Bembo, Pietro
(1470-1547) Italian scholar, poet, and humanist
Born at Venice, he was educated by Ermolao barbaro among others. He met the great scholar politian in 1491 and in the same year traveled to Messina to learn Greek from Constantine Lascaris. In 1493 he returned to Venice and edited Lascaris’s Greek grammar for the printer manu-tius, who also issued Bembo’s editions of Petrarch (1501) and Dante (1502). Gli Asolani (1505), dialogues on love dedicated to Lucrezia borgia, brought Bembo to Urbino where he is depicted as the advocate of platonic love in Castiglione’s courtier. In 1513 in Rome Bembo published De imitatione, which championed Ciceronianism (see cicero) and led to his appointment as secretary (1513-21) to Pope leo x, after which he went to Padua. In 1530 he published Rime, a collection of his Italian poetry, and was nominated historian and librarian of the Venetian republic. In 1539 he became a cardinal and moved back to Rome, where he died.
Bembo was an important member of the skeptical group which flourished around Leo X, and was patron of the freethinking pomponazzi. He was also an important figure in the revival of interest in vernacular poetry, starting a vogue for imitations of Petrarch. He showed a much greater sensitivity to form than did those humanists who concentrated on classical literature; his Prose della volgar lingua (1525), the first critical history of Italian literature since Dante, used Petrarch and Boccaccio as models for a vernacular which would be natural as well as artistic.
Benedetto da Maiano
(1442-1497) Italian sculptor A member of a notable artistic family of Florence, Benedetto trained as a stone carver and developed a style of decorative realism that reflected the influence of his master Antonio rossellino. His earliest surviving work was the shrine of San Savino (1472; Faenza cathedral), upon which he worked with his brother, the architect giu-liano da maiano. His best-known work, however, was his series of marble reliefs on the pulpit in Sta. Croce, Florence (1472-75), sketches of which survive in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; this shows the influence of desiderio da settignano, donatello, Lorenzo ghiberti, and antique pieces. At about the same time he also worked on an altar for Sta. Fina in the Colle-giata at San Gimignano where he became familiar with the naturalistic style of Ghirlandaio. Benedetto’s other works included a number of portrait busts, including one of Pietro Mellini (1474; Bargello, Florence), who commissioned the marble reliefs in Sta. Croce, contributions to churches in Naples, the tomb of Mary of Aragon, a portrait bust of Filippo strozzi (Louvre, Paris), and the altar of San Bartolo in Sant’ Agostino at San Gimignano (1494). His architectural pieces included the Palazzo Strozzi (begun c. 1490) in Florence.
Benivieni, Girolamo
(1453-1542) Italian poet and humanist
A Florentine by birth, he joined the scholarly circle under the patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici. He is mainly remembered for his Canzone d’amore ("Ode to love"; c. 1487), a versification of ficino’s translation of Plato’s Symposium. When pico della mirandola produced an extensive commentary on the poem, Benivieni’s fame was assured. The poem greatly assisted the spread of neoplatonism and had an enormous influence on many other writers. After becoming a follower of savonarola, Benivieni wrote some religious poetry, undertook a study of Dante’s Inferno, and translated one of Savonarola’s treatises. He died in Florence and lies buried next to his friend Pico in the church of San Marco.
Bentivoglio family
A powerful family in 15th-century Bologna. Giovanni I ruled for a short time (1401-02) before the visconti overthrew him. His son, Anton-galeazzo, held power briefly in 1420 before Pope Martin V expelled him. Annibale (died 1445) successfully ejected the papal forces, and after his assassination his cousin, Sante, controlled Bologna (1445-63). Sante established a close relationship with the sforza and defined the extent of Bologna’s independence from the papacy (1447). Giovanni II then governed Bologna, improving buildings and waterways, encouraging the arts and learning, and strengthening the army until he was forced into exile in Ferrara by Pope julius ii (1506). Giovanni’s son, Annibale II, was temporarily restored by the French (1511-12).
Bermejo, Bartolome
(died 1498) Spanish painter and designer of stained glass
He came from Cordova but is documented as being active in Barcelona from 1486. His Pietd (1490), commissioned for the cathedral there, is his masterpiece and shows both Flemish and Italian influence.
Bernardino of Siena, St.
(1380-1444) Italian Franciscan reformer
Born at Massa di Carrara, between La Spezia and Pisa, Bernardino took charge of a hospital at Siena during an epidemic there. In 1402 he entered the Franciscan Order and became a popular preacher, exhorting his brethren to a stricter observance of their rule and condemning the evils of his time, especially usury and party strife. His devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus gave rise to the sobriquet "Apostle of the Holy Name." Suspected of heresy by the theologians of Bologna university, he was eventually exonerated. In 1439 he was present at the Council of florence, at which he played an active part. His simplicity led him to accept conventional notions about the guilt of the jews and the power of witchcraft. He died at Aquila degli Abruzzi, on his way to preach at Naples.
Bernesco
A type of lyric burlesque named after the Florentine poet Francesco berni. It was anti-Petrarchan in spirit and consisted of a caricature of manners marked by grotesque details, outrageous comparisons, and bold paradox. Berni drew on a long tradition of humorous vernacular poetry and also on his immediate literary forebears Domenico di Giovanni (1404-49) and Luigi pulci. No character, however exalted, was safe from his biting satire. His best-known successor in the mode was Charles de Sy-gognes (1560-1611).
Berni, Francesco
(c. 1497-1535) Italian poet Born at Lamporrechio, Berni became a canon in Florence (c. 1530). It is said that his death there was occasioned by his being poisoned by Duke Alessandro de’ Medici when he refused that worthy’s order to poison a cousin of the duke’s. Berni’s poems are mainly satirical and jocose, often on occasional topics (see bernesco). He was also famous for his Rifacimento (recasting) of boiardo’s Orlando in-namorato into his own Tuscan dialect. The Rifacimento, published posthumously in 1541, contains interpolated stanzas of Berni’s own. Although much lauded by contemporaries, Berni’s version is now rejected in favor of Boiardo’s original.
Berruguete, Alonso Gonzales
(c. 1488-1561) Spanish sculptor
Born at Paredes de Nava and may have studied in Naples, the son of Pedro berruguete, Alonso followed his father’s footsteps in visiting Italy (c. 1504-17). In Florence he was highly impressed by michelangelo’s sculptural style, as is evident from his alabaster Resurrection in Valencia. Although Berruguete was appointed a court artist to charles v in 1518, he did not accompany the emperor when he moved to Germany in 1520, but remained in Valladolid where he enjoyed considerable patronage. His numerous large sculptured altarpieces, such as those for the monastery of La Mejorada (1526) and for San Benito at Valladolid (1527-32), reveal a debt to donatello. Although Berruguete’s stylistic vocabulary was distinctly Italianate, the format of the large Spanish altarpiece with numerous subdivisions, bright colors, and ornate decoration was essentially late Gothic. The exaggerated, contorted style of his figures is decidedly anticlassical and reminiscent both of 15th-century wood carving and contemporary Italian mannerism. Berruguete had numerous pupils but his style defied imitation.
Berruguete, Pedro
(active 1483-1504) Spanish painter Documents indicate that Berruguete, who was born at Paredes de Nava and may have studied in Naples, was employed at the cathedrals of Toledo and Avila between 1483 and 1500 and that in 1502 he became a court painter to Philip the Handsome, later king of Spain. He specialized in large painted altarpieces of many panels, some of which were painted in collaboration with other artists. He was responsible for the massive altarpiece in Avila cathedral, its three registers depicting (from the top) the Passion, scenes from the life of Christ, and saints, all set in richly deorated golden frames. His altarpiece for the monastery of San Tomas in Avila (1499-1503; Prado, Madrid) is considered his masterpiece. Berruguete’s attributed works indicate points of contact with the painted decorations of the studies of Federico da Montefeltro in Urbino and Gub-bio in Italy (1473-80); he is recorded as being at work in the ducal palace of Urbino in 1477. However, Berruguete’s Spanish oeuvre is not of such high quality as these decorations, which should more properly be ascribed to justus of ghent, as whose assistant Berruguete probably worked in Spain. Berruguete’s hybrid Italo-Flemish style is an important pointer to the early 16th-century reorientation of Spanish painting, away from Netherlandish and towards Italian models. His son, Alonso Gonzales berruguete, was an important sculptor.
Bersuire, Pierre
(c. 1290-1362) French biblical scholar He was born at St.-Pierre-du-Chemin, but little else is known about his life. A friend of petrarch, whom he met at Avignon, Bersuire was probably a Franciscan monk and was apparently imprisoned for heresy at one time, before becoming prior of St.-Eloi in Paris. He is remembered as the author of a widely influential translation of the Roman historian Livy, made in the 1350s, and also as one of the first scholars to use a classical model to dignify the vernacular. His biblical guide, the Reductorium repertorium et dictionarium moral utriusque testament (c. 1340) enjoyed considerable success, being issued 12 times by 1526.
Bertaut, Jean
(1552-1611) French poet He was born near Caen and, as tutor to the children of a noble family, was introduced to court life as a young man. Soon he was writing lyric and elegiac poetry strongly influenced by ronsard and desportes. He was appointed official court poet under Henry III, and again under Henry IV, and composed many occasional poems admired for their polished, graceful style. Later he turned to religious subjects and paraphrases of the psalms. Bertaut published two collections: Recueil des xuvres poetiques (1601) and Recueil de quelques vers amoureux (1602). He also held various positions at court and was eventually made bishop of Sees (1606) in Normandy, where he spent his last years.
Bertoldo di Giovanni
(c. 1440-1491) Italian maker of bronze statuettes and medals
Of obscure origin, perhaps born in Florence as an illegitimate son of Giovanni di Cosimo de’ Medici, Bertoldo worked mainly in the circle of the medici, especially of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and was influenced by the elderly Donatello. His earliest dated piece is a medal of 1469 showing Emperor Frederick III, while his most original one shows the scene in Florence cathedral of the pazzi conspiracy (1478) when Giuliano de’ Medici was assassinated. His most famous work is a bronze panel showing a Cavalry Battle (Bargello), based on a fragmentary Roman sarcophagus in Pisa; it once decorated a mantelpiece in the Medici palace. His finest bronze group, cast by adri-ano fiorentino, is Bellerophon and Pegasus (Vienna), which is indebted to the Horse-tamers of the Quirinal Hill, Rome. Bertoldo’s several statuettes of Hercules show his firm grasp of the masculine anatomy in action. He was curator of the Medici sculpture collection.
Berulle, Pierre de
(1575-1629) French cardinal and statesman
He was born at Serilly, near Troyes, and educated by the Jesuits at the university of Paris. Berulle later emerged as one of the leading lights of the counter-reformation. In 1611 he established the Congregation of the French Oratory, an institution for the study of church history, Hebrew, and biblical criticism. As statesman he helped arrange Henrietta Maria’s marriage (1625) to Charles I of England, concluded the treaty of Monzon (1626), and was instrumental in the reconciliation of Louis XIII with his mother Marie de’ Medici. He was created cardinal in 1627 and a councillor of state; the latter post he soon relinquished as a result of Cardinal Richelieu’s opposition to his Austrian policy. His writings, including Grandeurs de Jesus (1623), were popular among the French Jansenists.
Bessarion, Cardinal John
(c. 1395-1472) Greek-born humanist scholar, churchman, philosopher, and collector of manuscripts
Born at Trebizond, he was educated in Constantinople. In 1423 he heard plethon lecture on Plato and was attracted to his ideas. Unlike Plethon however, he was a Platonist who could recognize the value in contemporary Aris-totelianism and he endeavored to reconcile the two systems. By substituting the original works of Greek genius for an outworn scholasticism, thus bringing men’s minds back to the pristine sources of antiquity, Bessarion was the principal author of the philosophical Renaissance. Created archbishop of Nicaea (1437), he visited Italy with Emperor John VIII Palaeologus to join in discussions intended to bring about unity between the Eastern and Western Churches. His support for the Roman Church at the councils of Ferrara and florence recommended him to Pope Eugenius IV, who made him a cardinal (1439).
From then on Bessarion lived in Italy, encouraging the spread of Greek studies. He received the archbishopric of Sipunto and the bishoprics of Sabina and Frascati, and his palace in Rome was a meeting-place for philosophers; refugee Greeks were especially welcome and he thus made a major contribution to the diffusion of Hellenism. He translated Aristotle’s Metaphysics and also wrote Platonic treatises De natura et arte and In calumniatorem Platonis, the latter being an attack on george of trebizond. Despite this, he was not an uncompromising Platonist and his works made Platonism more hospitable to orthodox theology and encouraged theology to be more speculative. Bessarion’s collection of 800 manuscripts, nearly 500 of them Greek, was presented (1468) to the Venetian senate and became the nucleus of the Bibliotheca marciana.
Beza (Theodore de Beze)
(1519-1605) French theologian and scholar
Born in Vezelay and educated at Orleans and Bourges as a Protestant, he practiced law in Paris (1539), where his life was marked by worldliness and frivolity. In 1548 a serious illness effected a change in his outlook. He became a Calvinist and in November 1549 was appointed professor of Greek at Lausanne. There he helped calvin with a number of works, including the De haereticis a civili magistratu puniendis (1554), which justified the persecution of those who refused to accept Calvin’s teaching. In 1558 he moved to Geneva. On Calvin’s death (1564) Beza became his successor and wrote his biography. His main contribution to scholarship was his work on the New Testament; his editions influenced the Genevan English versions (1557, 1560) and the Authorized Version (1611). In 1581 he presented D (the Codex Bezae), one of the primary manuscripts for the text of the New Testament, to Cambridge University, but little attention was then paid to it. His play Abraham sacrifiant (1550) is claimed to be the first French tragedy; it was translated into English by Arthur Golding in 1575. Beza’s inaccuracies as a historian originated many errors made by later writers. His lasting importance lies in the modifications he made to the rigors of Calvin’s rule. He broadened the appeal of Protestantism by adopting a more tolerant approach to the details of administration, though he remained firm on the central points of Calvin’s doctrine.
Bibbiena, Bernardo Dovizi, Il
(1470-1520) Italian churchman, diplomat, and author
Called after his birthplace of Bibbiena, near Florence, Bib-biena was a protege of Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici, whom he followed into exile in 1494. Bibbiena worked assiduously on his patron’s behalf and when Giovanni became Pope leo x (1513) he was rewarded by being made a cardinal and Leo’s treasurer-general. He also undertook several important diplomatic missions. Bibbiena was a friend of raphael, who painted his portrait, and his character is favorably depicted in Castiglione’s the courtier. Apart from his letters, Bibbiena is mainly remembered as the author of La calandria, a commedia erudita first performed at Urbino in 1513, which had many revivals and imitators during the Renaissance.
Bible, editions of Throughout the Middle Ages the Latin translation of the Bible made by St. Jerome in the fourth century ad (the Vulgate) remained the basis of Bible texts. It was some time before the new approaches to textual criticism made an impact on biblical scholarship. Conservative scholastic exegetes, exemplified by the theological faculty of the Sorbonne, branded as heresy the subjecting of Scripture to the same kinds of critical test as secular literature. Moreover the Hebrew text of the Old Testament could not be studied without the help of Jewish scholars and this too aroused hostility (see hebrew studies).
Hebrew printing began in Italy around 1475, and the first important editions of biblical texts were printed at Soncino, east of Milan (1485-86). The whole of the Hebrew Old Testament was printed in 1488. The next stage was the printing of the complutensian polyglot at Alcala (1514-17), though the edition was not published till 1522. In 1516 the first edition of the rabbinical Bible was published. The only other important edition of the He brew Bible in this period was the Antwerp Polyglot (1568-73) printed by plantin.
The edition of erasmus (1516), with a parallel Latin translation by the editor, was the first published Greek text of the New Testament. Subsequent editions (1519, 1522) made considerable improvements and were used as the bases of luther’s and tyndale’s translations respectively. The first attempt at a really critical text of the New Testament appeared in 1534, but it was not until the Stephanus folio New Testament (1550) (see estienne press) that a text appeared based on the collation of a large number of manuscripts.
Scholars also addressed the problem of a reliable text of the Vulgate. The Stephanus editions from 1528 onwards represented a major advance but were rejected by the Catholic authorities. The text finally accepted by the Church was the Sistine-Clementine version, first published (1590) under Pope sixtus v and reissued (1592) with extensive correction under clement viii.
Bible, translations of Translations of the Scriptures go back to the third century bce when the Septuagint was produced to satisfy the needs of Greek-speaking Jews in Alexandria. St. Jerome in the fourth century ce produced, in the Vulgate, a Latin translation which catered for the Western Church and became the Bible of the Middle Ages.
The impetus to translate the Bible into vernacular languages was part of the general reform movement that spread through northern Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, and these translations were often made with a polemical purpose. For English speakers the first important name is that of John wyclif, whose translation, based on the Vulgate, first appeared in the 1380s; the fact that nearly 200 manuscripts survive, containing all or a substantial part of the Scriptures, shows the wide diffusion of this work. Wyclif’s translation was used to support a challenge to Church authority (see lollards) and Archbishop Arundel tried to suppress it. A similar series of events led luther to the production of his German Bible (New Testament 1522, Old Testament 1523-32, complete text 1534), which had an immense impact not only upon the religious debate but also upon the german language. (Although by far the most famous, Luther’s was certainly not the first German translation of the Bible; there had been no fewer than 18 earlier versions, with the earliest printed version appearing in 1466.)
Wyclif’s work circulated in England in manuscript; even so it reached a wide audience and traveled as far as Bohemia where it influenced the hussite movement. The invention of printing had a profound impact on Bible translation, enabling new versions to gain currency with unprecedented speed. The study of Greek, encouraged by Florentine humanism, led to the study of the New Testament in the original language and eventually to translations from Greek rather than from Jerome’s Latin version. William tyndale was the first to produce an English translation from Greek (1525). Religious pressures forced Tyndale out of England and the work was printed at Cologne. It received hostile treatment from the government. Tyndale’s work was the basis for the translation (1535) by Miles Coverdale (1488-1568), a version that circulated in England with government approval as a consequence of the changed political climate. The edition known as Matthew’s Bible (1537) combines the work of Tyndale and Coverdale. Coverdale also edited the large format Great Bible (1539), designed to be read aloud from church lecterns. The Geneva Bible (1560) was the work of Protestant exiles on the Continent during the reign of Mary I, but its extreme Puritan marginalia made it unacceptable to the moderate Elizabethan Church, which countered with the Bishops’ Bible (1568). English Protestant translations of the Bible in this period culminated in the Authorized Version of 1611 (also known as the King James Bible), which became the standard English Bible until the Revised Version of 1885.
The Reformation forced the Roman Church to produce its own vernacular translations of the Scriptures. One of the earliest was the German version by Hierony-mus emser (1527). An English Bible was published at Reims (New Testament 1582) and Douai (Old Testament 1609). The Douai-Reims text, with its strongly Latinate language, followed the Vulgate minutely, even to the point of reproducing nonsense, but nonetheless became the accepted version for the English Catholic community. The Polish Catholic Bible (1599) of the Jesuit scholar Bishop Jakub Wiyek (1541-97) has greatly influenced the Polish vernacular.
Following Luther’s example, Protestant scholars all over Europe translated the Scriptures into their native tongues. An early Lutheran New Testament was published in Sweden in 1526; it was associated with Olaus petri, who also worked on the complete Gustavus Vasa Bible of 1541. Another Lutheran New Testament was that published in 1529 by the Dane Christiern Pedersen (c. 1480-1554), who later collaborated on the socalled Christian III Bible (1550). In France lefevre d’etaples made a translation of the New Testament from the Vulgate (1523); his French Old Testament appeared five years later. olivetan, whose Bible was published in 1535, made the first French translation of the Old Testament direct from the Hebrew, but his New Testament is merely a revision of Lefevre’s. enzinas (Dryander) published El Nuevo Testamento in Antwerp in 1543, and a complete Spanish version by the friar turned Protestant, Casiodoro de Reina (died c. 1581), appeared at Basle in 1569. A Bible in Latin was produced by castellio in the late 1540s to save learned Protestants from the necessity of using the Vulgate.
Bidermann, Jakob
(1578-1639) German Jesuit dramatist Born at Ehingen, near Ulm, and educated at Augsburg, Bidermann entered the Society of Jesus in 1594. For eight years he was in charge of dramatic activities in the Jesuit school in Munich, before being sent to Dillingen university and finally to Rome, where he died. Bidermann was probably the greatest exponent of Jesuitendrama, plays written in Latin which were predominantly educational and propagandist in intent, but which nevertheless exerted a powerful influence not just in Germany, but throughout Europe. His most famous plays were Ceno-doxus (1609) and Belisarius (1607). Most of his work draws on the Old Testament and legends of the saints.
Bigi (Italian, "Greys")
The party that intrigued for the restoration of the medici during their period of exile from Florence (1494-1512), following the ousting of Lorenzo the Magnificent’s son Piero Medici. The Bigi triumphed in 1512 after the threat of invasion by Spanish troops had effectively wrecked the Florentine republic.
Bijns, Anna
(1493-1575) Dutch poet As one of the first secular women writers, she is often referred to as "the Sappho of Brabant". Born in Antwerp, she taught in a school, possibly as a lay nun, and eventually founded her own school when she was in her forties. She associated with the Antwerp Minorites and strongly opposed the Reformation, attacking the teachings of Martin Luther in her writings. She published lyric verse in the form of lamentations on the state of the Catholic Church, as well as verse satires in the style of the rhetoricians (see chambers of rhetoric), in which she commented on the decline in morality. Three volumes of her verse (Referey-nen) appeared in 1528, 1548, and 1567, and her work is regarded as an important step in the evolution of the Dutch language (Nederlands) into a literary medium.
Binchois, Gilles de
(c. 1400-1460) Franco-Flemish composer
Binchois was probably born in Binche, near Mons, and from 1419 to 1423 was organist at the church of Ste. Waldetrude, Mons. He was possibly in the service of the duke of Suffolk in the early 1420s but from at least 1431 served philip the good at the Burgundian court chapel, remaining there until 1453. On retirement he moved to Soignies, where he became provost at the church of St. Vincent. Binchois is generally regarded as a major figure in 15th-century music along with dufay (whom he knew) and dunstable. Binchois’s sacred music is simple in style; he wrote 28 Mass sections, six Magnificats, and around 30 smaller works (motets and hymns). He is chiefly remembered for his secular compositions; he wrote around 55 chansons, mostly in the rondeau form, with texts dealing with courtly love. Nearly all are set for one voice and two instruments, with graceful melodies; they are symmetrical and pay great attention to the form of the poetic text.
Biography
The narrative re-creation of another person’s life. Secular biography in the modern sense was very much a Renaissance invention. Saints’ lives had been very popular reading in the Middle Ages, but nondevotional biography had tended to take the form of extended panegyrics of princely patrons; beccadelli’s life of alfonso i of Naples (1455) falls into this category. Another use to which biographical materials was often put was to demonstrate the futility of human affairs and in works of this kind the subject’s motives and personality are strictly subordinated to the moral lesson; boccaccio’s De casibus vi-rorum illustrium was a leader in the genre, starting a tradition that survived well into the Renaissance with such works as the English verse biographies in the multi-author Mirror for Magistrates (1559).
The prime classical inspiration for early biographers was Plutarch, whose Parallel Lives of Greek and Roman dignitaries was very widely read. In Italy in the 15th century Aenea Silvio Piccolomini (see pius ii) and Vespasiano da bisticci led the way in writing biographical accounts of their important contemporaries, often on the basis of personal knowledge. The culmination of the Italian biographical effort is reached in the following century with vasarl’s Vite dei piu eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architetti (1550; revised and expanded edition 1568).
Before the 17th century, however, biography remained a comparatively underexploited genre in most countries, although biographical material is of course embedded in letters and memoirs (as in the Memoirs of Pierre de bran-tome). In England Sir More’s controversial History of Richard III (1543), written, though never finished, in both English and Latin around 1513, is a landmark in the evolution of biography, notable for the strikingly dramatic quality of the scenes and its insights into human motivation. The life of More himself was written (c. 1535) by his son-in-law William Roper (1496-1578) and between 1554 and 1557 George Cavendish (c. 1500-c. 1561) wrote his Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey, both of them accounts of great and complex public figures by men who knew them intimately; neither biography was published until the following century.
