1 Du Boulay, Cesar-Egasse, Historia Universitatis Parisiensis (Paris, 1665-1673), vi, 934Google Scholar: 'Franciscus Vico-Mercatus Mediolanensis Graece et Latine sciens, ex Academijs Italis ad nostram transiens adoptatus est die 23. Aug. 1540. a natione Gallicana. Sic enim habetur in Actis: D. Franciscus a Vico-Mercato Dialecticorum CoDegij Plessaei Regius dixit cum plurimos annos Physicae caeterisque liberalibus Artibus Bononiae, Papiae et denique Paduae insudaverit, omnium Doctorum consensu varijs examinibus probatusDoctoratum tandem in Philosophia assecutus est. Nempe cum in hanc Universitatem Paris, advenit, Iuventutem edocere mavult quam otio litterario delitescere. Verum cum accepisset suos a Magisterio repellendos nisi in Nationis Ordinem et huius Almae Academiae alumnum adoptaretur, et in Praeceptorum eiusdem Albo describeretur, in huius florentis Gymnasij filium Adoptivum recipi et admitti et in aliorum Albo describi supplicuit. Natio Praeceptorem qui supplicuit in consortium Praeceptorum dictae Nationis admittit, solutis solvendis, modo probet litteris, aut testibus adeptum fuisse Gradum per tempus requisitum in famato et generali Studio.'

2 According to a letter to the present writer from Dott. Lucia Rosetti, custodian of the Archivio Antico of the University of Padua, dated 29 September 1963, no ‘Francesco Vimercato’ can be found in the register of doctorates in the first half of the 16th century.

3 The title of the work is ‘Francisci a Vicomercato Mediolanensis De placitis naturalibus Platonis et Aristotelis, ac inter eos de illis consensione et dissensione, liber primus', Bibl. Nat. Fond. lat. 6330. It is a beautifully written manuscript, undoubtedly the work'of an expert scribe. I located this manuscript in a catalogue whose existence in the New York Public Library was pointed out to me by Kristeller, Paul O.: Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae (4 vols., Paris, 1739)Google Scholar, under the entry ‘VI M CCC XXX'. A microfilm of this manuscript was furnished me by the Bibliotheque Nationale. The scribe unfortunately did not have room to enter the entire date of the dedicatory letter; he wrote only the following: ‘Ex Parisiorum Lutetia tertio Idiis Decemb.’ However, since Pierre Du Châtel is addressed as bishop of Tulle, we know that the manuscript must have been written after 1539, when Du Châtel was named to this post. I am inclined to date it from about the same time as Vimercato's appeal to the Gallican nation.

4 ‘Saepius, Petre Pontifex, ab amicis atque auditoribus meis rogatus fui, ut aliquid in Aristotelem scriberem, ederemque; quod abditissimos illius sensus stylo quam maxime conciso traditos omnibus perspicuos ac apertos faceret. Ita fore dicebant, ut et publicae, cui nati sumus, utilitate consulerem; et ego, qui hactenus in Galijs propemodum latui, tibi, caeterisque viris doctis, et illustribus, qui studia bororum virorum fovenda, literasque politiores ac Philosophiam puram in hac totius orbis celeberrima Academia promovendam sumpsissis, cognitus essem, et per vos a potentissimo Rege vestro professionem in Philosophia impetrarem quam facillime.’ (Dedicatory letter to Pierre Du Chatel, De placitis naturalibus, f. I^v.) In the same letter (f. 2^r), Vimercato mentions the burdens of teaching in the University of Paris: ‘Ut enim negotia omnia, quae mihi Gymnasij nostri cura incumbunt, omittam, tot lectionibus praelegendis propter docendi provinciam, quam, ut Gallandio viro non minus erudito quam eloquenti, qui me ad id astrinxit, morem gererem, suscepi, tanquam effervescentibus undis fui obrutus, ut me emersurum quandoque desperaverim.'

5 ‘ … les lecteurs ont commence a enseigner dans le courant du mois de mars 1530 …' ( Lefranc, Abel, Histoire du College de France, Paris, 1893, p. 109 Google Scholar).

6 ‘In sententijs vero Platonis vertendis Marsilij Ficini Platonici summi versione (nisi nyhi a veritate Platonica, quod tamen raro illi contigit in Timaeo) aberrare visus sit, interdum et Ciceronis sum usus. Quid enim opus versionibus versiones addere? et factum (ut dicunt) facere?’ (Ibid., f. 3^r.)

7 Augustin Renaudet's rich study, Prhefortne et humanisme á Paris pendant les premieres guerres d'ltalie (Paris, 1953) deals with the earlier period 1494-1517.

8 See Vives's letter to Erasmus of 1520, Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami, ed. Allen (Oxford, 1922), iv, 270-276. Vives reported that any one daring to introduce a 'spidery argument from Swineshead’ into a discussion was hissed out of the room by impatient spectators.

9 ‘En 1542, il [i.e., King Francis 1] fonda l'enseignement de la médecine, qu'il confia au Florentin Vidus Vidius, savant de reel merite qui jouit en son temps d'une immense réputation Un de ses compatriotes, le Milanais Francois de Vicomercato, devint egalement, la même année, l'objet des faveurs royales. II fut pourvu de la chaire de philosophie grecque et latine, créée a son intention, et dont il demeura titulaire jusqu'en 1567.' (Lefranc, Histoire du College de France, p. 160.) The last date is incorrect, as we shall see.

10 ‘Nam cum Galliarum Rex, invictissimus Franciscus, Professionem philosophicam in hac totius orbis florentissima Academia, te suadente, instituere vellet (ea enim unica jam desiderabatur) atque aliquem qui Philosophiam candidam et sinceram cum aliqua dignitate, et illam quidem Graece tractaret, perquirendi, tibi Provinciam demandasset, me e tanto virorum doctissimorum numero, quibus et Gallia et reliquae Europae partes sunt refertae, delegisti’ (Francesco Vimercato, ded. letter to Pierre Du ChStel, Commentarii in tertium librum Arist. de anima, Paris, 1543, pp. 13-14).

11 Ibid., pp. 9-10.

12 Lefranc, p. 212. The standard account of this famous episode remains Charles Waddington, Ramus, sa vie, ses écrits, et ses opinions (Paris, 1855), esp. p.43.

13 ‘Henri II donna done une grande preuve de liberalisme quand il nomma Ramus, vers le commencement du mois d'aoiit 1551, au nombre des lecteurs royaux. La chaire qui fut créée pour lui devait être consacree á la fois á la philosophic et a l'eloquence.’ (Lefranc, Histoire du Collège de France, pp. 208-209.)

14 ‘II y a lieu de rapporter ici une marque de bienveillance accordee par Henri n a ses lecteurs au commencement de l'annee 1559: nous voulons parler de l'exemption des decimes en faveur “des professeurs en langue grecque, latine et hebraique en l'Universit£ de Paris.” Pierre Galland, Pascal Duhamel, Francois Vicomercato, Pierre Ramee (sic), Jean Cinqarbres, Angelo Vergecio, le calligraphe, sont nommement designes dans l'acte.' (Lefranc, Histoire du Collège de France, p. 212.) Lefranc cites as his source Archives nationales, K 92, n° 19, and adds ‘L'exemption est datee du 15 Janvier 1558 (anc. style).'

15 In justifying himself for writing still another commentary on the Physics of Aristode, Vimercato wrote, in his dedicatory letter to Pierre Du Chatel, the following: ‘Cumque conceptum animo opus adhuc retardarem, ecce laeta foelicissimaque Regni Henrici auspicia, quae me tandem ad opus suscipiendum compulerunt. Quod eo etiam libentius aggressus sum, quo Georgij Cornelij Episcopi Tervisini designati, qui in philosophia, quam (ut non minus quam familiae nobilissimae, nobilis praeclarique ingenii est et, praeter aliarum scientiarum optimarumque artium studia liberalissima, in perspicienda rerum natura cupidissimus) summopere colit et veneratur, mihi se turn instituendum tradiderat, studijs me plurimum commodaturum, remque gratissimam ei facturum intellexi.’ (In Octo libros Aristotelis De naturali auscultatione commentarii, Venice, 1564.) At the very end of this work, Vimercato again acknowledges the help of Georgius Cornelius, and says of him, ‘Is enim cum a me in philosophia institueretur, magnam mihi eorum conscribendorum dedit occasionem’ (p. 377). Corner died in 1579, after serving as bishop of Treviso for nearly 40 years, according to Ferdinando Ughelli, Italia sacra (Venice, 1720), V, col. 570c.

16 ‘Illi magis probandi, magnaque digni commendatione, qui iis, qui religioni videntur adversari, prudenter, firmoque et stabili iudicio repudiatis, caetera sapienter approbant, et cum philosophorum placita cum Sanctis Uteris apte et congruenter coniungunt, maximum decus, firmumque robur religioni afferunt. Quod apud Graecos a Basilio magno et a duobus Gregoriis, uno Nysseno, altero Nazianzeno, apud Latinos a Thomas (quanquam sanctus ille ac pius vir’ aliique multi, qui eum sunt imitati, pietate (ut puto) et religionis confirmandae studio ducti, in philosophia, rationibusque humanis cum divinis Uteris coniungendis limites fortasse excessisse videantur) sapienter est factitatum.’ (Francesco Vimercato, In earn partem duodecim libri metaphy. Aristotelis … , Paris, 1551, dedicatory letter.)

17 In his dedicatory letter to Charles de Bourbon, evidently referring to Marcantonio Flaminio, Paraphrasis in duodecim Aristotelis librum de prima philosophia (Venice, 1536). Flaminio once dedicated a poem to Marguerite de France: Marci Antonii Flaminii De rebus divinis carmina, ad Margaritam Henrici gallorum regis sororem (Paris, 15 50).

18 ‘De qua Leucippi opinione multa licet videre cum apud Aristotelem sparsim, turn vero optime apud Lucretium, qui Epicuri phylosophiam magna ex parte a Democrito et Leucippo acceptam carminibus pulchre decantavit’ ﹛ibid., p. 33).

19 According to Giovanni Busino, ‘Italiani all’ Universita di Basilea dal 1460 al 1601', Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance x x (1958), pp. 497-526.

20 The letter is contained in Vaticanus Latinus 12127, and is dated 13 October 1553.

21 By Dom René Ancel, ‘La Reconciliation de l'Angleterre avec le Saint-Siège sous Marie Tudor. Légation du cardinal Polus en Angleterre (1553-1554)', Revue d'Histoire Ecclhiastique x (1909), 521-536 and 744-798, at p. 753: ‘Quelques jours avant son depart, Dandino avait prie un de ses compatriotes, un certain Francesco Vimercato, de profiter d'un voyage qu'il devait faire á Londres, pour recueillir des informations.’ In a note, Ancel adds: ‘Peut-Stre le lecteur royal nomine en 1542 par Francois I^er á la chaire de philosophic grecque et latine.'

22 According to Ancel, the letter of 13 and 14 October was written by this Francesco Vimercato to his brother Giovan Andrea Vimercato, ‘then attached to the service of Julius in’ (p. 754). This man seems to have been a papal courier; besides the work mentioned by Dom Ancel—Anton Pieper, Die pdpstlichen Legaten undNuntien in Deutschland, Frankreich, und Spanien (Miinster i. W., 1897), p. 47—see Lucien Romier, Les Origines politiques desguerres de religion (Paris, 1913), 1, 370. (He must not be confused with anotherGiovan Andrea Vimercato who died in 1548, a papal secretary in Rome. See the letters dated 1507 to and from this official published by Marco Magistretti, Archiuio Storico Lombardo, serie quinta, XLV [1918], 21-22.) More letters from the courier Francesco Vimercato are contained in the Gonzaga archives in the Archivio di Stato in Mantua (E II 3). Some of these are dated 1552-1553 and others are dated 1570-1572. These letters were called to my attention by Professor Kristeller. I am reasonably sure that they are written by the same man who reported on the coronation of Queen Mary: very likely he was a career diplomat (unless that is too dignified a title for his position) and not the royal reader in philosophy, in which case we have still another Francesco Vimercato.

23 See Julius Ideler's edition of Aristotle's Meteorologicorum libri IV (Leipzig, 1834-1836), I, xxxii: ‘Vicomercatus inter omnes, qui Meteorologica commentati sunt, longe est doctissimus et sanissimi iudicii interpres, inque suis commentariis multa tarn ad explicationem quam ad emendationem continentur nostra etiam aetate utilissima, quae commentariis meis, suis quaeque locis, inserui.'

24 ‘Observatus vero est et alius in mari fluxus, turn in Mediterraneo, turn in Oceano, quo videlicet fluit ab ortu ad occasum, et in Mediterraneo rursus ad ortum refluit, quomodo etiam in sinu illius Adriatico. Quern fluxum, etsi non evidentem, observaverunt tamen nautae ex itineribus, quae breviori tempore conficiunt, cum ab ortu ad occasum navigant, quam cum ab occasu ad ortum, aquae fluxu navium motum aut adiuvante, aut impediente. Ita qui ab Hispania navigant ad insulas occidentales nuper a Columbo inventas, diebus circiter 24, navigationem conficiunt: cum tamen in reditu in Hispaniam, tres aut etiam quatuor menses consumunt, aquis in contrariam partem nitentibus.’ (Vimercato, In quatuor libros Aristotelis Meteorologicorum commentarii, Paris, 1556, p. 176 of first part.)

25 The original version was never printed. A French translation of it was published by Henri Busson, ‘Consolation de Francesco Vimercati a Catherine de Medicis (1559)', in Melanges offerts a M. Abel Lefranc professeur au College de France … par ses ileues et ses amis (Paris, 1936), pp. 320-338.

26 Lefranc, pp. 126-127:'… malgré les plus séduisantes ordonnances de payement, les lecteurs n'étaient pas payes. Ce fut lá pour eux une cause constante d'inferiorité.’ Lefranc goes on to say that the royal readers sometimes had to wait four or five years before getting the money that was due them.

27 Lefranc gives on several pages (p. 160, p . 381) the incorrect date of 1567 as the end of Vimercato's tenure as king's reader in Paris. L. Clement, in his study of Vimercato's successor, Adrian Turnebe, De Adriani Tumebi Regii Professoris Praefationibus et poematis (Paris, 1899), p. 19, corrected Lefranc's error and gave the correct date. Some biographers have been misled by the fact that Vimercato is still termed ‘king's reader’ in editions of his works issued after 1561. But these editions were published in Italy, probably without the author's consent and without the changes he would have made in his own designation.

28 See Pontificutn Rom. Epistolae XXX saeculo XIII scriptae AONII Palearii Epistolae XXV M. Antonii Murcti, ed. Pietro Lazeri (Rome, 1757), II, 278-279.

29 Vallauri, Tommaso, Storia delle Vniversita degli Studi del Piemonte (Turin, 1875), p. 153.Google Scholar Vallauri gives, in a footnote on this page, the letter of the duke ratifying the appointment: 'Eman. Filib. ecc Essendo che per a la nuova reformatione de stipendi de' nostri officiali habbiamo particolarmente stabilito al magnifico et feu fliletti lettore nostro nella prima cattedra di filosofia messer Giovanni Francesco Vimercato, filosofo per suo stipendio et trattenimento libre mille ottocento nostre ogni anno nel carico dato a parte al nostro tesoriere generale chiaramente si vede. Et perche per gli ordini nostri sia di bisogno riportare da noi dichiarazione di tal stipendio, ci e parso dichiarare et assentare, si come per le presenti di nostra certa scienza dichiariamo et assentiamo al detto Gioanni Francesco Vimercato libre mille ottocento i’ anno a cominciare dal primo di novembre dell’ anno passato M. D. sessante uno et continuando durante il piacer nostro … Rivoli, 10 di Aprile 1562.’ It is perhaps worth observing that Antonio de Gouveia also left Paris for Savoy to teach law with a salary comparable to Vimercato's.

30 See Peyre, R., Une Princesse de la renaissance: Marguerite de France, duchesse de Berry, duchesse de Savoie (Paris, 1902), pp. 57-58.Google Scholar

31 Roger Doucet, ‘Pierre du Chastel, grand aumonier de France', Revue Historique CXXXIII (1920), p. 236: ‘Mais il etait surtout assidu auprès de sa niece, Marguerite de France, á laquelle il servait de précepteur: chaque jour, après le déjeuner du roi, il allait la trouver et, pendant deux heures, lisait et traduisait avec elle des auteurs anciens.'

32 Peyre, p . 86.

33 Vimercato is addressed as ‘ducal councilor’ by Giacomo Menochio (1532-1607), a jurist who taught law at Mondovi from 1561 to 1566, in the letter to the reader preceding his treatise, De recuperanda possessione (Mondovi, 1565). The letter is cited by Bartolomeo Corte, Notizie istoriche intorno a media scrittori milanesi ... (Milan, 1718), p. 73: ‘Unius Francisci Vicomercati Mediolansis Philosophorum Principis, Serenissimi Ducis nostri a Secretis Consiliarii, qui latine, et graece scribendo, ac docendo Platoni et Aristoteli non caeteris modo palmam praeripuisse videtur, etc. Kalend. August! 1565'.

34 In his report of 1570, Ambassador Morosini said of the duke that he had a ‘consiglio per le cose di grazia e per il governo della stato, il quale si dimanda anco consiglio di stato; che serve perö piu a sua eccellenza per apparenza che per uso, volendo da sè stressa far tutto quello che le piace, fidandosi forse poco o della intelligenza, o della sincerita de' suoi consigned …’ (Relazioni degli ambasciatori Veneti al Senato, serie II^a, ed. Eugenio Albèri (Florence, 1841), II, 127).

35 In the same report, Ambassador Morosini, after remarking that the duke was always interested in anything that could be useful to him as a military leader, adds that he was accustomed to hear a daily lecture on Euclid or some other mathematical writer, given by a certain Giovan Battista Benedetti, a Venetian. The duke enjoyed these lectures very much, we are told. Morosini says that the duke generally enjoyed talking with learned men, even though he himself'had probably never read a book of Aristotle or Plato'. ‘Ha gran piacere di parlar con uomini letterati e dotti, e li ascolta molto volentieri a discorrere in ogni professione, mostrando bellissimo giudizio, in metter dubbi in campo, ed anco in dirvi sopra l'opinion sua, la quale sta fondata semplicemente nel suo natural giudizio, non avendo forse mai veduto alcun libro d'Aristotele e di Platone’ (ibid., p. 158). In the best account of Benedetti's life, that of Giovanni Bordiga, ‘Giovanni Battista Benedetti, filosofo e matematico veneziano del secolo XVI', Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti LXXXV (1925-1926), parte seconda, pp. 585-754, Francesco Vimercato is mentioned, but no erroneous biographical details are thrust upon the reader. After floundering in this Saragossa Sea of factual error, one begins to appreciate cautious scholarship such as Bordiga's.

36 ‘Quoniam non videbatur quiescire animus tuus, cum paucis ab hinc diebus tibi siscitanti respondissem, nee tamen rationem omnium, quae dixeram exacte explicare per temporis angustiam potuissem, cogitor ad to per hanc occasionem scribens, et iam dictarepetere, et omnium tibi rationem subiungere, et ut mibi plenius satisfaciam, et tibi commode perlegenti facilius sit veritatem intueri. Scripsisti enim in tuis disputationibus, vir doctissime, quod omnes res visa per speculum quodcunque, sub brevissimis lineis compraehendatur a visu. 'Propositio haec non est universaliter vera (quamvis etiam ab alijs omnibus pro tali posita sit) cum in speculis concavis non semper verificetur, ut nunc tibi demonstrabo, etc.' (Giovanni Battista Benedetti, Diversarum Speculationum mathetnaticarum et physicarum liber (Turin, 1585), p. 331.) The letters to Vimercato occupy 14 pages of this compilation; unfortunately, they are not dated.

37 The letter of Besozzi is mentioned by Cantimori, Delio, Eretici Italiani del Cinquecento (Florence, 1939), pp. 282-283.Google Scholar It may be found in the archives of the University of Basel, KTS. In it Besozzi referred to Vimercato as his good friend, and claimed that Vimercato was willing to have his works printed in Basel, but not to hand them over to be printed all at once.

’ … che al mil giudicio tutto e nulla senza la philosophia morale e naturale per fare huomini dotti, et vorei che V. S. si dasse tutto alia philosophia, e lassasse la sua lettione greca a uno maestro ato alia philosophia di quello che voi siete, per che mi pare cognoscere et prevedere che V. S. giovara molto a quella achademia esercitando questa Regina delle scienze, et a fine si comenza migliorare la philosophia in Basilea, io solicitaro il S. Vimercati, quale fu gia mio compagno et amico, et hora padrone per le sue virtu, e per che egli e virtuoso, mi consola nelle mie richeste honeste, pero non mi ha rifutato di volere dare alprensa che costi tutte l'operi si farano in uno corpo, et se dividerano in tomi, ne si stampara questo dorpo altrova hora che viene alia corte li faro cavare il privilegio dal Re lo cavera poi daltri principi et magistrati, accio la cita et Achademia vestrum [?] sola habbia le dette operi, che forse non li saranno di menore honor che l'operi di Erasmo …'. I am grateful to the library of the University of Basel for furnishing me with a microfilm of this letter.

38 These letters are contained in Codex Ambrosianus T 173 Sup. They were called to my attention by Paul O. Kristeller.

39 The microfilm I have of this letter is not clear enough to permit me to read it entirely. It is signed by Marguerite herself, but the body of the letter is in another hand.

40 The inscription is given by Johannes Sitonis di Scozia, in his Theatrum equcstris nobilitatis secundae Romae . . . (Milan, 1706), p. 151: ‘FRANCISCO VICOMERCATO | SVMMA INNOCENTIA ET | ADMIRABECIINTEGRITATE PRAEDITO | IOH. BAPTISTA CASTELLVS IVR. CONS. | EX COLLEGIO MEDIOLAN. | AWNCVLO OPTIME MERITO | MEMOR. ET GRATVS | MONVMENTVM HOC FAC. CVRAVIT | ANNO MDLXXX. xi. KAL. SEXTILIS.’ Sitonis reports that the tablet exists ‘in Phano SS. Angelorum P. N . Mediol', i.e., the Church of the Holy Angels.

41 ‘Per me credo pero d'avere ragione di dubitare, che fossero due Soggetti distinti sotto d'un medesimo nome, e cognomine; cioe l'uno Medico, e I'altro puramente Filosofo, vedendolo da una parte aver egli ottenuto il Collegio in Milano nel 1523. Archiatro della Reina Eleonora di Francia nel 1533, non considerato dal Guintero nella Dedicazione esposta ne per Lettore, ne per Iscrittore, e in conseguenza ne pure nominato dal Merchlino nelT Opera sua: De scriptis Medicis, e dalT altra apparendo Lettore, e Scrittore verso l'anno 1550, avendo incominciato da quest’ anno a pubblicare l'opere sue Filosofiche nel frontispizio delle quali mai non si dichiara per Medico, ommettendo ancora il titolo di Dottore, passando dopo nelT Universita di Mondovi: il che sarebbe seguito in eta molto avanzata, se fosse stato il medesimo; percio verisimilmente credo probabile, e ragionevole il dubio, che ho detto.’ (Bartolomeo Corte, Notizie istorkhe, pp. 70-71.) Corte's observations concerning the dates of our author's literary activity are not precisely correct: Vimercato did publish one work before 1550, namely his commentary on the De anima (1543), or two, if we consider the Peripatetic Discussion a separate work.

It is astonishing to see Argelati conjuring up ghost editions in order to support the doubtful merger of two different men's careers, and still more astonishing to see another biographer repeat his errors: see Paolo Sangiorgio, Cenni storici, p . 143: ‘II celebre nostro Corte dubita che due fossero i Francesche Vimercati, viventi nella stess’ epoca, e ne adduce li suoi argomenti, ma l'Argelati assicura che non era se non un solo. Le prove pero che ambedue ci danno, non mi sembrano bastanti per decidere questa questione.’ Yet, referring later to a ghost edition sponsored by Argelati (of the commentary on the Physics, supposedly printed in 1530), Sangiorgio says, ‘Edizione non conosciuta dal celebre Corte, che se conosciuta l'avesse, non avrebbe dubitato che due fossero i Franceschi Vimercati'. Sangiorgio goes on to list two more ghost editions before 1543.

42 The entry is given by Noto, Antonio, Gli Amid deipoveri di Milano. Sei secoli dilasciti e donatiui cronologkamente esposti (Milan, 1953), p. 231 Google Scholar: ‘Vimercati Francesco lega al luogo pio della Carita lire 3000 imperiali'. The editor adds: ‘non si conosce la data del testamento. La somma venne versata in quest’ anno al luogo pio.’ The actual testament was lost during World War II, according to Professor Kristeller.

43 Paolo Sangiorgio, Cenni storici sulle due uniuersita di Pavia e di Milano (Milano, 1831), pp. 209-210. Sangiorgio may have derived this story from CI. Goujet, who says that he had read it in a work written during the time of King Henry iv: ‘J'ai lu, dans un ecrit qui est du terns d'Henri iv, qui l'amour de la Patrie l'avoit rappelle en Italie, et qu'en mourant il confia tous ses ecrits, a la charge de les donner au Public, a Octavien Ferrari, son compatriote' (Memoire historique et litteraire sur le College Royal de France (Paris, 1758), II, 193).

44 ‘3878. Mandement a Jean Carre, commis au payement des omciers de l'hotel, de donner a messire Francisco de Vimerca, medicin ordinaire du roi, la somme de 250 livres tournois pour six mois de ses gages (juillet-decembre, 1530).’ The entry is dated from Paris, 12 March 1530. ﹛Catalogue des actes de Francois Ier, Paris, 1887-1908, II, 9.) It should be observed that King Francis 1 seems to have employed several Italians as physicians, among them Giovanni Antonio Castiglione, Cristoforo Foresta, Matteo de Corte, Giorgio Antiochia, Guido Guidi (who later became the first teacher of medicine among the king's readers), and Antonio Musa Brassavola. See Emile Picot, ‘Les Italiens en France au xvie siecle', Bulletin Italien III (1903), pp. 22-23.

45 ‘65 5 3. Lettres confirmative d'un bref de Clement VII (Marseille, 10 Novembre 1533), accordant a Francisque de Vimerat, prevot de Saint-Just de Lyon, medicin ordinaire de la reine, le premier benefice vacant en l'archeveche d'Aix.’ The entry is dated 5 December 1533, from Crimien. (Catalogue des actes, II, 573.)

46 ‘Lettres ratifiant la nomination de Francois de Vimercat a l'abbaye de Coetmalouen.' This entry is dated 18 August 1545, from Arques. (Ibid., II, 794.)

47 See Gallia Christiana, XIV, 907. Presumably, his name should appear in the list for 'B. Maria de Silva Mellonis’ (in Coetmalouen) after that of the abbot who died in 1545, namely ‘Franciscus I de Maulny', but it does not.

48 Don á Sebastien de Luxembourg, de l'abbaye de Notre-Dame d'Issoudun, vacante par la mort de Francisque de Vimercati’ (Catalogue des actes de Francois Ier, v, 92). The entry is dated 26 June 1546, from Fontainebleau. Gallia Christiana, a, 161, lists as the 42nd abbot of Notre-Dame ‘Franciscus 11 de Vicomercato consiliarius et regius medicus an. 1546'.

49 23 30. Jérôme de Beaquis, dit de Bévélaqua, conseiller, trésorier et receveur général du cardinal de Lorraine, héritier de Francisque de Vicomercato, medecin ordinaire du Roi et abbe de Notre-Dame d'Issoudun: donation á Jean de Bretagne, chevalier de l'Ordre, due d'Etampes et comte de Penthièvre, de ses droits sur les biens meubles et créances de Francisque de Vicomercato, tant á Issoudun qu'ailleurs, provenant des revenus de l'abbaye d'Issoudun. Dans le corps de la donation est insere le testament de Francisque de Vicomercato, du 20 juin 1546, lequel institue comme heritier de ses biens de Bretagne et d'une creance de 1,200 livres sur Jerome de Beaquis, Nicolas Perussi, demeurant á Nantes, et pour ses biens d'ltalie Honofrio de Vicomercato, son frère.—26 Janvier 1547.’ (Inventaire des registres des insinuations du Chatelet de Paris, règnes de Francois I^er et de Henri II, ed. E. Campardon and A. Tuctey, Paris, 1906, p. 270.)

50 In his dedicatory letter, addressed ‘Francisco a Vicomercato Mediolanensi, Serenissimae Galliarum Regime Leonorae Medico clarissimo', Winter says of his work: ‘Quern laborem tibi vir excellentissime, nominatim appendere visum est, qui turn veterem turn novam percalleas medicinam: qui in mathematis altioribusque disciplinis nulli vel Italorum vel Gallorum cedas, denique qui tanta curandi aegros dexteritate et methodo polleas, ut omnibus facile medium, quod aiunt, unguem ostendas. Hac enim ratione Galliarum Reginae illustrissimae medicus es creatus, hac in gravioribus Principum morbis ubique accersiris, hac to Galli amant, Itali venerantur, utrique expetunt. Proinde vigilias has nostras hilari fronte excipias, Francisce doctissime, et contra morsus vitilitigatorum, ut alias soles, defende.’ The letter is dated from Paris. (Oribasii medici clarissimi commentaria in Aphorismos Hippocratis hactenus non visa, Ioannis Guinterij Andernaci Doctoris Medici industria velut e profundissimis tenebris eruta, & nunc primum in Medicinae studiosorum utilitatem aedita, Parisiis, Ex officina Simonis Colinaei, 1533.)

51 See Argelati, Filippo, Bibliotheca scriptorum Mediolanensium (Milan, 1745)Google Scholar, II, cols. 1661-1663, ‘De Vicomercato Franciscus'. Argelati claims that a genealogical tree supplied him by a scholarly friend shows conclusively that ‘from the time of Onofrio the Elder at the end of the sixteenth century until that of Sylvia Vicomercata, the last of his progeny, there was no other Francesco besides ours: “Dubius haesit CI. Curtius [i.e., Corte] utrum unus, vel duo fuerint Vicomercati sub nomine Francisci eodem tempore florentes, sed rationes ab eo adductae omnino corruunt a Stemmatibus genealogicis familiae Vicomercatae, nobis de more perhumaniter datis a CI. Sitono, nam in illo Auctoris nostri, quod incipit ab Honuphrio seniore in vivis agente prope finem Seculi xvi usque ad Sylviam Vicomercatam ex istius progenie ultimam, et Julio de Ursinis de Roma nuptam anno MDLXVI, nullus alius Franciscus legitur, praeter nostrum” ‘ (col. 1663).

In the interests of merging these two Francesco Vimercatos, Argelati creates several ghost editions to show that Vimercato was active as a writer before the middle of the century. But, as may be seen from our bibliography, the first date year in which Vimercato published anything was 1543. Most of the earlier dates must hence be assigned to Francesco Vimercato the doctor, including the date given by Corte for his being elected to the college of physicians in Milan (namely, 1523).

52 Henri Busson, Le Rationalisme dans la litteraturefrancaise de la Renaissance (1533-1601) (Paris, 1957). The work was originally published in 1922.

53 Lefranc, Histoire du College de France, p . 163.

54 E.g. in his La Pensee religieusefrancaise de Charron á Pascal (Paris, 1933), p. 418: ‘C'est un Italien qui le premier et l'un des seuls, je crois, osa prendre sa defense en France au XVI^e siecle [i.e., the defense of Epicurus]: Francesco Vimercati, professeur au Collège de France.'

55 Various genealogical stemmata for various branches of the Vimercato family are in circulation. One of them, kindly supplied me by Dott. Ing. Serafino De Capitani of Milan, begins with ‘D. Johanolus’ in the middle of the 14th century, continues through 'Bassanius’ and includes, as one of the sons of Lancellotus, a certain ‘Franciscus'. This stemma resembles in its general features a genealogy preserved in the Braidense library (MS. AG.x.26), which indicates that a legal instrument was executed on 23 July 1520 between four brothers, including a ‘D. Franciscus’ (the others being ‘Ludovicus', ‘Ven. D. Vincentius', and ‘D. Augustinus’). Argelati, in his discussion of Francesco Vimercato (n, 1662), recognizes the existence of this noble ‘Franciscus', but puts his dates at 1429 to 1449, too early for the scholar. None of these genealogical trees seem entirely reliable; hence, in the absence of corroborating evidence, I should prefer not to rely on them.

56 See Georg W. Panzer, Annates Typographic^… (Nuremberg, 1803), II, 306, where a typographer, ‘Augustinus de Vico Mercato', is listed as active in Milan in 1519.

57 Perhaps some of the details given by Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla, in his Storia idle scoperte fisico-medico-chirurgiche fatte dagli uomini illustri italiani (Milan, 1781), n, pt. I, p. 6, also derive from the medical man: ‘Francesco Vimercati Pavese [sic] archiatro della Regina Leonora moglie di Francesco 1 Re di Francia. 1530 II Vimercati ebbe i suoi natali in Pavia, dove studio la Filosofia, l'Anatomia, et la Medicina: e vi ricevette la Laurea Dottorale nel 1523: per alcuni anni communico le sue erudite e vaste cognizione agli scolari dell’ Universita … ‘ . However, Brambilla gives no source for these facts, nor does he give the provenance of the portrait which he presents as that of Francesco Vimercati. There is a letter among the Strozzi papers in Florence which is signed ‘Francisco Vimerchato phisico', and dated 2 June 1525. It concerns the writer's service with the Duke of Milan, and it would seem to have been written, very probably, by the future physician of King Francis 1. (Florence, Carte Strozziane, 1,158, fol. 19.). The location of the manuscript was pointed out to me by Professor Kristeller; Professor Charles B. Schmitt of Fordham University secured a microfilm of it for me. It is described, very briefly, in Cesare Guasti and G. Milanesi, Le carte Strozziane del R. Archiuio di Stato in Firenze, inventario (Florence, 1884-1891), II, 78, where it is listed among the letters to Cardinal Salviati.

58 P. 192: ‘II étudia, puis enseigna peut-etre á Pavie et á Padoue la philosophic et la medecine.'

59 Ibid., p. 192. When Busson cites the Catalogues des actes, II, 9, however, he substitutes 'Francesco de Vicomercato’ for the name as it actually appears: ‘Francisco de Vimerca'.

60 Ibid., p. 192.

61 Busson takes his citation from Argelati, who quotes an edition of Venice, 1533, rather than the Paris, 1533. But surely if its author were living in Paris, one would expect the edition by Colines to be the editio princeps.

62 Ibid., p. 192.

63 Ibid., p. 192.

64 Strangely enough, Busson himself recognizes this fact in a footnote, in which he points out that the copy in the Bibliothèque Nationale dates from 1543, with a dedicatory letter dated from March of that year. Nevertheless, he apparently prefers to cling to his faith in Argelati's bibliographical work, although not without misgivings: ‘Y a-t-il une edition anterieure ou est-ce une erreur d'Argelati?’ The answer is, obviously, ‘An error on Argelati's part'—one of many.

65 Ibid., p. 194.

66 The best account of the life of Francesco Bernardino Vimercato, the soldier, may be found in an article by Carlo Promis, ‘Gl’ ingeneri militari che operarono o scrissero in Piemonte dalT anno MCC all anno MDCL', Miscellanea di Storia Italiana, ed. per cura delta R. Deputazione di storia patria, ser. I, XII (1871), 411-646. Francesco Bernardino's name appears in many of the military memoirs and accounts of the period, including those of Du Bellay, Brantome, Monluc, the Venetian ambassador Soranzo, Boyvin de Villars, Pellicier, etc.

67 In footnote 4, p. 195.

68 Ernest Renan, Averroes et l'Averroïsme, in Oeuvres completes de Ernest Renan (Paris, 1949), in, 317: ‘En général, l'averroi'sme proprement dit, c'est-á-dire l'étude du Grand Commentaire, se répandit peu hors de l'ltalie. Patrizzi donne pour trait caractéristique des ecoles de France et d'Espagne qu'on y explique le texte pur d'Aristote sans commentaires’. Renan's essay on Averroism first appeared in 1852: at its time, it was a pioneering work, but it has been severely criticized in its treatment of the earlier centuries. Almost nothing has been done on the reappraisal needed for the later periods.

69 Francesco Patrizzi, Discussionumperipateticarum tomi IV (Basel, 1581), p. 146 (Patrizzi is discussing the ‘tenth phase’ of philosophy, lasting until his own time): ‘In qua floruerunt Nicolaus Leonicus, Franciscus Caballus, Alexander Achillinus, M. Antonius Zimarra, Augustinus Niphus, Petrus Pomponacius, atque horum discipuli Ludovicus Buccaferreus, Simon Portius, Vincentius Madius, M. Antonius Ianua, Franciscus Vicomercatus, atque alii viri celebres turn munere docendi, turn etiam labore Aristotelis explanandi.'

70 Such as Bruno Nardi's Saggi sull' Aristotelismo Padovano dal secolo XIV al XVI (Florence, 1958). Nardi deals with Vimercato in some detail in the chapter which he devotes to Simplicius's commentary on the De anitna, trying to demonstrate that knowledge of this work was limited to the University of Padua.

71 See the excerpt from Simoni's Antischegkianorum liber (Basel, 1571) given by Nardi, Saggi, PP. 411-412.

72 Ibid.

73 Dan. Georgius Morhofus, Polyhistor (Lübeck, 1708), II, 1, 56: ‘Franciscus Vicomercjjtus. Mediolanensis ille fuit, et Parisiensis Academiae Prof[essor]. Commentator Aristotelis celeberrimus. In varios Aristotelis libros scripsit, quibus ille diligentiam singularem impendit. Nam fontes ipsos curiose rimatus, adhibitis in consilium Graecis Interpretibus, id operam dedit, ut mentem Aristotelis accurate indagaret. Versiones depravatas Aristotelis ipse correxit, imo alias substituit. Adduxit praeterea, quae ornamento esse poterant, ut superarit omnium, tarn Graecorum, quam Arabum, industriam. Denique et hoc in ipso laudandum est, quod cultiori sermone Philosophica dogmata proponat.’ Any one who wishes to compare philosophical styles as they changed during the Renaissance should examine the works of Vimercato in conjunction with those of John Mair (Major) of Scotland, who was teaching at the University of Paris just fifty years before Vimercato. Even Major himself considered his own style tedious and dull for the reader.