Abstract

Most of our knowledge about the life of Matthew of Vendôme derives from autobiographical passages in his writings. The date of his birth is uncertain, but it is known that after the death of his father he went to Tours, some twenty-five miles from his birthplace, where he was raised by his uncle and studied composition under Bernardus Silvestris. Matthew continued his studies at Orléans during the residence of Hugh Primas in that city, and eventually achieved a position of some prominence as a teacher of grammar in the cathedral school. It was toward the close of his stay here that, sometime before 1175, he composed the Ars versificatoria as a textbook for beginning students. But Matthew's peace at Orléans had been shattered by the arrival of Arnulf of Saint-Euverte, best known as a scholiast on Lucan and Ovid, with whom he entered into a bitter rivalry; the Ars is filled with invective against Arnulf under the nicknames Rufus and Rufinus. Around 1175, Matthew left Orléans and proceeded to Paris, where he seems to have resumed his studies. He remained there for ten years, and in the course of this decade wrote the Epistolarium, a collection of letters in verse. He then returned to Tours, where he was perhaps granted a canonry at the cathedral of St. Martin, and where he completed the Tobias, a versification of the book of Tobit which he dedicated to Bishop Bartholomew of Tours and to the prelate's brother, the dean of St. Martin. It is presumed that he died shortly after its composition