Pierre Bunel

Pierre Bunel (Latin: Petrus Bunellus; 1500 – 1547) was a humanist from Toulouse, considered by his contemporaries as one of the greatest living Latinists. He remains known today for his correspondence with other humanists of his time.

Biography

Pierre Bunel was born in Toulouse in 1500. He may have been the son of Guillaume Bunel, physician to the Bishop of Lavaur, Georges de Selve. He studied in Paris at the College of Coqueret. After returning to Toulouse, he had to go into exile in Padua in 1529 because of his religious beliefs.

During his eight years of exile in Italy (1529–1537), Pierre Bunel kept an important correspondence with his contemporaries, especially those who had remained in Toulouse. He met several Toulouse residents: Jacques de Bernuy, Arnaud du Ferrier, Jacques du Faur, Paul and Jean Daffis and Antoine de Paulo, all of whom were to become members of parliament, in Toulouse or Paris. He also met students from the University of Toulouse who had come to perfect their legal knowledge: Milles Perrot, Michel de L'Hospital, Aymar de Ranconnet, Renaud Chandon, Georges Cognet.

He found a job with the ambassador of Francis I in Venice, Lazare de Baïf. He stayed there for three years, studying Greek with Baïf, then Hebrew. He returned periodically to Padua, where he found his exiled compatriots.

In the spring of 1532, despite the lack of money and free time, Pierre Bunel realized one of his dreams, the dream of all scholars living in Northern Italy: a trip to Rome, a humanist pilgrimage in the footsteps of the ancient world. The expenses of the trip were undoubtedly covered by his friend Jacques de Bernuy, from a rich family of pastel merchants from Toulouse, who lived in Rome.

In February 1534, Georges de Selve, appointed ambassador in Venice following Baïf, took him into his service. Around 1537, Pierre Bunel returned to Rome for a long time in the company of Selve. Like du Bellay, Bunel was disappointed by this city which he found "corrupted". He confessed to a friend that he had even stopped speaking Latin, which no longer pleased him.

In 1538, Georges de Selve, Bishop of Lavaur, returned to his bishopric in order to live up to his convictions — he castigated bishops for whom the bishopric was only a title and an income. Bunel followed him. The sedition charges brought against him nine years earlier were dropped: Pierre du Faur, Jacques' brother, master of requests at the Parliament of Paris, intervened in his favor with the King.

At the death of Selve, on April 12, 1541, Bunel was strongly attacked by the family of the bishop. After his return to Toulouse, Pierre du Faur took him into his service. He became tutor to his children, especially Guy. Within the du Faur family, Bunel became associated with the progressive humanist circles of Toulouse. After having been seduced by the Protestant Reformation, he now advocated a reform from within the Catholic Church — which earned him the hatred of Theodore Beza and Jean Calvin.

Bunel took the children of Le Faur to Italy, but did not complete the journey. He died in Turin of a "hot fever" in 1547.

In his last years, Pierre Bunel had become a moral and intellectual authority. He was compared to Socrates. The capitouls of Toulouse had a statue erected in his honor in the Capitole.

Works

Pierre Bunel was above all appreciated by his contemporaries for the quality of his style, worthy of Cicero. Erasmus had indeed revived the Ciceronian quarrel in 1528 and any man who wanted to be cultured had to have a beautiful Ciceronian style, like Bunel, Jean de Boyssoné, or Étienne Dolet. In Padua, the students aspired to write a pure and elegant Latin — the correspondence was strictly in Latin; French was considered unworthy.

In 1551, Charles Estienne published a first edition of Pierre Bunel's correspondence: P. Bunelli familiares aliquot epistolae in adolescentulorum Ciceronis studiosorum gratiam.

References

• Magnien, Michel (2006). "Les Milieux Humanistes Toulousains à Travers la Correspondance de Pierre Bunel (1500-1547)." In: L'Humanisme à Toulouse. Paris: Honoré Champion.