[393]Vespasiano da Bisticci in theLife of Federigo, l. c. 94seq.The inventory of the library of Urbino by Federigo Veterano in theGiornale stor. degli Arch. tosc.vi. and vii.[394]Giorn. stor. degli Arch. tosc.ii. 240.[395]Med. Arch.passim.[396]Vite di illustri Italiani(Arch. stor. Ital.iv.) i. 305. Many portions of Vespasiano’s Correspondence are found in the Laurentian library.[397]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l.c. p. 99.[398]Poliziano,Prose volgari inedite, &c. p. 83. ‘Recentes enim mendosique sunt libri.’[399]Mehus,Traversari, p. 67.[400]See A. Bartoli in his preface to the Florentine edition of theBiographies, where an extract is given from the registers of the heirs of Filippo di Leonardo da Bisticci (Vespasiano’s father) of the year 1430, which answers Mehus’ and Cardinal Mai’s doubts regarding the name.[401]Colomb de Batines,Bibliografia Dantesca, ii. 62; (L. Passerini)Cenni storico-bibliografici della R. Biblioteca nazionale di Firenze, Flor. 1872, p. 23.[402]Batines, l. c. ii. 41, 42; Mehus,Traversari, p. 180.[403]Mehus, l. c. p. 320.[404]Shepherd, l. c. ii. 45.[405]Vite di illustri Italiani, i. 306.[406]The Medicean Archives, filza xlvi., contains the following letter of Bessarion (B. episcopus Sabin. card. patr. Constant. Nicænus sedis apost. legatus) to Lorenzo de’ Medici: ‘Illustrious and noble lord, dear friend,—The bookseller, Vespasiano di Filippo, whom we mentioned shortly before at the close of a letter addressed to you, has now sent us information about the works of Augustine that he had written for us, with an estimate of the expense with which we are entirely satisfied. He writes us he has divided the work in question into nine volumes, with miniatures, bindings, and all that belongs to it. One volume is wanting to complete the collection, respecting which he writes that he will hasten to finish it, which we also desire. For payment he has still to receive eighty-seven ducats, besides the four hundred which your bank has accredited to him in our name. We request you to pay him this remainder and to place it to our account. Take the books to yourself and keep them in a suitable place till we write to you about them. May it be well with your Magnificence! Frascati, May 23, 1472.’ The learned ecclesiastic perhaps never saw the books, for he died on November 19 of the same year. The copy is in the Marciana, where, however, only seven volumes are found. It is decorated with Bessarion’s arms, and in the fourth volume we find the name of the copyist, Francesco degli Ugolini, Fiorentino, 1471. G. Valentinelli speaks of this manuscript in his catalogue of the MSS. of the Marciana, ii. 30.[407]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l. c. pp. 113, 217, 403. See above, p. 469, ii. Bk. iv. pt. 3. c. 6.[408]‘Vespasiano cartolare’ was buried in Sta. Croce on July 27, 1498.Giornale Sior. degli Arch. Tosc.ii. 241. On the first Florentine printers see ii. 133seq.[409]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l. c. p. 99.[410]L. Passerini,Gli Alberti di Firenze, i. 87seq.Madonna Bartolommea, the daughter of Tommaso degli Obizzi, of a distinguished family of Northern Italy, a general of Pope Urban V. and the King of Italy, and first Italian knight of the Garter, married Antonio degli Alberti in 1390, and died about 1426.[411]Opere volgari di Leon Bat. Alberti, pubbl. da Anicio Bonucci, vol. ii. Flor. 1844. A portion of this work has been repeatedly printed under the titleTrattato del Governo della Famiglia, as a work of Agnolo Pandolfini, of which we have spoken above (p. 467; see Gamba’sTesti di Lingua,700, 701) a question of authorship, the discussion of which can have no place here, and which was lately revived in the introduction toIl Padre di Famiglia, dialogo di L. B. Alberti rimesso in luce sopra un nuovo codice palatino da Fr. Palermo, Florence 1871.[412]Orazione facta per Cristoforo Landino da Pratovecchio, ec.; see Fr. Corrazzini,Miscellanea di cose inedite o rare. Flor. 1853, p. 125seq.[413]L. B. Alberti,Opere volgari, i. pp. xvii.-xix., clvii.-ccxxxiv., where these sorry productions are given.[414]A. M. Biscioni has collected a considerable number of these writings in theLettere di Santi e Beati Fiorentini, Flor. 1736. C. Guasti’s edition of theLettere della B. Chiara Gambacortihas been mentioned above. He also printed in hisMiscellanea Pratese, No. 5, the touching letter of Sister Costanza Ciaparelli on the death of Feo Belcari’s daughter (Prato, 1861). For more on Feo. Belcari’s letters, see back. The letters of the two St. Caterinas of Siena and de’ Ricci lie beyond the scope of the present work.[415]D. M. Manni,Sigilli antichi, xix. 127; xx. 39. Poccianti:Chronicon rerum s. ord. Servorum B. M. Virginis, Flor. 1569, p. 3. In Florence there are still a few memorials of the Laudesi. On the Cathedral (formerly Sta. Reparata) is an inscription on the side turned towards the Campanile: ‘S. Societatis Laudensium B. M. Virginis qui congregantur in ecclesia Ste. Reparate, anno Dom. MCCCX. de mense Novemb.’ (seeFirenze, antica e moderna illustrata, ii. 112). In Via dello Pappe, now Via Folco Portinari: ‘Questa casa è de la compagnia de Laudesi di Sancta Maria che si raguna in Sancta Liperata.’ The chapel of the Laudesi of Sta. Croce was where the splendid Niccolini chapel began to be built in 1585 (F. Moisè,Santa Croce di Firenzep. 198). In theDecameron(Giorn. vii. Nov. 1) the Laudesi of Sta. Maria Novella and their good-natured superintendent, Gianni Lottaringhi, is mentioned (D. M. Manni,Istoria del Decamerone, p. 460; Fr. Sansovino, in his edition of theDecameron, Ven. 1549); see Fr. Cionacci,Rime sacre di Lorenzo de’ Medici, 2nd edit. Bergamo, 1760, p. xxi.[416]Laudi spirituali del Bianco da Siena povero Gesuato del sec. XIV.(edited by Telesforo Bini), Lucca, 1851. Feo Belcari’sVita del B. Giovanni Columbini et di alcuni Jesuati, composed in 1448, but first printed towards 1480 (Gamba,Testi di lingua, 100seq.). On the Jesuates, G. B. Uccelli,I Convento di S. Giusto alla mura e i Gesuati, Flor. 1865; see ii. 163. The order was dissolved in 1668 by Pope Clement IX.[417]The most perfect collection of Lauds, especially of the fourteenth century, including Belcari, Lorenzo de’ Medici and his mother, &c., is calledLaude spirituali di Feo Belcari, di Lorenzo de’ Medici, di Francesco d’Albizzo, di Castellano Castellani, e di altri, comprese nelle quattro più antiche raccolte, con alcune inedite e con nuove illustrazioni(by G. C. Galletti), Florence 1863, with woodcuts. On the older editions, see Gamba,Testi di Lingua, 105seq., 576seq.The hymns of Ugo Panziera were printed by P. Fanfani in the translation of Ozanam’sPoëtes Franciscains, Prato, 1854, and C. Guasti,I Cantici spirituali del B. Ugo Panziera da Prato de’ Frati Minori, Prato 1861 (Miscellanea Pratese, No. iii.). Another collection of hymns to the Virgin and the Saints, edited by Eug. Cecconi:Laudi di una Compagnia fiorentina del secolo XIV, Florence 1870.[418]D. Moreni,Lettere di Feo Belcari, Flor. 1825. The most complete account of the mysteries, in the literature of which Feo Belcari takes an important place, is given by Colombs de Batines,Bibliografia delle antiche rappresentazioni italiane sacre e profane stampate nei secoli XV e XIVin P. Fanfani’sEtruria, ii. (Flor. 1852), 193. A copious collection of these mysteries was published by Alessandro d’Ancona:Sacre Rappresentazioni dei secoli XIV, XV, XVI, Flor. 1872, three vols.; see J. L. Klein,Geschichte der Drama, iv. Leipsig, 1866.[419]See Mazzuchelli,Scrittori d’Italia, vol. ii. div. ii. p. 860seq.for list of his writings.[420]Florence, November 1, 1530, in G. Milanesi’s edition of theVarchi.[421]InSan Marco. Inscription of the two graves:—JOANNES IACET HIC MIRANDULA CETERA NORUNTET TAGUS ET GANGES FORSAN ET ANTIPODES.OBITT AN. SAL. MCCCCLXXXXIV. VIXIT AN. XXXIII.HIERONYMUS BENIVENIUS NE DISIUNCTUSPOST MORTEM LOCUS OSSA TENERET QUORUM INVITA ANIMOS CONJUNXIT AMOR HACHUMO SUPPOSITA PONENDUM CUR. OBIIT AN.MDILII. VIXIT AN. LXXXIX.[422]See the oldest edition of theLaudi di Feo Belcari, Florence 1485, printed three years after Lucrezia’s death, and Fr. Cionacci’sRime sacre di Lorenzo de’ Medici unitamente a quelle di Madonna Lucrezia sua madre, Flor. 1680 and Bergamo 1760, as well as the Galletti collection before mentioned. Crescimbeni (Della volgar poesia, ii. 277) is inclined to place Lucrezia above most, if not all, poets of her time; but Crescimbeni is a weak critic. TheLaudsbegin: (I.) ‘Ecco ’l Messia’ (resembling the ‘Venite adoremus’ of the Church); (II.) ‘Venite pastori’; (III.) ‘Contempla le mie pene o peccatore;’ (IV.) ‘Ecco il Re forte;’ (V.) ‘Vien il messagio;’ (VI.) ‘Ben venga Osanna.’
[393]Vespasiano da Bisticci in theLife of Federigo, l. c. 94seq.The inventory of the library of Urbino by Federigo Veterano in theGiornale stor. degli Arch. tosc.vi. and vii.[394]Giorn. stor. degli Arch. tosc.ii. 240.[395]Med. Arch.passim.[396]Vite di illustri Italiani(Arch. stor. Ital.iv.) i. 305. Many portions of Vespasiano’s Correspondence are found in the Laurentian library.[397]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l.c. p. 99.[398]Poliziano,Prose volgari inedite, &c. p. 83. ‘Recentes enim mendosique sunt libri.’[399]Mehus,Traversari, p. 67.[400]See A. Bartoli in his preface to the Florentine edition of theBiographies, where an extract is given from the registers of the heirs of Filippo di Leonardo da Bisticci (Vespasiano’s father) of the year 1430, which answers Mehus’ and Cardinal Mai’s doubts regarding the name.[401]Colomb de Batines,Bibliografia Dantesca, ii. 62; (L. Passerini)Cenni storico-bibliografici della R. Biblioteca nazionale di Firenze, Flor. 1872, p. 23.[402]Batines, l. c. ii. 41, 42; Mehus,Traversari, p. 180.[403]Mehus, l. c. p. 320.[404]Shepherd, l. c. ii. 45.[405]Vite di illustri Italiani, i. 306.[406]The Medicean Archives, filza xlvi., contains the following letter of Bessarion (B. episcopus Sabin. card. patr. Constant. Nicænus sedis apost. legatus) to Lorenzo de’ Medici: ‘Illustrious and noble lord, dear friend,—The bookseller, Vespasiano di Filippo, whom we mentioned shortly before at the close of a letter addressed to you, has now sent us information about the works of Augustine that he had written for us, with an estimate of the expense with which we are entirely satisfied. He writes us he has divided the work in question into nine volumes, with miniatures, bindings, and all that belongs to it. One volume is wanting to complete the collection, respecting which he writes that he will hasten to finish it, which we also desire. For payment he has still to receive eighty-seven ducats, besides the four hundred which your bank has accredited to him in our name. We request you to pay him this remainder and to place it to our account. Take the books to yourself and keep them in a suitable place till we write to you about them. May it be well with your Magnificence! Frascati, May 23, 1472.’ The learned ecclesiastic perhaps never saw the books, for he died on November 19 of the same year. The copy is in the Marciana, where, however, only seven volumes are found. It is decorated with Bessarion’s arms, and in the fourth volume we find the name of the copyist, Francesco degli Ugolini, Fiorentino, 1471. G. Valentinelli speaks of this manuscript in his catalogue of the MSS. of the Marciana, ii. 30.[407]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l. c. pp. 113, 217, 403. See above, p. 469, ii. Bk. iv. pt. 3. c. 6.[408]‘Vespasiano cartolare’ was buried in Sta. Croce on July 27, 1498.Giornale Sior. degli Arch. Tosc.ii. 241. On the first Florentine printers see ii. 133seq.[409]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l. c. p. 99.[410]L. Passerini,Gli Alberti di Firenze, i. 87seq.Madonna Bartolommea, the daughter of Tommaso degli Obizzi, of a distinguished family of Northern Italy, a general of Pope Urban V. and the King of Italy, and first Italian knight of the Garter, married Antonio degli Alberti in 1390, and died about 1426.[411]Opere volgari di Leon Bat. Alberti, pubbl. da Anicio Bonucci, vol. ii. Flor. 1844. A portion of this work has been repeatedly printed under the titleTrattato del Governo della Famiglia, as a work of Agnolo Pandolfini, of which we have spoken above (p. 467; see Gamba’sTesti di Lingua,700, 701) a question of authorship, the discussion of which can have no place here, and which was lately revived in the introduction toIl Padre di Famiglia, dialogo di L. B. Alberti rimesso in luce sopra un nuovo codice palatino da Fr. Palermo, Florence 1871.[412]Orazione facta per Cristoforo Landino da Pratovecchio, ec.; see Fr. Corrazzini,Miscellanea di cose inedite o rare. Flor. 1853, p. 125seq.[413]L. B. Alberti,Opere volgari, i. pp. xvii.-xix., clvii.-ccxxxiv., where these sorry productions are given.[414]A. M. Biscioni has collected a considerable number of these writings in theLettere di Santi e Beati Fiorentini, Flor. 1736. C. Guasti’s edition of theLettere della B. Chiara Gambacortihas been mentioned above. He also printed in hisMiscellanea Pratese, No. 5, the touching letter of Sister Costanza Ciaparelli on the death of Feo Belcari’s daughter (Prato, 1861). For more on Feo. Belcari’s letters, see back. The letters of the two St. Caterinas of Siena and de’ Ricci lie beyond the scope of the present work.[415]D. M. Manni,Sigilli antichi, xix. 127; xx. 39. Poccianti:Chronicon rerum s. ord. Servorum B. M. Virginis, Flor. 1569, p. 3. In Florence there are still a few memorials of the Laudesi. On the Cathedral (formerly Sta. Reparata) is an inscription on the side turned towards the Campanile: ‘S. Societatis Laudensium B. M. Virginis qui congregantur in ecclesia Ste. Reparate, anno Dom. MCCCX. de mense Novemb.’ (seeFirenze, antica e moderna illustrata, ii. 112). In Via dello Pappe, now Via Folco Portinari: ‘Questa casa è de la compagnia de Laudesi di Sancta Maria che si raguna in Sancta Liperata.’ The chapel of the Laudesi of Sta. Croce was where the splendid Niccolini chapel began to be built in 1585 (F. Moisè,Santa Croce di Firenzep. 198). In theDecameron(Giorn. vii. Nov. 1) the Laudesi of Sta. Maria Novella and their good-natured superintendent, Gianni Lottaringhi, is mentioned (D. M. Manni,Istoria del Decamerone, p. 460; Fr. Sansovino, in his edition of theDecameron, Ven. 1549); see Fr. Cionacci,Rime sacre di Lorenzo de’ Medici, 2nd edit. Bergamo, 1760, p. xxi.[416]Laudi spirituali del Bianco da Siena povero Gesuato del sec. XIV.(edited by Telesforo Bini), Lucca, 1851. Feo Belcari’sVita del B. Giovanni Columbini et di alcuni Jesuati, composed in 1448, but first printed towards 1480 (Gamba,Testi di lingua, 100seq.). On the Jesuates, G. B. Uccelli,I Convento di S. Giusto alla mura e i Gesuati, Flor. 1865; see ii. 163. The order was dissolved in 1668 by Pope Clement IX.[417]The most perfect collection of Lauds, especially of the fourteenth century, including Belcari, Lorenzo de’ Medici and his mother, &c., is calledLaude spirituali di Feo Belcari, di Lorenzo de’ Medici, di Francesco d’Albizzo, di Castellano Castellani, e di altri, comprese nelle quattro più antiche raccolte, con alcune inedite e con nuove illustrazioni(by G. C. Galletti), Florence 1863, with woodcuts. On the older editions, see Gamba,Testi di Lingua, 105seq., 576seq.The hymns of Ugo Panziera were printed by P. Fanfani in the translation of Ozanam’sPoëtes Franciscains, Prato, 1854, and C. Guasti,I Cantici spirituali del B. Ugo Panziera da Prato de’ Frati Minori, Prato 1861 (Miscellanea Pratese, No. iii.). Another collection of hymns to the Virgin and the Saints, edited by Eug. Cecconi:Laudi di una Compagnia fiorentina del secolo XIV, Florence 1870.[418]D. Moreni,Lettere di Feo Belcari, Flor. 1825. The most complete account of the mysteries, in the literature of which Feo Belcari takes an important place, is given by Colombs de Batines,Bibliografia delle antiche rappresentazioni italiane sacre e profane stampate nei secoli XV e XIVin P. Fanfani’sEtruria, ii. (Flor. 1852), 193. A copious collection of these mysteries was published by Alessandro d’Ancona:Sacre Rappresentazioni dei secoli XIV, XV, XVI, Flor. 1872, three vols.; see J. L. Klein,Geschichte der Drama, iv. Leipsig, 1866.[419]See Mazzuchelli,Scrittori d’Italia, vol. ii. div. ii. p. 860seq.for list of his writings.[420]Florence, November 1, 1530, in G. Milanesi’s edition of theVarchi.[421]InSan Marco. Inscription of the two graves:—JOANNES IACET HIC MIRANDULA CETERA NORUNTET TAGUS ET GANGES FORSAN ET ANTIPODES.OBITT AN. SAL. MCCCCLXXXXIV. VIXIT AN. XXXIII.HIERONYMUS BENIVENIUS NE DISIUNCTUSPOST MORTEM LOCUS OSSA TENERET QUORUM INVITA ANIMOS CONJUNXIT AMOR HACHUMO SUPPOSITA PONENDUM CUR. OBIIT AN.MDILII. VIXIT AN. LXXXIX.[422]See the oldest edition of theLaudi di Feo Belcari, Florence 1485, printed three years after Lucrezia’s death, and Fr. Cionacci’sRime sacre di Lorenzo de’ Medici unitamente a quelle di Madonna Lucrezia sua madre, Flor. 1680 and Bergamo 1760, as well as the Galletti collection before mentioned. Crescimbeni (Della volgar poesia, ii. 277) is inclined to place Lucrezia above most, if not all, poets of her time; but Crescimbeni is a weak critic. TheLaudsbegin: (I.) ‘Ecco ’l Messia’ (resembling the ‘Venite adoremus’ of the Church); (II.) ‘Venite pastori’; (III.) ‘Contempla le mie pene o peccatore;’ (IV.) ‘Ecco il Re forte;’ (V.) ‘Vien il messagio;’ (VI.) ‘Ben venga Osanna.’
[393]Vespasiano da Bisticci in theLife of Federigo, l. c. 94seq.The inventory of the library of Urbino by Federigo Veterano in theGiornale stor. degli Arch. tosc.vi. and vii.[394]Giorn. stor. degli Arch. tosc.ii. 240.[395]Med. Arch.passim.[396]Vite di illustri Italiani(Arch. stor. Ital.iv.) i. 305. Many portions of Vespasiano’s Correspondence are found in the Laurentian library.[397]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l.c. p. 99.[398]Poliziano,Prose volgari inedite, &c. p. 83. ‘Recentes enim mendosique sunt libri.’[399]Mehus,Traversari, p. 67.[400]See A. Bartoli in his preface to the Florentine edition of theBiographies, where an extract is given from the registers of the heirs of Filippo di Leonardo da Bisticci (Vespasiano’s father) of the year 1430, which answers Mehus’ and Cardinal Mai’s doubts regarding the name.[401]Colomb de Batines,Bibliografia Dantesca, ii. 62; (L. Passerini)Cenni storico-bibliografici della R. Biblioteca nazionale di Firenze, Flor. 1872, p. 23.[402]Batines, l. c. ii. 41, 42; Mehus,Traversari, p. 180.[403]Mehus, l. c. p. 320.[404]Shepherd, l. c. ii. 45.[405]Vite di illustri Italiani, i. 306.[406]The Medicean Archives, filza xlvi., contains the following letter of Bessarion (B. episcopus Sabin. card. patr. Constant. Nicænus sedis apost. legatus) to Lorenzo de’ Medici: ‘Illustrious and noble lord, dear friend,—The bookseller, Vespasiano di Filippo, whom we mentioned shortly before at the close of a letter addressed to you, has now sent us information about the works of Augustine that he had written for us, with an estimate of the expense with which we are entirely satisfied. He writes us he has divided the work in question into nine volumes, with miniatures, bindings, and all that belongs to it. One volume is wanting to complete the collection, respecting which he writes that he will hasten to finish it, which we also desire. For payment he has still to receive eighty-seven ducats, besides the four hundred which your bank has accredited to him in our name. We request you to pay him this remainder and to place it to our account. Take the books to yourself and keep them in a suitable place till we write to you about them. May it be well with your Magnificence! Frascati, May 23, 1472.’ The learned ecclesiastic perhaps never saw the books, for he died on November 19 of the same year. The copy is in the Marciana, where, however, only seven volumes are found. It is decorated with Bessarion’s arms, and in the fourth volume we find the name of the copyist, Francesco degli Ugolini, Fiorentino, 1471. G. Valentinelli speaks of this manuscript in his catalogue of the MSS. of the Marciana, ii. 30.[407]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l. c. pp. 113, 217, 403. See above, p. 469, ii. Bk. iv. pt. 3. c. 6.[408]‘Vespasiano cartolare’ was buried in Sta. Croce on July 27, 1498.Giornale Sior. degli Arch. Tosc.ii. 241. On the first Florentine printers see ii. 133seq.[409]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l. c. p. 99.[410]L. Passerini,Gli Alberti di Firenze, i. 87seq.Madonna Bartolommea, the daughter of Tommaso degli Obizzi, of a distinguished family of Northern Italy, a general of Pope Urban V. and the King of Italy, and first Italian knight of the Garter, married Antonio degli Alberti in 1390, and died about 1426.[411]Opere volgari di Leon Bat. Alberti, pubbl. da Anicio Bonucci, vol. ii. Flor. 1844. A portion of this work has been repeatedly printed under the titleTrattato del Governo della Famiglia, as a work of Agnolo Pandolfini, of which we have spoken above (p. 467; see Gamba’sTesti di Lingua,700, 701) a question of authorship, the discussion of which can have no place here, and which was lately revived in the introduction toIl Padre di Famiglia, dialogo di L. B. Alberti rimesso in luce sopra un nuovo codice palatino da Fr. Palermo, Florence 1871.[412]Orazione facta per Cristoforo Landino da Pratovecchio, ec.; see Fr. Corrazzini,Miscellanea di cose inedite o rare. Flor. 1853, p. 125seq.[413]L. B. Alberti,Opere volgari, i. pp. xvii.-xix., clvii.-ccxxxiv., where these sorry productions are given.[414]A. M. Biscioni has collected a considerable number of these writings in theLettere di Santi e Beati Fiorentini, Flor. 1736. C. Guasti’s edition of theLettere della B. Chiara Gambacortihas been mentioned above. He also printed in hisMiscellanea Pratese, No. 5, the touching letter of Sister Costanza Ciaparelli on the death of Feo Belcari’s daughter (Prato, 1861). For more on Feo. Belcari’s letters, see back. The letters of the two St. Caterinas of Siena and de’ Ricci lie beyond the scope of the present work.[415]D. M. Manni,Sigilli antichi, xix. 127; xx. 39. Poccianti:Chronicon rerum s. ord. Servorum B. M. Virginis, Flor. 1569, p. 3. In Florence there are still a few memorials of the Laudesi. On the Cathedral (formerly Sta. Reparata) is an inscription on the side turned towards the Campanile: ‘S. Societatis Laudensium B. M. Virginis qui congregantur in ecclesia Ste. Reparate, anno Dom. MCCCX. de mense Novemb.’ (seeFirenze, antica e moderna illustrata, ii. 112). In Via dello Pappe, now Via Folco Portinari: ‘Questa casa è de la compagnia de Laudesi di Sancta Maria che si raguna in Sancta Liperata.’ The chapel of the Laudesi of Sta. Croce was where the splendid Niccolini chapel began to be built in 1585 (F. Moisè,Santa Croce di Firenzep. 198). In theDecameron(Giorn. vii. Nov. 1) the Laudesi of Sta. Maria Novella and their good-natured superintendent, Gianni Lottaringhi, is mentioned (D. M. Manni,Istoria del Decamerone, p. 460; Fr. Sansovino, in his edition of theDecameron, Ven. 1549); see Fr. Cionacci,Rime sacre di Lorenzo de’ Medici, 2nd edit. Bergamo, 1760, p. xxi.[416]Laudi spirituali del Bianco da Siena povero Gesuato del sec. XIV.(edited by Telesforo Bini), Lucca, 1851. Feo Belcari’sVita del B. Giovanni Columbini et di alcuni Jesuati, composed in 1448, but first printed towards 1480 (Gamba,Testi di lingua, 100seq.). On the Jesuates, G. B. Uccelli,I Convento di S. Giusto alla mura e i Gesuati, Flor. 1865; see ii. 163. The order was dissolved in 1668 by Pope Clement IX.[417]The most perfect collection of Lauds, especially of the fourteenth century, including Belcari, Lorenzo de’ Medici and his mother, &c., is calledLaude spirituali di Feo Belcari, di Lorenzo de’ Medici, di Francesco d’Albizzo, di Castellano Castellani, e di altri, comprese nelle quattro più antiche raccolte, con alcune inedite e con nuove illustrazioni(by G. C. Galletti), Florence 1863, with woodcuts. On the older editions, see Gamba,Testi di Lingua, 105seq., 576seq.The hymns of Ugo Panziera were printed by P. Fanfani in the translation of Ozanam’sPoëtes Franciscains, Prato, 1854, and C. Guasti,I Cantici spirituali del B. Ugo Panziera da Prato de’ Frati Minori, Prato 1861 (Miscellanea Pratese, No. iii.). Another collection of hymns to the Virgin and the Saints, edited by Eug. Cecconi:Laudi di una Compagnia fiorentina del secolo XIV, Florence 1870.[418]D. Moreni,Lettere di Feo Belcari, Flor. 1825. The most complete account of the mysteries, in the literature of which Feo Belcari takes an important place, is given by Colombs de Batines,Bibliografia delle antiche rappresentazioni italiane sacre e profane stampate nei secoli XV e XIVin P. Fanfani’sEtruria, ii. (Flor. 1852), 193. A copious collection of these mysteries was published by Alessandro d’Ancona:Sacre Rappresentazioni dei secoli XIV, XV, XVI, Flor. 1872, three vols.; see J. L. Klein,Geschichte der Drama, iv. Leipsig, 1866.[419]See Mazzuchelli,Scrittori d’Italia, vol. ii. div. ii. p. 860seq.for list of his writings.[420]Florence, November 1, 1530, in G. Milanesi’s edition of theVarchi.[421]InSan Marco. Inscription of the two graves:—JOANNES IACET HIC MIRANDULA CETERA NORUNTET TAGUS ET GANGES FORSAN ET ANTIPODES.OBITT AN. SAL. MCCCCLXXXXIV. VIXIT AN. XXXIII.HIERONYMUS BENIVENIUS NE DISIUNCTUSPOST MORTEM LOCUS OSSA TENERET QUORUM INVITA ANIMOS CONJUNXIT AMOR HACHUMO SUPPOSITA PONENDUM CUR. OBIIT AN.MDILII. VIXIT AN. LXXXIX.[422]See the oldest edition of theLaudi di Feo Belcari, Florence 1485, printed three years after Lucrezia’s death, and Fr. Cionacci’sRime sacre di Lorenzo de’ Medici unitamente a quelle di Madonna Lucrezia sua madre, Flor. 1680 and Bergamo 1760, as well as the Galletti collection before mentioned. Crescimbeni (Della volgar poesia, ii. 277) is inclined to place Lucrezia above most, if not all, poets of her time; but Crescimbeni is a weak critic. TheLaudsbegin: (I.) ‘Ecco ’l Messia’ (resembling the ‘Venite adoremus’ of the Church); (II.) ‘Venite pastori’; (III.) ‘Contempla le mie pene o peccatore;’ (IV.) ‘Ecco il Re forte;’ (V.) ‘Vien il messagio;’ (VI.) ‘Ben venga Osanna.’
[393]Vespasiano da Bisticci in theLife of Federigo, l. c. 94seq.The inventory of the library of Urbino by Federigo Veterano in theGiornale stor. degli Arch. tosc.vi. and vii.
[394]Giorn. stor. degli Arch. tosc.ii. 240.
[395]Med. Arch.passim.
[396]Vite di illustri Italiani(Arch. stor. Ital.iv.) i. 305. Many portions of Vespasiano’s Correspondence are found in the Laurentian library.
[397]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l.c. p. 99.
[398]Poliziano,Prose volgari inedite, &c. p. 83. ‘Recentes enim mendosique sunt libri.’
[399]Mehus,Traversari, p. 67.
[400]See A. Bartoli in his preface to the Florentine edition of theBiographies, where an extract is given from the registers of the heirs of Filippo di Leonardo da Bisticci (Vespasiano’s father) of the year 1430, which answers Mehus’ and Cardinal Mai’s doubts regarding the name.
[401]Colomb de Batines,Bibliografia Dantesca, ii. 62; (L. Passerini)Cenni storico-bibliografici della R. Biblioteca nazionale di Firenze, Flor. 1872, p. 23.
[402]Batines, l. c. ii. 41, 42; Mehus,Traversari, p. 180.
[403]Mehus, l. c. p. 320.
[404]Shepherd, l. c. ii. 45.
[405]Vite di illustri Italiani, i. 306.
[406]The Medicean Archives, filza xlvi., contains the following letter of Bessarion (B. episcopus Sabin. card. patr. Constant. Nicænus sedis apost. legatus) to Lorenzo de’ Medici: ‘Illustrious and noble lord, dear friend,—The bookseller, Vespasiano di Filippo, whom we mentioned shortly before at the close of a letter addressed to you, has now sent us information about the works of Augustine that he had written for us, with an estimate of the expense with which we are entirely satisfied. He writes us he has divided the work in question into nine volumes, with miniatures, bindings, and all that belongs to it. One volume is wanting to complete the collection, respecting which he writes that he will hasten to finish it, which we also desire. For payment he has still to receive eighty-seven ducats, besides the four hundred which your bank has accredited to him in our name. We request you to pay him this remainder and to place it to our account. Take the books to yourself and keep them in a suitable place till we write to you about them. May it be well with your Magnificence! Frascati, May 23, 1472.’ The learned ecclesiastic perhaps never saw the books, for he died on November 19 of the same year. The copy is in the Marciana, where, however, only seven volumes are found. It is decorated with Bessarion’s arms, and in the fourth volume we find the name of the copyist, Francesco degli Ugolini, Fiorentino, 1471. G. Valentinelli speaks of this manuscript in his catalogue of the MSS. of the Marciana, ii. 30.
[407]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l. c. pp. 113, 217, 403. See above, p. 469, ii. Bk. iv. pt. 3. c. 6.
[408]‘Vespasiano cartolare’ was buried in Sta. Croce on July 27, 1498.Giornale Sior. degli Arch. Tosc.ii. 241. On the first Florentine printers see ii. 133seq.
[409]Vespasiano da Bisticci, l. c. p. 99.
[410]L. Passerini,Gli Alberti di Firenze, i. 87seq.Madonna Bartolommea, the daughter of Tommaso degli Obizzi, of a distinguished family of Northern Italy, a general of Pope Urban V. and the King of Italy, and first Italian knight of the Garter, married Antonio degli Alberti in 1390, and died about 1426.
[411]Opere volgari di Leon Bat. Alberti, pubbl. da Anicio Bonucci, vol. ii. Flor. 1844. A portion of this work has been repeatedly printed under the titleTrattato del Governo della Famiglia, as a work of Agnolo Pandolfini, of which we have spoken above (p. 467; see Gamba’sTesti di Lingua,700, 701) a question of authorship, the discussion of which can have no place here, and which was lately revived in the introduction toIl Padre di Famiglia, dialogo di L. B. Alberti rimesso in luce sopra un nuovo codice palatino da Fr. Palermo, Florence 1871.
[412]Orazione facta per Cristoforo Landino da Pratovecchio, ec.; see Fr. Corrazzini,Miscellanea di cose inedite o rare. Flor. 1853, p. 125seq.
[413]L. B. Alberti,Opere volgari, i. pp. xvii.-xix., clvii.-ccxxxiv., where these sorry productions are given.
[414]A. M. Biscioni has collected a considerable number of these writings in theLettere di Santi e Beati Fiorentini, Flor. 1736. C. Guasti’s edition of theLettere della B. Chiara Gambacortihas been mentioned above. He also printed in hisMiscellanea Pratese, No. 5, the touching letter of Sister Costanza Ciaparelli on the death of Feo Belcari’s daughter (Prato, 1861). For more on Feo. Belcari’s letters, see back. The letters of the two St. Caterinas of Siena and de’ Ricci lie beyond the scope of the present work.
[415]D. M. Manni,Sigilli antichi, xix. 127; xx. 39. Poccianti:Chronicon rerum s. ord. Servorum B. M. Virginis, Flor. 1569, p. 3. In Florence there are still a few memorials of the Laudesi. On the Cathedral (formerly Sta. Reparata) is an inscription on the side turned towards the Campanile: ‘S. Societatis Laudensium B. M. Virginis qui congregantur in ecclesia Ste. Reparate, anno Dom. MCCCX. de mense Novemb.’ (seeFirenze, antica e moderna illustrata, ii. 112). In Via dello Pappe, now Via Folco Portinari: ‘Questa casa è de la compagnia de Laudesi di Sancta Maria che si raguna in Sancta Liperata.’ The chapel of the Laudesi of Sta. Croce was where the splendid Niccolini chapel began to be built in 1585 (F. Moisè,Santa Croce di Firenzep. 198). In theDecameron(Giorn. vii. Nov. 1) the Laudesi of Sta. Maria Novella and their good-natured superintendent, Gianni Lottaringhi, is mentioned (D. M. Manni,Istoria del Decamerone, p. 460; Fr. Sansovino, in his edition of theDecameron, Ven. 1549); see Fr. Cionacci,Rime sacre di Lorenzo de’ Medici, 2nd edit. Bergamo, 1760, p. xxi.
[416]Laudi spirituali del Bianco da Siena povero Gesuato del sec. XIV.(edited by Telesforo Bini), Lucca, 1851. Feo Belcari’sVita del B. Giovanni Columbini et di alcuni Jesuati, composed in 1448, but first printed towards 1480 (Gamba,Testi di lingua, 100seq.). On the Jesuates, G. B. Uccelli,I Convento di S. Giusto alla mura e i Gesuati, Flor. 1865; see ii. 163. The order was dissolved in 1668 by Pope Clement IX.
[417]The most perfect collection of Lauds, especially of the fourteenth century, including Belcari, Lorenzo de’ Medici and his mother, &c., is calledLaude spirituali di Feo Belcari, di Lorenzo de’ Medici, di Francesco d’Albizzo, di Castellano Castellani, e di altri, comprese nelle quattro più antiche raccolte, con alcune inedite e con nuove illustrazioni(by G. C. Galletti), Florence 1863, with woodcuts. On the older editions, see Gamba,Testi di Lingua, 105seq., 576seq.The hymns of Ugo Panziera were printed by P. Fanfani in the translation of Ozanam’sPoëtes Franciscains, Prato, 1854, and C. Guasti,I Cantici spirituali del B. Ugo Panziera da Prato de’ Frati Minori, Prato 1861 (Miscellanea Pratese, No. iii.). Another collection of hymns to the Virgin and the Saints, edited by Eug. Cecconi:Laudi di una Compagnia fiorentina del secolo XIV, Florence 1870.
[418]D. Moreni,Lettere di Feo Belcari, Flor. 1825. The most complete account of the mysteries, in the literature of which Feo Belcari takes an important place, is given by Colombs de Batines,Bibliografia delle antiche rappresentazioni italiane sacre e profane stampate nei secoli XV e XIVin P. Fanfani’sEtruria, ii. (Flor. 1852), 193. A copious collection of these mysteries was published by Alessandro d’Ancona:Sacre Rappresentazioni dei secoli XIV, XV, XVI, Flor. 1872, three vols.; see J. L. Klein,Geschichte der Drama, iv. Leipsig, 1866.
[419]See Mazzuchelli,Scrittori d’Italia, vol. ii. div. ii. p. 860seq.for list of his writings.
[420]Florence, November 1, 1530, in G. Milanesi’s edition of theVarchi.
[421]InSan Marco. Inscription of the two graves:—
JOANNES IACET HIC MIRANDULA CETERA NORUNTET TAGUS ET GANGES FORSAN ET ANTIPODES.OBITT AN. SAL. MCCCCLXXXXIV. VIXIT AN. XXXIII.HIERONYMUS BENIVENIUS NE DISIUNCTUSPOST MORTEM LOCUS OSSA TENERET QUORUM INVITA ANIMOS CONJUNXIT AMOR HACHUMO SUPPOSITA PONENDUM CUR. OBIIT AN.MDILII. VIXIT AN. LXXXIX.
[422]See the oldest edition of theLaudi di Feo Belcari, Florence 1485, printed three years after Lucrezia’s death, and Fr. Cionacci’sRime sacre di Lorenzo de’ Medici unitamente a quelle di Madonna Lucrezia sua madre, Flor. 1680 and Bergamo 1760, as well as the Galletti collection before mentioned. Crescimbeni (Della volgar poesia, ii. 277) is inclined to place Lucrezia above most, if not all, poets of her time; but Crescimbeni is a weak critic. TheLaudsbegin: (I.) ‘Ecco ’l Messia’ (resembling the ‘Venite adoremus’ of the Church); (II.) ‘Venite pastori’; (III.) ‘Contempla le mie pene o peccatore;’ (IV.) ‘Ecco il Re forte;’ (V.) ‘Vien il messagio;’ (VI.) ‘Ben venga Osanna.’