ITALIAN CITIES--OLYMPIA MORATA--URBINO--THE BOOKS OF CORVINUS.
The memory of many great book-collectors has been preserved in the
libraries established from ancient times in several of the Italian
cities. There are two at Padua, of which the University Library may claim
to have had the longer existence: but the 'Capitolina' can claim Petrarch
as one of its founders, and may boast of the books on antiquities
gathered by Pignoria, the learned commentator upon the remains of Rome
and the historian of his native city of Padua. It may be worth noticing
that there were several smaller collections in the churches, due to the
industry of bookmen whose names have been forgotten. We hear of the books
of St. Anthony and of Santa Giustina: and as to the library in the Church
of St. John the tradition long prevailed that Sixtus of Sienna, a noted
hunter after rare books, saw on its shelves a copy of the _Epistle to the
Laodiceans_, and read it, and made copious extracts.
Mantua received many of the spoils of Rome from Ludovico Gonzaga, which
were lost in the later wars: the most famous acquisition was Bembo's
tablet of hieroglyphics, which was interpreted by the patient skill of
Lorenzo Pignoria. At Turin the King's Library contains some of the papers
and drawings of Ligorio, who helped in the building of St. Peter's: but
most of his books were taken to Ferrara, where he held an official
appointment as antiquary. The University Library contains the collections
of the Dukes of Savoy, including a quantity of Oriental MSS., and some of
the precious volumes illuminated by the monks of Bobbio. The Père Jacob
in his treatise upon famous libraries had some personal anecdote to
record about the bookmen of each place that he visited. At Naples he saw
the collection of the works of Pontanus, presented to the Dominicans by
his daughter Eugenia; at Bologna he found a long roll of the Pentateuch,
'written by Esdras'; and at Ferrara he described the tomb of Coelius, who
was buried among his books, at his own desire, like a miser in the midst
of his riches.
Ferrara derived a special fame from the munificence of the House of Este
and the memory of Olympia Morata. A long line of illustrious princes had
built up 'an Athens in the midst of Boeotia.' Ariosto sang the praises of
the literary Court, and Tasso's misfortunes were due to his eagerness in
accepting its pleasures. The library of Lilio Giraldi was a meeting-place
for the scholars of Italy, and it continued to be the pride of Ferrara
when it passed to Cinthio Giraldi the poet. Renée of France, after the
death of her husband, Duke Hercules, made Ferrara a city of refuge for
Calvin and Marot and the fugitive Reformers from Germany. Olympia
Morata, the daughter of a Protestant citizen, was chosen as the companion
and instructress of the Princess Anna. They passed a quiet life among
their books until a time of persecution arrived, when Olympia found a
hope of safety in marrying Andrew Grundler of Schweinfurt. Her love for
books appears in the letters written towards the close of her life. In
1554 she tells Curio of the storming of Schweinfurt, where she lost her
library: 'when I entered Heidelberg barefoot, with my hair down, and in a
ragged borrowed gown, I looked like the Queen of the Beggars.' 'I hope,'
she said, 'that with the other books you will send me the Commentary on
Jeremiah.' Her friend answers that Homer and Sophocles are on their way:
'and you shall have Jeremiah too, that you may lament with him the
misfortunes of your husband's country.' Olympia replied from her
death-bed, returning her warmest thanks for the books. 'Farewell,
excellent Curio, and do not distress yourself when your hear of my death.
I send you such of my poems as I have been able to write out since the
storming of Schweinfurt; all my other writings have perished; I hope that
you will be my Aristarchus and will polish the poems; and now again,
Farewell.'
The Ducal Library of Ferrara was transferred to Modena when the Duchy was
added to the States of the Church. The collection at Modena is still
famous for its illuminated MSS., and for the care bestowed by Muratori
and Tiraboschi in their selection of printed books. The Court of Naples
also might boast of some illustrious bibliophiles. Queen Joanna possessed
one of those small _Livres d'Heures_ of 'microscopic refinement' which
Mr. Middleton has classed among the 'greatest marvels of human skill.'
René of Anjou, her unfortunate successor, found a solace for exile in his
books, and showed in a Burgundian prison that he could paint a vellum as
cleverly as a monkish scribe. Alfonso, the next King of Naples, was a
collector in the strictest sense of the term. He would go off to Florence
for bargains, and would even undertake a commission for a book-loving
subject. Antonio Becatelli corresponded on these matters with his royal
master. 'I have the message from Florence that you know of a fine Livy at
the price of 125 crowns: I pray your Majesty to buy it for me and to send
it here, and I will get the money together in the meantime. But I should
like your Majesty's opinion on the point, whether Poggio or myself has
chosen the better part. He has sold Livy, the king of books, written out
by his own hand, to buy an estate near Florence; but I, to get my Livy,
have put up all my property for sale by auction.' The books collected by
Alfonso were at the end of the century carried off by Charles VIII., and
were divided between the Royal Library at Fontainebleau and the separate
collection of Anne of Brittany.
A romantic interest has always attached to the library at Urbino. The
best scholars in Europe used to assemble at the palace, where Duke
Federigo made such a gathering of books 'as had not been seen for a
thousand years,' in the hall where Emilia and the pale Duke Guidubaldo
led the pleasant debates described in the 'Cortegiano.' Federigo, the
most successful general in the Italian wars, had built a palace of
delight in his rude Urbino, in which he hoped to set a copy of every book
in the world. His book-room was adorned with ideal portraits by Piero
della Francesca and Melozzo: it was very large and lofty, 'with windows
set high against the Northern sky.' The catalogue of the books is still
preserved in the Vatican. It shows the names of all the classics, the
Fathers, and the mediæval schoolmen, many works upon Art, and almost all
the Greek and Hebrew works that were known to exist. Among the more
modern writers we find those whose works we have discussed, Petrarch and
his friends, Guarini and Perotti, and Valla with his enemy Poggio; among
the others we notice Alexander ab Alexandro, a most learned antiquarian
from Naples, of whom Erasmus once said: 'He seems to have known
everybody, but nobody knows who he is.' The chief treasure of the place
was a Bible, illuminated in 1478 by a Florentine artist, which the Duke
caused to be bound 'in gold brocade most richly adorned with silver.'
'Shortly before he went to the siege of Ferrara,' says his librarian, 'I
compared his catalogue with those that he had procured from other
places, such as the lists from the Vatican, Florence, Venice, and Pavia,
down to the University of Oxford in England, and I found that all except
his own were deficient or contained duplicate volumes.' His son, Duke
Guidubaldo, was a celebrated Greek scholar; and the eulogies of Bembo and
Castiglione on his Duchess, Elizabeth Gonzaga, attest the literary
distinction of her Court. Francesco, the third Duke, lost his dominions
to Leo X.; but he showed his good taste in stipulating that the books
were to be reserved as his personal effects. Some of the early-printed
books are still in the palace at Urbino; others are at Castel Durante, or
in the College of the Sapienza at Rome; and the splendid MSS. form one of
the principal attractions of the Vatican.
Among private collectors the name of Cardinal Domenico Capranica should
be commemorated. Though continually engaged in war and diplomacy, he
found time to surround himself with books. On his death in 1458 he gave
his palace and library towards the endowment of a new College at Rome,
and his plans were carried out with some alterations by his brother
Angelo Capranica. Two Greeks of the imperial House of Lascaris took
important places in the history of the Italian renaissance. Constantine
had found a refuge at Milan after the conquest of his country, and here
he became tutor to the Lady Hippolyta Sforza, and published a grammar
which was the first book printed in Greek. He afterwards lectured at
Messina, where he formed a large collection of MSS., which he bequeathed
to the citizens. In a later age it was taken to Spain by Philip II. and
placed on the shelves of the Escorial. John Lascaris belonged to a
younger generation. He was protected by Leo X., and may be regarded as
the true founder of the Greek College at Rome. In matters of literature
he was the ambassador of Lorenzo de' Médici, and was twice sent to the
Turkish Court in search of books. After the expulsion of the Médici, John
Lascaris went to reside in Paris, where he gave lectures on poetry, and
employed himself in securing Greek lecturers for a new College; and he
was also engaged to help Budæus, who had been his pupil, in arranging the
books at Fontainebleau.
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, had the largest library in Europe. It
was credited with containing the impossible number of 50,000 volumes; its
destruction during the Turkish wars is allowed to have been one of the
chief misfortunes of literature. Matthias began his long reign of
forty-two years in 1458, and during all that time he was adding to his
collections at Buda. Some have derided Corvinus as a mere gormandiser
with an appetite for all kinds of books. Some have blamed him for risking
such inestimable treasures upon a dangerous frontier. It is admitted that
he worked hard to dispel the thick darkness that surrounded the Hungarian
people. He kept thirty scribes continually employed at Buda, besides four
permitted to work at Florence by the courtesy of Lorenzo de' Médici. The
whole library may be regarded as in some sense a Florentine colony.
Fontius, the king's chief agent in the Levant, had been a well-known
author in Florence: his Commentary upon Persius, once presented to
Corvinus himself, is now in the library at Wolfenbüttel. Attavante, the
pupil of Frà Angelico, was employed to illuminate the MSS. A good
specimen of his work is the Breviary of St. Jerome at Paris, which came
out of the palace at Buda and was acquired by the nation from the Duc de
la Vallière. A traveller named Brassicanus visited Hungary in the reign
of King Louis. He was enraptured with the grand palace by the river, the
tall library buildings and their stately porticoes. He passes the
galleries under review, and tells us of the huge gold and silver globes,
the instruments of science on the walls, and an innumerable crowd of
well-favoured and well-clad books. He felt, he assures us, as if he were
in 'Jupiter's bosom,' looking down upon that 'heavenly scene.' He wished
that he had brought away some picture or minute record; but we have his
account of the books which he handled, the Greek orations that are now
lost for ever, the history of Salvian saved by the King's good nature in
presenting the book to his admiring visitor. The palace and library were
destroyed when Buda was taken by the Turks. The Pasha in command refused
an enormous sum subscribed for the rescue of the books. The janissaries
tore off the metal coverings from the rarer MSS., and tossed the others
aside; the only known copy of Heliodorus, from which all our editions of
the tale of Chariclea are derived, was found in an open gutter. Some
books were burned and others hacked and maimed, or trodden under foot;
many were carried away into the neighbouring villages. About four hundred
were piled up in a deserted tower, and were protected against all
intrusion by the seal of the Grand Vizier. There were adventures still in
store for the captives. Through the scattered villages Dr. Sambucus went
up and down, recovering the strayed Corvinian books for the Emperor
Rodolph, a strange Quixotic figure always riding alone, with swinging
saddle-bags, and a great mastiff running on either side. Many a
disappointed wayfarer was turned away from the lonely tower. At last
Busbec the great traveller, because he was an ambassador from the
Emperor, was allowed to enter a kind of charnel-house, and to see what
had been the lovely gaily-painted vellums lying squalidly piled in heaps.
To see them was a high favour; the visitor was not permitted to touch the
remains; and it was not until 1686 that about forty of the maltreated
volumes were rescued by force of arms and set in a a place of safety
among the Emperor's books at Vienna.
It has always been a favourite exercise to track the Corvinian MSS. into
their scattered hiding-places. Some are in the Vatican, others at
Ferrara, and some in their birth-place at Florence. It is said that some
of them have never left their home in Hungary. Venice possesses a
'History of the House of Corvinus,' and Jena has a work by Guarini with
the King's insignia 'most delicately painted on the title.' The portraits
of the King and Queen are on one of the examples secured by Augustus of
Brunswick for his library at Wolfenbüttel. Mary of Austria, the widow of
King Louis, presented two of the Corvinian books to the _Librairie de
Bourgogne_ at Brussels; one was the Missal, full of Attavante's work, on
which the Sovereigns of Brabant were sworn; the other was the 'Golden
Gospels,' long the pride of the Escorial, but now restored to Belgium.
Other scattered volumes from the library of Corvinus have been traced to
various cities in France and Germany. There has been much controversy on
the question whether any of them are to be found in England. Some think
that examples might be traced among the Arundel MSS. in the British
Museum. Thomas, Earl of Arundel, it is known, went on a book-hunting
expedition to Heidelberg, where he bought some of the remnants of the
Palatine collection. Passing on to Nuremberg he obtained about a hundred
MSS. that had belonged to Pirckheimer, the first great German
bibliophile; and these, according to some authorities, came out of the
treasure-house at Buda. The Duke of Norfolk was persuaded by John Evelyn
to place them in the Gresham Library, under the care of the Royal
Society, and they afterwards became the property of the nation. Oldys
the antiquary distinctly stated that these 'were the remnants of the King
of Hungary'; 'they afterwards fell into the hands of Bilibald
Pirckheimer.' The Senator of Nuremberg made the books his own in a very
emphatic way: 'there is to be seen his head graved by Albert Dürer, one
of the first examples of sticking or pasting of heads, arms, or cyphers
into volumes.' Pirckheimer died in 1530, three years after the sack of
Buda, and had the opportunity of getting some of the books. We cannot
tell to what extent he succeeded, or whether William Oldys was right on
the facts before him; but we know from Pirckheimer's own letters that he
was the actual owner of at least some MSS. that 'came to him out of the
spoils of Hungary.'