GAUFRED. Geoffrey de Vinsauf (fl. twelfth-thirteenth centuries) is said to have been born in England of Norman parents; it is believed that he frequented the schools of England, Gaul, and Italy. It is thought that he received his surname Vinsauf (Safe Wine) because of a treatise on the conservation of wines attributed to him: De vino et vitibus conservandis. His two works, Poetria nova (The New Poetry, c. 1200-1202), dedicated to Innocent III, and Documentum de modo et arte dictandi et versificandi (Documents on the Method and Art of Speaking and Versifying, c. 1210) are handbooks on the art of rhetoric. They formed part of the curriculum of medieval schools and enjoyed great popularity.
The Nun's Priest hails Gaufred in an apostrophe, NPT 3347-3354, as he parodies Poetria nova, 368-430. In his vignette of the weeping hens, NPT 3355-3374, Chaucer borrows from Poetria nova 363-368. [Richard1]
Gaufred is the ME variant and contraction of Latin nominative Gaufredus and appears in medial position, NPT 3347. The Incipit to the Poetria nova reads Incipit Poetria novella magistri Gaufredi Anglici de artificio loquendi.