Petrus Gyllius
{{Short description|French scientist, topographer and traveller (1490–1555)}}
File:Gyllius Aelian tp 1535.png
Petrus Gyllius or Gillius (or Pierre Gilles) (1490–1555) was a French natural scientist, topographer and translator.
Gilles was born in Albi, southern France. A great traveller, he studied the Mediterranean and Orient, producing such works as De Topographia Constantinopoleos et de illius antiquitatibus libri IV, Cosmæ Indopleutes and De Bosphoro Thracio libri III, in which he provided the first written account of the Bosphorus, in Latin,{{Cite book |last=Freely |first=John |title=The Bosphorus |publisher=Redhouse |year=1993 |isbn=9789754130621 |edition=1st |location=Istanbul |language=English}} as well as a book about the fish of the Mediterranean. Sent by King Francis I of France to Constantinople in 1544-47 to find ancient manuscripts, he discovered a manuscript of the geographical work of Dionysius of Byzantium and wrote a Latin paraphrase of it. Most of his books were published after his death by his nephew. In 1533 he also translated Claudius Aelianus. He died of malaria in Rome while accompanying his patron, Cardinal Georges d'Armagnac.
It is stated that Guillaume-Joseph Grelot continued his work in the 17th-century, publishing his own book in 1680.{{cite web |author1=Guillaume-Joseph Grelot |title=Relation nouvelle d'un voyage de Constantinople : enrichie de plans levez par l'auteur sur les lieux, & des figures de tout ce qu'il y a de plus remarquable dans cette ville |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_relationnouv00grel/mode/2up |website=Internet Archive |publisher=En la boutique de Pierre Rocolet |access-date=June 7, 2024 |date=1680}}
Representation in fiction
As Pierre Gilles, Petrus Gyllius plays a small but significant role in Pawn in Frankincense, the fourth volume in the historical fiction series, The Lymond Chronicles, by Dorothy Dunnett.
References
{{Reflist |refs=
- {{cite book|last1=Dunnett|first1=Dorothy|title=Pawn in frankincense|date=1997|publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0679777465|edition=1st Vintage Books|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/pawninfrankincen00dunn_1}}
- {{cite book|author1=Peter Gerard Bietenholz|author2=Thomas Brian Deutscher|title=Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation|volume=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hruQ386SfFcC&pg=RA1-PA98|accessdate=19 March 2013|year=2003|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-8577-1|page=98}}
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Further reading
- {{cite book |last1=Gilles |first1=Pierre |last2=Ball|first2=John transl.|title=The antiquities of Constantinople|date=1986|publisher=Italica Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0934977012|edition=2nd ed. with new introduction and bibliography. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DCmFAAAAIAAJ |accessdate=13 September 2014}}
- {{cite book|last1=Harris|first1=Jonathan|title=Constantinople : capital of Byzantium|date=2009|publisher=Hambledon Continuum|location=London|isbn=9780826430861|edition=[Online-Ausg.].|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UTjUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|accessdate=13 September 2014}}
- {{cite book|last1=Kelly|first1=Laurence|title=Istanbul : a traveller's companion|date=1987|publisher=Constable|location=London|isbn=9780094677302|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4odpAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=13 September 2014}}
- {{cite book|last1=Byrd|first1=Kimberly|title=Pierre Gilles' Constantinople : a modern English translation with commentary|date=2008|publisher=Italica Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0934977692 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j1ktAQAAIAAJ |accessdate=13 September 2014}}
- {{cite book |last1=Gilles |first1=Pierre |last2=Byrd |first2=Kimberly transl. |title=Pierre Gilles' Constantinople: The Latin Text |date=2008|publisher=Italica Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-1599101231}}
External links
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- {{Gutenberg author|id=47212}}
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Category:16th-century writers in Latin
Category:French Renaissance humanists
Category:French male non-fiction writers
Category:16th-century French translators
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