LATZTUDIIIA&IANS
35
X41TBBIIJ.X
Journey, he met a scholar from Bologna who told him
that the Guelphs had been defeated at Montaperti and
expelled from Florence. Bnmetto took refuge at
Paris, where a f^erous fellow-countT3rman enabled
him to pursue his studies While carrying on his pro*
fession of notaiy. To this unnamed friend he now
dedicated his "Tr^sor. After the Guelph triumph
€/[ 1266 and the establishment of a new democratic
constitution, Bnmetto returned to Florence^ where he
held various offices, including that of secretary to the
Commune, took an active and honoured part m Flor-
entine politics, and was influential in the counsels of
the Republic. Himself a man of great eloquence, he
introduced the art of oratory and the systematic study
oi political science into Florentine public life. B!e
was buried in the church of Santa Maria Magf^iore.
Among the individuals who had come under his influr
esice WCU9 the young Dante Alighieri, and. in one of the
most pathetic epi^es of the *' Inferno' (canto XV),
Dante finds the sage, who had taucht him *' how man
makes himself eternal", among the sinners against
nature.
Brunetto's chief work, " Li Livres dou Tr^r ", is a kind of encyclopedia in which he *' treats of all things that pertain to mortals". It was written in French prose during his exile, and translated into Italian by a contemporary. Bono Giamboni. Mainly a compila- tion from St. Isidore of Seville and other writers, it includes oompendiums of Aristotle's *' Ethics" and Cicero's treatise on rhetoric. The most interesting portion is the last, " On the Government of Cities", in which the author deals with the political life of his own times. The "Tesoretto", written before the "Tr6- sor", is an allegorical didactic poem in Italian, which undoubtedly influenced Dante. Bnmetto finds him- self astray in a wood, speaks with Nature in her secret places, reaches the reaun of the Virtues, wanders into the flowery meadow of Love, from which he is deliv- ered by Ovid. He confesses his sins to a friar and resolves to amend his life, after which he ascends Olym- pus and begins to hold converse with Ptolemy. It has recently b^n shown that the Tesoretto" was prob- ably dedicated to Guido Guerra, the Florentine sol- dier and politician who shares Brunetto's terrible fate in Dante s ' ' Inferno ". Bnmetto also wrote the ' ' Fa- volello", a pleasant letter in Italian verse to Rustico di Filippo on friends and friendship. The other poems ascribed to him, with the possible exception of one cansone, are spurious.
Cbabailub, ZA Livret dou Trimur par BrunHto Latini, piMiS pour la premiere Jots (Paris, 1863); Qaiter, // Tesoro dt Brur neUo LaHni volgarittato da Bono Oiamboni (4 vols., Bologna, 1878-83); Zannoni, II TeaoreUo e il Favoletto [sic] di Ser Bru- ndio Laiini (Florence. 1824); Wzbse, Der Te^oreUo und FavoleUo B. Lai%no9j kriti9eher Text in Zeitschr. f. romanUche Philologie (Halle. 1883), VII; SuifSBT. DeUa Vita e ddU Opert di Bnuutto Latini, tr, Rbnbr. with appendixes by Dbl LuNooand Musba- rtA (Florence, 1884); Schbrillo, Alcuni capitoli delta biooro' fki di Dante (Turin, 1806); Zinoabxlu, Danfe jTMilan, 1903).
Edmund G. Gardner. Latitadinarianfl. See Low Church.
Za Trappe.— This celebrated abbey of the Order of Reform^ Cistercians is built in a solitary valley, surrounded by forests^ and watered by numerous streams which form, m the vicinity, a number of beautiful lakes. The location is ei ghty-f our miles from Paris, and nine miles from the little town of Mortagne in the Department of Orne and the Diocese of Sdez, within the ancient Province of Normandy. At its beginning it waa only a small chapel, built in 1122 in pursuance of a vow made by Rotrou II, Count of Perehe, who, a few years afterwards, constructed a monastery adjcnning, to which he invited the religious of Breuil-Benolt, an abbey belonging to the Order of Savigny, then in great renown for fervour and holi- nees; and in 1140 the monastery of La Trappe was erwted into an abbey. In 1147 Savigny, with all its affiliated mooasteneB, was united to tm Order of
Citeauz, and frimi this time forth La Trappe was a
Gisterdan abbey, immediately depending on the
Abbot of Clairvaux. During several centuries La
Trappe remained in obscurity and, as it were, lost
in the vast multitude of monasteries that claimed
Citeaux for their mother. But in the course of the M-
teenth century La Trappe, on accoimt of its eeograph-
ical situation, became a prey to the Englidi troofxi,
during the wars between France and EngUind, and in
the sixteenth century,, it, like all the other monaa*
teries, had the misfortune to be given "in commen*
dam"; after this the religious had nothing further to
preserve than the mournful ruins of a glorious past.
However, the hour was soon to come when the monastery was to have a bri^t return to its primitive fervour. The author of this reform was de Ilano6, fourteenth commendatory Abbot of La Trappe, who, as regular abbot, employed all his zeal in this great enterprise, the noble traditions of the holy founders of Citeaux bein^ again enforced. The good odour of sanctity of the inhabitants of La Trappe soon made the monastery celebrated amongst all Christian nations. On 13 February, 1790, a decree of the Government was directed against the religious orders of France, and the Abbey of La Trappe was sup- pressed; but the religious, who had taken the road to exile under their abbot, Dom Augustin de Le- strange, were one day to see the doors reopen to them. In 1815, the abbey, which had been sold as national property, was repurchased by Dom Augustin. but on their return the Trappbts found nothing besiaes ruin; they rebuilt their monastery on the foundations of the old one, and on 30 August, 1832, the new church was solemnly consecrated by the Bishop of S6ez. In 1880 the Trappists were again expelled; they, however, soon returned, to the great joy and satisfaction of the working classes andf the poor. Under the able administration of the present abbot, Dom Etienne Salasc, the forty-fifth abbot since the foundation, and the fourteenth since the reform of de Ranc6, the monastery has been entirely rebuilt: the new church, which is greatly admired, was consecrated on 30 August, 1895. The different congregations of Trap- pists are now united in a single order, the official name oeing the " Order of Reformed Cistercians", but for a long time they will continue to be known by their popular name of "Trappists" (see Cistercians).
Bossuet was a frequent visitor at La Trappe, in order to spend a few days in retreat with his friend, the Abbot de Ranc^; James II of England, when a refugee in France, went there to look for consolation. Dom Mabillon. after his long quarrels with de Ranc^, visited him tnere to make peace with him. The Count of Artois, afterwards Charles X, spent several days at the abbey; and in 1847 Louis Philippe wished likewise to visit this celebrated monastery. Amongst those who have contributed to the glory of the abbey in modern times we will only mention Father Robert, known to the world as Dr. Debreyne, one of the most renowned physicians of France, and held in high re- pute for his numerous medico-theological works.
Manriqub, Annaiea Ciatercienaea, IIU), III48; Jongblinus, Notitia Abbatiarum O. Cttt., I, 86; Janauschek, Orig. Cist., I, 2S5, and introduction : Gattia ChriMtiana^ XI; OAZLLARDnr, Hiatoire de La Trappe (Faria, 1844) ; db Charbncbt, CartuUure de VAbbaye de N. D, de La Trappe (Alencon. 1889): Hiatoire de N. D. deLa Trappe^ by a religious of the monastery (Paris, 1895) ; M. P., La Trappe mieux connue (Paris, 1834); M. L. D. B,,Hi9- toire eimU, relioieueeel litUraire de VAbbaye de La Trappe (Paris, 1824) ; La Trappe, joar un Trappiete de Sept Fone (Paris. 1870); PPANNBNSCHMiOTt lUiutrierte Geachic?Ue der Trappiaten (Pader* bom, 1873); Deacription de VAbbaye de La Trappe, en forme de fettre (Paris. 1671).
Edicond M. Obrecht.
Latreilley Pierre -AndrI:, a prominent French zoologist; b. at Brives, 29 November, 1762; d. in Paris, 6 Feb., 1833. Left destitute by his parents in 1778, the bov found benefactors in Paris, and was adopted by the Abb4 HaOy, the famous mineralogist.
