Supplement to the Glossary of the Romance of the Rose

on the Romance of the Rose.

...to consider it a system of love; or to express it in the words of our ancient authors, these are the commandments of love for attaining pleasure. The word used in the original French is "joüissance," which in the context of courtly love refers to the successful consummation of a lover's pursuit.

It is to Guillaume de Lorris and to Jean de Meun that we are indebted for this work.

Guillaume added to his name that of Lorris, a small town in the Gâtinais. Gâtinais is a historic region in north-central France.

Jean was also surnamed "of Meun" because he was born in that town, of which he was the ornament, as this epigram by Marot teaches us:

With Jean de Meun, the course of the Loire swells with pride. original: "De Jan de Meun s'enfle le cours de Loire." Clément Marot (1496–1544) was a famous French Renaissance poet.

Our ancestors—who were as sober and reserved as we are lacking in restraint regarding vain titles of honor—made themselves known only by the name of the place where they were born. It is on this model that the Religious In this context, "the Religious" refers to monks or members of holy orders., who regard their entry into the cloister as a rebirth to life, were content to join to their baptismal names that of the houses where they had retired (g). Thus Adam, Hugh, and Richard—equally commendable for their writings and for the regularity of their conduct—all three took the sur[name]... The author is referring to the famous 12th-century theologians of the Abbey of St. Victor in Paris: Adam, Hugh, and Richard of Saint Victor.

(g) Pasquier, Research on France, book 4, chap. 23. Étienne Pasquier (1529–1615) was a French lawyer and historian; his "Recherches de la France" is a monumental work on French history and culture.