Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hauteville, John de
HAUTEVILLE, JOHN de (fl. 1184), mediæval Latin poet, has constantly been described as an Englishman by birth, but according to his own statement in the prologue to the ‘Architrenius’ he was a Norman. His name is often given as Hantwill, and it has been suggested that he came from Anville, near Conches (Hist. Litt. xiv. 569), but the evidence of the manuscripts points to the proper form of his name being Hauteville or Hauville (Alta Villa). Nothing is known as to his life, but some allusions point to his having resided in England. The statements of Pits that he studied at Oxford and was afterwards a monk at St. Albans seem to be unfounded. Hauteville eulogises Henry II, and he dedicated his ‘Architrenius’ to Walter of Coutances at the time of his translation from Lincoln to Rouen in 1184.
Hauteville's only known work is a long poem called ‘Architrenius,’ which is a satire on the vices and miseries of his age. It is a work of considerable literary merit, and a favourable specimen of mediæval Latin poetry. The name is of Greek derivation (ἀρχιθρήνιος), and has been interpreted as meaning ‘prince of lamentations.’ Summaries of the poem will be found in the ‘Histoire Littéraire,’ ‘Biographia Britannica Litteraria,’ and the preface to ‘Latin Satirical Poets.’ The manuscripts are numerous, e.g. Harley 4066, Cotton Vesp. B. xv, Reg. 13 C. V. in the British Museum, Digby 64 and 157, and Add. A. 44 in the Bodleian Library. The ‘Architrenius’ was printed by Jodocus Badius Ascensius, Paris, 1517, small 4to, a book which is extremely rare, and in the ‘Latin Satirical Poets of the Twelfth Century,’ vol. i. (Rolls Ser. 1872). According to Pits (p. 568), Hugh Legat, a monk of St. Albans, wrote about 1400 a commentary on the ‘Architrenius.’ This may be identical with the mutilated commentary preserved in Digby MS. 64. Bale and Pits ascribe to Hauteville a poem, ‘De Rebus Occultis,’ together with epigrams and epistles, but nothing is known about them. There is no authority for supposing that he was the author of the metrical treatise, ‘De Epistolarum Compositione,’ which is contained in Digby MS. 64.
[Bale, iii. 49; Pits, pp. 267, 568; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.-Hib. 377 s. v. ‘Hanwill;’ Fabricius, Bibl. Lat. Med. Æt. iv. 82, ed. 1754; Fuller's Worthies, ‘Oxford,’ 336; Leyser's Hist. Poet. Med. Æv. pp. 760–1; Histoire Littéraire de la France, xiv. 569–79; Wright's Biog. Brit. Litt. Anglo-Norman, pp. 250–6, and preface to Latin Satirical Poets, vol. i.; Graesse's Trésor de Livres Rares et Précieux, i. 182.]