Gervais du Bus (or Gervès du Bus) was a French writer of the early 14th century.

Biography

Little is known about his life: he was a cleric of Norman origin; from 1312 to 1315, he served as chaplain to Enguerrand de Marigny (1260–1315)—a minister to Philip the Fair (1268–1314)—until Marigny's execution; in 1313, he became a notary of the royal chancery, a position he held until 1338.

Between 1310 and 1314, he composed the *Roman de Fauvel*, a satirical-allegorical poem comprising 3,280 verses. It is a work in two parts: only the second book is signed with a riddle concealing Gervais du Bus's name, and the attribution of the first part to this author has been a subject of debate.

The text is a scathing indictment of corruption and abuses of power, attacking the temporal authority of King Philip the Fair and the spiritual authority of Pope Clement V alike, as well as the corruption of the nobility and the misconduct of the mendicant orders.

He identifies the main character through a riddle that encapsulates all the character's vices:
"Flattery derives from it...
And from it descends Avarice,
Vileness and Fickleness,
And then Envy and Cowardice...
Take one letter from each word"
(with the letter V representing U in the Middle Ages).

Gervais du Bus claimed that the text was intended solely to explain the accompanying illustrations. It appears that these illustrations were created only after the poem was composed, notably by Raoul Le Petit. This form of storytelling through images would later be rediscovered in the 19th century by Rodolphe Töpffer and Christophe. Although a continuous tradition of illumination, miniatures, and illustrated narratives did indeed exist.