols worth one pound was eventually declined along many variants according to the alloy used and the dual metal gold: silver sometimes used for some issues. Only members of the money changers corporation could find their way among
270-475: The "piastre" is the common name for the Canadian dollar. In Switzerland , a hundred-sou coin is a five Swiss franc coin and a four sou coin is a twenty Swiss centime coin. The word sou also remains in informal language in the terms "ten, twenty ... sous". The French term sou was borrowed into Vietnamese as the word xu / su (樞). The term is usually used to simply mean the word "coin" often in compound in
297-707: The Breton 's Gesta Philippi Augusti . The original presentation copy of the Roman des rois is generally thought to be Paris, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève , MS 782, which is illustrated with thirty-four miniatures . This manuscript was certainly owned by Charles V , who had a continuation added to it. Primat's text thus came to be the earliest version of the Grandes Chroniques de France . Only three copies of his Roman survive without continuations: London, British Library, Add. MS 38128; Brussels, Bibliothèque royale , MS 4; and
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#1732858696207324-700: The accomplishments of his people. William of Jumièges was the original compiler of the history known as the Gesta Normannorum Ducum ("Deeds of the Dukes of the Normans"), written in about 1070. This was built upon the framework of an earlier history compiled by Dudo of Saint-Quentin , De moribus et actis primorum Normannorum ducum , between c. 996 and c. 1015. This work was commissioned by Duke Richard I , and "was renewed by his half-brother, Count Rodulf of Ivry , and his son Duke Richard II (996-1026)... Dudo's work
351-450: The equivalences and the many currencies used in Europe at each period, and therefore were unavoidable for most non-local commercial operations. The name evolved, along with the rest of the language, from Latin to French . Solidus became soldus , then solt in the 11th century, then sol a century later. In the 18th century, the spelling of sol was adapted to sou so as to be closer to
378-532: The events of 1066, and one of the earliest writers on the subject of the Norman conquest of England . He is himself a shadowy figure, only known by his dedicatory letter to William the Conqueror as a monk of Jumièges . Since he also mentions that he was an eyewitness of some events from the reign of Duke Richard III (1026-7), it seems reasonable to assume that he was born some time about the year 1000. He probably entered
405-534: The form of a "third of a sou" ( tremissis ). Facing a shortage of gold, Charlemagne introduced a new "stabilization" (as devaluations are often called): from then on the solidus no longer represents 1/12 of the Roman gold pound but 1/20 of the Carolingian silver pound instead. The sou itself was divided into 12 denarii and one denarius was worth 10 asses . With rare exceptions (such as Saint Louis ' "gros" ),
432-463: The forms of đồng xu (銅樞) or tiền xu (錢樞). The modern Vietnamese đồng is nominally divided into 100 xu . Used for over a thousand years, the word " sou " is deeply rooted in the French language and expressions. Les sous , plural, is a synonym for money. William of Jumi%C3%A8ges William of Jumièges (born c. 1000 – died after 1070) ( French : Guillaume de Jumièges ) was a contemporary of
459-402: The monastery during the first quarter of the eleventh century and received his education from Thierry de Mathonville. According to Orderic Vitalis , William's nickname was "Calculus". The meaning behind this nickname is unknown. His death, after 1070, is unrecorded. He was a Norman writing from a Norman point of view. Although only a monk with evidently no military training, he wrote with pride in
486-422: The original chronicle ended with the disgrace of Pierre de la Broce in 1278. Primat's Old French chronicle, Roman des rois ("Romance of Kings"), was presented to Philip III in about 1274. It was probably commissioned by the king's father, Louis IX. Primat's abbot, Matthew of Vendôme , also had a large role in its production and is a more imposing figure than the king in the original presentation miniature . It
513-513: The pronunciation that had previously become the norm for several centuries. In 1795, the livre was officially replaced by the franc and the sou became obsolete as an official currency division. Nevertheless, the term " sou " survived as a slang term for 1 ⁄ 20 of a franc. Thus, the large bronze 5-centime coin was called " sou " (for example in Balzac or Victor Hugo ), the " pièce de cent sous " ("hundred sous coin") meant five francs and
540-470: The reign of Louis IX, appeared in the year of the monarch's death (1270); that Primat's death prevented him from completing a history of the reign of Philip III; that a second redaction of his chronicle down to 1277 was put together after his death but before 1280; and that a third and final redaction down to the end of Philip's reign in 1285 was only completed after 1307 by borrowing material from Guillaume de Nangis's Chronicon . Auguste Molinier suggests that
567-583: The reputation of unalterability, crossing almost unchanged the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire , and the great invasions and the creation of Germanic kingdoms throughout Europe . Not only was it issued in the Byzantine Empire until the 11th century under the name of nomisma , but the solidus was imitated by the barbarian kings, particularly the Merovingians , albeit most often in
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#1732858696207594-636: The same person as the Robert Primat who witnessed a charter of Saint-Denis in 1270. A wife of Primat, almost certainly the translator, was receiving an annual pension worth 50 sous from the abbey between 1284 and 1297. This notice suggests that Primat had separated from his wife to become a monk. That his Latin chronicle appears to have ended abruptly in 1277 in the middle of the reign of Philip III suggests that Primat died at that time or shortly after. Primat's Latin history survives only in part in an Old French translation by Jean de Vignay . The original Latin
621-502: The word “ sou ” was used in French-speaking Lower Canada to refer to the halfpenny coin of the Canadian pound ; at that time an American quarter was valued at 1 shilling 3 pence Canadian (i.e. 15 pence Canadian), and the usage remained after Canada switched currencies. " Échanger quatre trente sous pour une piastre " ("to exchange four 30 sous for one piastre") therefore means changing something for an identical thing, as
648-414: The work of Primat ended in 1277 and what Jean had in front of him was a copy of Primat with a short continuation down to 1285. It was once commonly thought that the first part of Primat's chronicle, covering the first half of the reign of Louis IX, was lost, but it is as likely that his chronicle began where that of Gilon ended. Gabrielle Spiegel proposes that a first redaction of Primat's work, limited to
675-469: Was also called " écu " (as in Zola 's Germinal ). The last 5-centime coin, a remote souvenir inherited from the " franc germinal ", was removed from circulation in the 1940s, but the word "sou" keeps being used (except for the 1960 new franc's five-centime coin which was worth five old francs). The term 'sou' is often used in the exclamation "haven't got a sou". This is to denote that one has no money, not even
702-604: Was created by translating and adapting excerpts from various Latin histories in the archives of Saint-Denis. The main source was a compendium of Latin histories from Saint-Denis copied about 1250 and now in Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France , lat. 5925. This contained the Liber historiae Francorum ; the Gesta Dagoberti ; two works by Sigebert of Gembloux , the Chronographia and
729-459: Was taken up by William of Jumièges in the 1050s, who revised, abbreviated and updated his De moribus and added an account of the reigns of Dukes Richard II, Richard III (1026-7), Robert I (1027-35), and William II [William the Conqueror] ." He finished this by 1060 but added to it later when William the Conqueror had become king of England , bringing events up to 1070. The Gesta Normannorum Ducum
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