Humphrey Duke of Gloucester Part 42

[1224] _Ibid._, xix. 522, 523. Letter of Gloucester to Candido.

[1225] _Eng. Hist. Review_, xix. 520-522. Letter of Candido to Gloucester.

[1226] _Archivio Lombardo_, vol. x. Anno xx. p. 432. Letter of Candido to the governor of Milan.

[1227] _Ibid._, vol. x. Anno xx. p. 66; _Eng. Hist. Review_, xix.

523, 524.

[1228] Agostini, _Scrittori Veneziani_, i. 346-372; Voigt, ii. 259.

[1229] Voigt, ii. 39.

[1230] Bodley MS., 3618 (E. Museo, 119), f. 1.

[1231] Bodley MS., 3618 (E. Museo, 119), f. 2.

[1232] _Eng. Hist. Review_, x. 100, 101. Letter of Piero del Monte to Gloucester.

[1233] _Cent Dix Lettres Grecques_, 25-28; Voigt, ii. 37, 176, 177.

[1234] _Cod. Laurentiano_, Plut., lxiii. 30, f. 1vo. Cf. _Cent Dix Lettres Grecques_, 25.

[1235] This is undoubtedly 'Besia' in the MS. I cannot suggest an interpretation.

[1236] Bodley MS., 3618 (E. Museo, 119), ff. 116-118.

[1237] _Cod. Laurentiano_, Plut., lxiii. 30, ff. 1vo., 2vo.

[1238] Magdalen MS., 37, ff. 1, 2.

[1239] I presume from the way this man is alluded to without comment or explanation that he had come from Alfonso, or at least that through him the two friends had become acquainted by letter.

[1240] _Eng. Hist. Review_, x. 102, 103. Letter of Gloucester to Alfonso V. of Aragon.

[1241] This MS. is said to be now in the library of Holkham Hall.

See Roscoe, _Life of Lorenzo de Medici_ (London, 1846), 64, 485.

[1242] ?n. Sylv., _Opera_, 602, _Epist._ cv.

[1243] _Beckington Correspondence_, i. 223, _et pa.s.sim_.

[1244] _Rot. Parl._, iv. 314.

[1245] See Giuliani, _Della Letteratura Veronese_, 66; Warton, iii.

51; Voigt, ii. 258.

[1246] Royal MS., 5, F. ii.

[1247] 'Postquam, serenissime princeps, ex peregrinatione mea redii, quam in visendo hac tua clarissima patria susc.i.p.am, etc.'

Royal MS., 5, F. ii. f. 92.

[1248] King's College, Cambridge, MS., 27, f. 3.

[1249] MS. in a private library, f. 1vo.

[1250] MS. in a private library, ff. 1, 2.

[1251] _t.i.ti Livii Forojuliensis Vita Henrici Quinti_, ed. Th.

Hearne, Oxon., 1716.

[1252] Rymer, V. i. 37.

[1253] Einstein, 4.

[1254] Warton, iii. 51.

[1255] Livius, 2.

[1256] _Ibid._

[1257] Rymer, V. i. 37.

[1258] Voigt, ii. 258.

[1259] _Archivio Lombardo_, vol. x. Anno. xx. p. 428. Letter of Livius to P. C. Decembrio.

[1260] _Epist. Acad._, 256.

[1261] _Ibid._, 177.

[1262] _Ibid._, 116.

[1263] _Ibid._, 256. Kymer had been Chancellor formerly for two years (1431-1433); on this occasion he did not resign till 1453. Anthony Wood, _History of Oxford_, App. 44, 51.

[1264] _Rot. Parl._, iv. 473. A certain 'John Swanwych,' who is described as a 'Clerk' of Gloucester, was also a Bachelor of Physick. Rymer, IV. iv. 84.

CHAPTER X

THE REVIVAL OF ENGLISH SCHOLARSHIP

Had the Duke of Gloucester confined his patronage to scholars of foreign birth, and taken no part in the intellectual life of England as a whole, he would deserve only a pa.s.sing mention by those who would trace the development of English thought. His praises, however, were not sung by Italian humanist and French ecclesiastic alone. In England he was the acknowledged leader in the world of letters, the centre round which native scholar and poet alike revolved, and his patronage was extended to all who took an interest in intellectual pursuits. He therefore became the medium of introducing the new ideas from Italy to the English scholars, though it must be admitted that the latter were very slow to accept the message of the new movement. They were reared in an entirely different atmosphere to the Italians, and in most cases showed little or no interest in the new learning. Even Wheathampsted of St. Albans, who seems in some ways to have acted as the Duke's literary adviser, showed but scant sympathy with the scholarship fostered by his friend and patron. On the whole, it is probable that this Abbot was more a political than a literary friend to Gloucester, and it has been considered significant that he resigned the Abbacy in 1440, just when his friend and supporter was losing his hold on the politics of the country.[1265] Wheathampsted, however, was a.s.sociated with the Duke in literary matters, and was employed by him to adorn and increase his collection of books, though our authority for this statement seems to suggest that this was only part of his policy of securing his patron's favour.[1266] He showed a distinct interest in books apart from his relations with Duke Humphrey, himself building a library for his monastery out of his own pocket,[1267] and presenting at least one book to the students at Oxford, probably to the foundation of Gloucester College, which was connected with the House of St. Albans.[1268] From time to time we find gifts of books to Humphrey entered in the accounts of the monastery, one of which alone cost 6, 13s. 4d.,[1269] a fact which may help us to estimate the enormous sums which the Duke must have spent in collecting his great library. On another occasion we hear of the gift of three books to the Duke of Gloucester, one of them being a _Cato Glossatus_, which we may identify with the _Catonem Comentatum_ presented to Oxford in 1443,[1270] probably an annotated copy of Cato's famous treatise _De Re Rustica_. The other two books of this gift were of the Abbot's own compilation,[1271] probably two parts of his three-volume work, the _Granarium de Viris Ill.u.s.tribus_, which we also find included in the Oxford gifts.[1272] From his connection with Wheathampsted and his Abbey of St. Albans Humphrey may have imbibed that love of astrology which was so unfortunately shared by his wife, but there is no recorded gift of a work on this subject to him, though Bedford received a treatise of this kind at the hands of these monks, who were famous for the study of the occult sciences.[1273]

JOHN CAPGRAVE