author
Jean de Vauzelles
A French Renaissance humanist, priest, and translator from Lyon, he moved easily between religion, literature, and public life. Best known today for work linked to Holbein’s Dance of Death, he helped shape the lively intellectual world of 16th-century Lyon.
1 Audiobook
The Dance of Death
by Gilles Corrozet, Jean de Vauzelles
About the author
Born in Lyon around 1495, Jean de Vauzelles came from a family of notaries and was educated in the humanist tradition. Sources describe him as deeply influenced by Erasmus and Juan Luis Vives; he studied in Italy, earned a doctorate in law, and was ordained as a priest.
He served as prior of Montrottier and became an important figure in Lyon’s religious and cultural life during the 1520s to 1550s. Scholars and library records connect him with Marguerite de Navarre, with the renewal of Hebrew studies in Lyon alongside the Dominican scholar Sante Pagnini, and with civic and charitable work including the city’s Aumône générale.
Vauzelles was also a translator, poet, and man of books. He is especially associated with the 1538 Lyon edition of Holbein’s Dance of Death and with other French translations and literary works that reflect the rich mix of scholarship, devotion, and art in the French Renaissance.