LYNYAN. Giovanni da Legnano, fl. fourteenth century A.D., was born in Milan. He became professor of canon law at Bologna University about 1350, where he developed a reputation as one of its most renowned professors. He was famous for a variety of works, most of them dedicated to princes of the church. He dedicated De bello (c. 1360) to Cardinal Albornoz; for Urban V, he prepared De pace (1364), and De pluralitate beneficiorum (1365) as well as several treatises for Gregory XI. He defended Urban VI after the outbreak of the Great Western Schism and achieved an international reputation. When he died in 1383, he was at the height of his fame. After 1378, the English court took Urban's side, and its members, therefore, would be concerned with the views of his chief apologist, John of Legnano. As a member of Richard II's court, Chaucer would have been familiar with these events, especially since he was in Italy when the Schism broke out. Legnano wrote works on ethics, theology, and astronomy in addition to his works on law.

The Clerk says that Petrarch illumined the poetry of Italy as Lynyan did philosophy, law, and the arts, ClT 33-35.

Lynyan, the ME variant derived by pronunciation of the Italian word, occurs once, in medial position, ClT 34.