A rather large number of 16th-century imprints bear the name of a Joannes Copus in one capacity or another. The German VD-16/17 lists 78. That the eight items in TUI 1584 that deal with the topic De fructibus are all derived from a work published in Paris in 1535 and reprinted there in 1536 seems clear. That the author is one Jean Cop whom the authority file of the Bibliothèque nationale describes as ‘Juriste, professeur d’éloquence. - Fils de Guillaume Cop, médecin de Louis XII. - Parfois confondu avec son frère Jean-Michel, chanoine de Notre-Dame de Cléry’ also seems clear. He also is the author of a tract De restitutis, published in Paris in 1535. Both works are dedicated to Francis I. The description does not mention that another of Jean’s brothers, Nicolas, was the rector of the university of Paris for a brief period in 1533. Nicolas’ inaugural address got him accused of heresy, as a result of which he fled to Basel. NBG TUI 1584 t. 13 and French Wikipedia. That Jean himself was a sympathizer with Calvin, perhaps a follower, seems likely, but disentangling his career and his works before and after 1535 X 1536 is something that we did not undertake. The ODNB (by subscription) has an article on Michel Cop, basically to affirm that he had nothing to do with England other than the fact that two of his books were translated from French and published in England. It mentions that Guillaume had three sons but says nothing of Jean. Tantalizingly, the 1572 edition of Jacob Middeldorp, Academiarum orbis christiani libri duo (Köln 1572) sig. **3 has a brief epistle addressed to the author from ‘Ioannes Copus Oxonien. Anglus’.

Source: CERL Thesaurus.

Entry by: CD 22.v.2019

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