Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/397

Volentius VOLENTIUS, THOMAS (fl. 1650), schoolmaster. [See .]

VOLUSENE, FLORENCE (1504?–1547?), scholar and humanist, is called by David Echlin in 1637, in his edition of the ‘De Animi Tranquillitate,’ Wolson or Wolsey, and by modern writers Wilson (for which, however, there is no contemporary or early authority). In his English letters he signs himself ‘Volusene’ and ‘Volusenus.’ According to the scanty references to his early life in his ‘De Animi Tranquillitate,’ he was born and passed his youth on the banks of the Lossie near Elgin, where he had his early education, and had as his schoolfellow and friend John Ogilvie, afterwards rector of Cruden and canon of Aberdeen, with whom he was wont to stroll on the banks of the Lossie reading Horace and discussing his philosophy. From Elgin he proceeded to the university of Aberdeen, and from 1528 to 1535 he was in Paris, at first as one of the tutors of Wolsey's reputed son, Thomas Wynter, dean of Wells, and acting at the same time, and also after Wolsey's fall had deprived him of his tutorship, as a correspondent and agent of Cromwell, giving him information as to political and social matters in Paris (see his letters in the Brit. Mus. and the Record Office; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, ed. Brewer and Gairdner; Bannatyne Miscellany, vol. i. 1827). The earliest letter, dated 1 Oct. 1528, is written from Richmond, where he seems to have been then staying with Wolsey. His letters refer to several visits to London, and show that he was well acquainted with Bishops Gardiner and Fox, and from passages in the ‘De Animi Tranquillitate’ we learn that Bishop Fisher was also among his friends. In a letter written in 1530 or 1531 (Cotton MSS., one of those mutilated in the fire of 1731) Volusene refers to ‘Nicholas Federstone, my procture of Spel[d]hurs[t],’ while George Hampton in a letter to Cromwell of 30 April 1533 refers to Volusene's ‘benefice in Kent;’ it may therefore be inferred that he was rector of Speldhurst, though we have no evidence of his being in holy orders, nor does his name appear in any list of the rectors.

Volusene was in England in 1534, and while walking in the garden of Antonio Bonvisi [q. v.], their common friend Dr. John Starkey praised Carpentras as a place where Volusene might devote himself to the study of philosophy under the patronage of its learned bishop—soon to become a cardinal—Sadolet.

At Paris Volusene enjoyed the patronage of the cardinal of Lorraine, from whom he received a pension until he left Paris, and of Cardinal du Bellay, who in July 1535 was sent by Francis I on an embassy to Rome. Volusene was to have accompanied him, though in what capacity does not appear; but a serious and lengthened illness caused him to remain behind, and it was not until 19 Sept. that he started for Italy ‘to see if I can win my living in some university there,’ as he wrote to Cromwell on that day (Letters and Papers, ix. 131). At Lyons Volusene met Bonvisi, and Starkey's recommendation of Carpentras as a place of study recurred to him. On his way thither he fell sick at Avignon, and was detained by want of money (Sadoleti Epistolæ, 1760, ii. 383). But hearing that Sadolet was in want of a master for his college or school at Carpentras, he proceeded to that city and saw the bishop, who, in one of the most interesting of his letters (ib. ii. 315, to Paul Sadolet), has given an account of the interview. At first desirous only of getting rid of his visitor, whom he assumed to be a beggar or an adventurer, Sadolet soon became interested in his conversation, and delighted with his learning and modesty. He then sent for the magistrates and other influential citizens of Carpentras, and, with their sanction, appointed him to a tutorship or professorship—probably of eloquence (i.e. Latin composition)—at a yearly salary of one hundred gold pieces (seventy crowns Volusene calls it), two-thirds paid by the city, and the remaining third by Sadolet himself. His biographers generally state or imply that he was appointed principal of the school, but this does not seem to have been the case, as we find Jacques Bording held that office (scholæ præfuit) from 1537 to 1540 (Sad. Epistt. iii. 236), and in 1544 Claude Baduel was appointed to it (, Cl. Baduel, 1880, p. 129). Volusene soon returned to Lyons for the purpose of buying books, and again stayed with Bonvisi, and (21 Nov.) wrote an account of his appointment to his friend Starkey (Letters and Papers, ix. 291). At Carpentras he passed the remainder of his life, varied by visits to Paris, Lyons—where he was on friendly terms with several leading citizens of literary tastes—and possibly, as his biographers think, to Italy and Scotland. That he visited Italy is not certain; but a letter to Cruden, written after 1533, implies that he was then in Scotland or preparing to go thither (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. viii. 203). His wish had been to devote himself to the study of philosophy, and his letter to Starkey shows a little disappointment that the subjects of his lectures would be Cicero, Virgil,