Polydore Vergil

107
Polydore Vergil bigraphy, stories - English historian

Polydore Vergil : biography

– 18 April 1555

Polidoro Virgili, commonly Latinised as Polydorus Vergilius, or anglicised as Polydore Vergil (or Virgil), and often known as Polydore Vergil of Urbino (c. 1470 – 18 April 1555) was an Italian humanist scholar, historian, priest and diplomat who spent most of his life in England. He is particularly remembered for his works the Proverbiorum libellus (1498), a collection of Latin proverbs; De inventoribus rerum (1499), a history of discoveries and origins; and the Anglica Historia (drafted by 1513; printed 1534), an influential history of England. He has been dubbed the "Father of English History".Galdieri 1993, pp. 316-17. This sobriquet has, of course, also been assigned to other historians, notably the Venerable Bede.

Vergil is sometimes referred to in contemporary documents as Polydore Vergil Castellensis or Castellen, and it has sometimes been assumed that he was a kinsman of his patron, Cardinal Adriano Castellesi. However, it is more likely that the alias simply indicates that he was in Castellesi’s service.Hay 1952, p. 3.

Biography

Early life in Italy

Vergil was born at Urbino, or more probably at Fermignano, within the Duchy of Urbino.Connell 2004. His father, Giorgio di Antonio, owned a dispensary. His grandfather, Antonio Virgili, "a man well skilled in medicine and astrology", had taught philosophy at the University of Paris; as did Polydore’s own brother, Giovanni-Matteo Virgili, at Ferrara and Padua. Another brother, Girolamo, was a merchant trading with England.Hay 1952, pp. 1, 15-16. The daughter of Giovanni-Matteo, Faustina, married Lorenzo Borgogelli, count of Fano, from whom descend the surviving family of Borgogelli Virgili.

Polydore was educated at the University of Padua, and possibly at Bologna. He was ordained by 1496.Hay 1952, pp. 1-2. He was probably in the service of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, before 1498, as in the dedication of his Proverbiorum Libellus (April 1498) he styles himself Guido’s client. His second book, De Inventoribus Rerum, was dedicated to Guido’s tutor, Lodovico Odassio, in August 1499.

At some point prior to 1502 Polydore entered the service of Pope Alexander VI.

Move to England

In 1502, Vergil travelled to England as the deputy of Cardinal Adriano Castellesi in the office of Collector of Peter’s Pence, and, in practice, the Cardinal’s agent in a variety of affairs. In October 1504 he was enthroned Bishop of Bath and Wells as proxy for Adriano; and in 1508 he himself was installed as Archdeacon of Wells. He probably spent little time in Wells, but was active as the Chapter’s representative in London.Hay 1952, pp. 8-9, 19-20. He also donated a set of hangings for the quire of Wells Cathedral.Harris 2005. He held other ecclesiastical sinecures, including, from 1503, the living of Church Langton, Leicestershire; from 1508 prebends in Lincoln and Hereford Cathedrals; and from 1513 the prebend of Oxgate in St Paul’s Cathedral.

As an established author, and a representative of Italian humanist learning, Vergil was received in England as a minor celebrity, and was welcomed at court by King Henry VII.Hay 1952, pp. 4-5. It was at the King’s behest that he began work on his Anglica Historia, a new history of England, probably as early as 1505.

On 22 October 1510 Vergil was naturalised English.

Early in 1515 (through the intrigues of Andrea Ammonio, who sought the subcollectorship for himself), an ill-considered letter from Vergil was intercepted, which reflected badly on both Wolsey and Henry VIII; and as a result in April he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He had some powerful supporters, including Pope Leo X, who wrote to the King on his behalf. From prison Vergil sent an abject and "almost blasphemous" letter to Wolsey, begging that the fast-approaching Christmas – a time which witnessed the restitution of a world – might also see his pardon. He was released before Christmas 1515, though he never regained his subcollectorship.Hay 1952, pp. 10-13.