Jean Johanneaux

fl. 1468-1497

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Displaying 5 events

Biography

This singer's typical French last name "Johanneaux", which is not easily transcribed (and even less pronounced) in latin nor in italian, makes it difficult to reconstruct his international career. But a supplication which he submitted at the papal curia in April 1488 provides several undisputable clues which allow to understand that he was a singer of the papal chapel highly esteemed by Lorenzo de' Medici, and encourage to suggest that he also previously served king René of Anjou (Fiala PCR).

Court chapel of René d'Anjou, before 1468-1480
Johanneaux is probably the singer of René d'Anjou's chapel whose name is transcribed "Johannes Johannens" by P. Merkley, who found him, first, involved in an exchange of a chaplaincy of the collegiate church of Saint-Laud in Angers with one Johannes Mortier on 19.12.1468, and, second, as one of the three singers of the Anjou chapel (with Josquin Desprez and Gilles de La Preye) designated as executors of the last will of their fellow singer of the chapel, Jean Giraud, drawn up on 19.4.1477 (Merkley 2017, p. 24, after F-AD 49, G 913, f. 2-2v; p. 80, and p. 295-300, including full edition and translation of Giraud's last will after F-AD 13, 309 E 290, f. 359v, and signaling another longer copy in 309 E 247, f. 305).
Given that no list of the chapel of René d'Anjou in the 1460s and 1470s has been preserved, it can be assumed that he served from 1468, or some time before, until the death of René d'Anjou in 1480. And since the name "Johannens" can easily be read "Johanneus" or "Johanneux", that no other mention of a singer named "Johannens" has come to light, and that the subsequent career of Jean Johanneaux at the cathedral of Verdun might reveal earlier support from René d'Anjou, the identification of Johannens/Johanneus and Johanneaulx/Johanneux seems plausible enough to include them in one single biographical string (Fiala PCR).

Papal chapel, 1484-1485
As made clear by the supplication he submitted in April 1488 (see below), Jean Johanneaux still considered himself a singer of the papal while serving Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence. The documentation of the papal chapel edited and studied by R. Sherr suggests that he must be the singer named "Johannes Joannis" or "Joannes", who was paid from December 1484 to October 1485 (Sherr 1975, p. 59, summarizing: "Joannis, Johannis [sic]: Joannis is mentioned along with de Hely in the mandati as being a member of the chapel in December, 1484, even though he doesn't appear in any lists until January, 1485, remaining until October, 1485"; and Table 1, p. 26-27, with footnote 1, p. 26, precising: "Separate payment to de Hely and Johannes Joannes (16 ducats) 'pro eorum provisionem mensis decembris,' dated January 15, 1485. (V-CVaav, Mandati 851, fol. 35)").

Court of Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence, before 1486-1488
Jean Johanneaux can be identified with certainty to a singer mentionned with the only first name "Iannes" in four letters sent by Lorenzo de' Medici’s from 1486 to 1488, who had been once erronously identified with the composer Jean Japart.
On 7.5.1486, Lorenzo, while staying at the baths in Bagno al Morbo, south of Volterra, asked one of his nearest collaborator in Florence, Niccolò Michelozzi, to arrange for the travel and expenses of "the singer" (who cannot be identified) and two companions, namely "Iannes and Arrigo the composer",  to join him in Bagno al Morbo (MediciL Cor, letter 858, vol. IX, p. 275-279 [and n. 23], at 278-279: "Ordina col Cegino che 'l cantore con II compagni possa venire qui, ché mi parrebbe venissi seco lannes et Arrigo componitore, et così ordina che habbino danari per le spese insino qui"). The following year, Lorenzo sent two letters to Giovanni Lanfredini, then his agent at the Vatican curia, in order to secure a benefice for this singer. On 9.8.1487, Lanfredini was asked to do anything he could to obtain a papal bull, if possible for free, confering a benefice to "one of our singers of San Giovanni, whom I love as much as others of his kind, and I wish to please him because he is a perfect musician and because he has been here a long time". The following 4.9.1487, Lorenzo expressed his satisfaction at having obtained for "our singer Iannes" the deanship of Verdun, which he found indeed "very well located", and charged Lanfredini with finding a solution to pay the fees of the bull which had apparently been "taken from the purse" of the singer (id., letters 1019 and 1042 in vol. XI, ed. M. Bullard,  p. 54: "Ser Luigi nostro, apportatore di questa, vi farà intendere uno mio desiderio, el quale viene in beneficio d'uno cantore nostro di San Giovanni che io amo quanto altri suo pari, et desidero conpiacerli per essere musico perfecto et perché qui è stato gran tempo. Fate s'egl'è possibile che quelle bolle s'abbino gratis, che per uno piacere non mi potresti fare il più grato né più singolare"; and p. 145: "lo ho inteso quello sia seguito nella expeditione del decanato di Verduni per lannes nostro cantore, che mi piace assai, perché invero è molto bene collocato. Resta al presente la spesa, la quale quando o non fussi gratis o con piccola spesa, sarebbe uno ruinarlo, et lo haverne voi data intentione, gli pare hora che li siano tolte di borsa. Però vi racomando questa cosa di nuovo, e vi pregho che facciate ogni diligentia perché habbiamo gratia di questa piccola cosa. Et quando non si possa, fate a ogni modo expedire le bolle et mandatele qui a' nostri, a' quali si pagheranno i danari del costo, et mandatele più presto che potete, che mi sarà gratissimo."). Finally, seven months later, "Giannes cantore" came himself to Lanfredini in Rome holding a letter of recommendation from Lorenzo dated 25.3.1488, with the intention to settle the matter (id., letter 1189, vol. XII, ed. M. Pellegrini, p. 127: "Viene costi Giannes cantore, uno di questi nostri [...] per la expeditione di uno suo desiderio. Della qual [...] quanto più efficace et caldamente posso che per amore m[io...] insino che habbi cagione di tornarsene di qua presto et bene con-[ten]to.?).
As recorded in the footnote accompanying the edition of this last letter (ibid.), A. Roth has uncovered in the papal archives two documents produced during the procedure of nomination to the deanship of the cathedral of Verdun mentionned in Lorenzo's letters. The first document is a supplication submitted to the Vatican on 22.4.1488 – at the exact time when "Giannes cantore" must have been staying in Rome by Lanfedini –, by Johannes Johanneaux, who describes himself as a singer of the papal chapel and familiar of the pope, as well as dean of the cathedral of Verdun, and declares that he was currently staying in Florence at the request of Lorenzo de' Medici. The supplications asks for a dispence of residence in order to collect the income of his deanship in Verdun. A second indult of October 1490 authorized him to perceive the fruits of his benefice in absentia (ibid., n. 1, quoting the documents communicated to the editor of the volume by Adalbert Roth: V-CVaav, Reg. Suppl., 885, f. 228-228v and Reg. Suppl., 925, f. 27).

Canonicate and deanship of the cathedral of Verdun, 1482-1496
The career of Jean Johanneaux at the cathedral of Verdun has been investigated by M. George in his doctoral dissertation on the cathedral chapter (George 2016, vol. 2, p. 192-193). The papal archives mention him as dean of the cathedral in 1487 (ibid., according to a private communication from Amandine Le Roux to M. George, with no other reference) but several authors indicate that he already held this function in 1482. He was probably chosen by the chapter during the election held on 12.6.1482 after the death of Jean Merlin, a long-serving secretary to the king of France, or shortly after. He would have thus entered into conflict against a candidate supported by the king of France Louis XI, who sent a letter to the chapter on 1.6.1482 in support of Conrad Lourin, brother of the king's general receiver in Normandy (Courteault 1920, p. 205-206, whose previous pages also relates how the bishopric of Verdun had been the subject of harsh disputes between the king of France and the duke of Burgundy in the previous decade). Though the fact that Johanneaux held the deanship of Verdun by 1482 is confirmed by his attested title of ecclesiastic lord of Haumont, reserved for deans of the cathedral, it took a long time before the matter was settled, clearly because Johanneaulx did not reside in Verdun (George 2016, ibid.). During Lent 1493, the chapter decided to send an admonestation to its dean, urging him to appear in person by the next the feast of Saint-John (June, 21), "so that the church be ruled spiritualy as it is convenient to cathedral churches" (ibid., after F-AD55, 11F40, p. 561: "Il est ordonné de faire admonester le Doyen qu’il face et pourvoit dedans ceste Saint Jehan prochaine venant a ladite Eglise touchant son dit décanat, en façon que ladite Eglise soit régie et gouvernée in spiritualibus comme il decent a eglises cathédrales"). Johanneaux evidently complied with this injunction and appeared before the chapter: he was finally received to a canonicate vacant by the death on Pierre de Rouveroy on 9.7.1493. By 1496, the deanship of the cathedral went to Jean de Lenoncourt, who was received on 10.6.1496 (id., p. 194), and Johanneaux' canonicate to Johannes Colardi on 27.11.1497 (ibid.).
The documentation of the cathedral of Verdun interestingling complements the information provided by the florentine and vatican archives. Though Johanneaux probably finally received in mid 1488, thanks to the support of Lorenzo de' Medici, an important papal bull for taking possession of the deanship of Verdun, he seems to have never showed up before the chapter, who still had to admonest him five years later. This indicates that his curial career did not end with his last mention in italian archives in 1488, but that he might have remained in service of Lorenzo and/or the papal chapel several years. The fact that he quickly received and reacted to the admonestation of the chapter of Verdun in the first half of 1493 shows that he was staying in places with direct access to such information. It might thus well be that further examinations of italian documentation reveal other mentions of him, under whatever garbled form of his name.
One such case might be the Johannes Juvenis identified in Rome by R. Sherr in April-September 1490 and again in January 1491-January 1493 (see his present PCR biography). The end of his papal employment would concord with the arrival of Johanneaux in Verdun in the Spring of 1493, but the name Juvenis clearly refers to an individual whose French name would be "Jean Le Jeune", which in turn is bear by singers who are definitely distinct from Johanneaux. So this lead remains very hypothetical for the time being.

Fiala David

Information

  • Roles

    Member of a church (higher ecclesiastic, canon)
    Member of a church (lower ranked officer)
    Member of a court chapel (musician)
    Member of a princely/private household

  • Gender

    Male

Events

(YYYY-MM-DD)

5 in database

Benefice

Member of a church (lower ranked officer)
1468
Angers (France)


Patron: René of Anjou

Institution: Saint-Laud d'Angers, Angers (France)

Bibliography: Merkley 2017

Comments: Exchange of a chaplaincy in 1468. No information on the later management of this benefice is known. He is already designated as singer of the chapel of René of Anjou.

Musical position

Member of a court chapel (musician)
1468-12/1480
Aix-en-Provence (France)


Patron: René of Anjou

Institution: Chapelle ducale d'Anjou, Anjou (France)

Bibliography: Merkley 2017

Religious position

Member of a church (higher ecclesiastic, canon)
1482-06/1497
Verdun (France)


Institution: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Verdun, Verdun (France)

Bibliography: George 2016

Musical position

Member of a court chapel (musician)
1484-12/1485-10
Città del Vaticano (Vatican City State)


Patron: Innocent VIII

Institution: Papal chapel, Città del Vaticano (Vatican City State)

Bibliography: MediciL Cor

Comments: Johanneaux declares himself a singer of the papal chapel and familiar of the pope in a supplication of April 1488, but residing in Florence at the request of Lorenzo de' Medici. He must be the "Johannes Joannis" or "Joannes" paid from December 1484 to October 1485.

Musical position

Member of a princely/private household
1485/1488
Firenze (Italy)


Patron: Lorenzo de' Medici, il Magnifico

Institution: Maison des Médicis, Firenze (Italy)

Bibliography: MediciL Cor

Variant names

Gianes ; Iannes ; Johannens ; Johanneux ; Jouvenaulx

Associated people

Jean Juvenis (Very hypothetical identification)

Bibliography

[George 2016]

George, M., 2016, Le chapitre cathédral de Verdun (fin XIIe - début XVIe siècle) : étude d’une communauté ecclésiastique séculière, Thèse de doctorat soutenue à , 2016 https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/tel-01752195 (consulté le 6 juin 2026).
(192-194)

[MediciL Cor]

Médicis, L. de et Rubinstein, N., 1977, Lettere, Fubini R., Mallett M., et Istituto nazionale di studi sul Rinascimento (éd.), Firenze, Italie.

[Merkley 2017]

Merkley, P. A., 2017, Music and Patronage in the Court of René d’Anjou: Sacred and Secular Music in the Literary Program and Ceremonial, Tempe, Arizona.
(24, 81, 296-97, 300)

[Robinet 1910]

Robinet, N. et Eglise catholique, 1888, Pouillé du Diocèse de Verdun, Verdun http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k75721h (consulté le 6 juin 2026).

[Sherr 1975]

Sherr, R., 1975, The papal chapel, ca. 1492-1513, and its polyphonic sources, Thèse de doctorat soutenue à Princeton, 1975 http://www.sudoc.fr/051847728 (consulté le 22 janvier 2013).
(26-27, 59)

Archival references

[F-AD 13]

S. d., Archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhône, FranceArchives https://francearchives.gouv.fr/fr/service/33456 (consulté le 9 février 2025).

[F-AD 49]

S. d., Archives départementales de Maine-et-Loire, FranceArchives https://francearchives.gouv.fr/fr/service/33832 (consulté le 6 juin 2026).

[F-AD 55]

S. d., Archives départementales de la Meuse, FranceArchives https://francearchives.gouv.fr/fr/service/33877 (consulté le 8 juin 2026).

[V-CVaav]

S. d., Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, Città del Vaticano (V-CVaav) https://rism.online/institutions/30077317 (consulté le 5 avril 2025).

Contributors

David Fiala - Project manager ; Biography author

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Fiala David, Jean Johanneaux, in RicercarDataLab [https://ricercardatalab.cesr.univ-tours.fr/people/1954/] (accessed 10 June 2026).

Last modification: June 8, 2026