Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-08T12:26:50.429Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Curiosity, Contingency, and Cultural Diversity: Montaigne's Readings at the Vatican Library*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

François Rigolot
François Rigolot*
Affiliation:
Princeton University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

One of the key episodes of Michel de Montaigne's trip to Rome (1580–81) was his visit to the Vatican Library, which he comments upon in his Journal de voyage, posthumously published. Strangely enough, few scholars have paid close attention to what Montaigne says about the selection of manuscripts and printed material he consulted there on 6 March 1581. He claims that he was given free access to that Wunderkammer, and scholarly research shows that his wish list indeed reflected his taste for irony, humor, and cultural diversity, ranging from Greco-Roman manuscripts to Egyptian papyrus and a Chinese booklet. At the same time, a case could be made for interpreting the selection, not as Montaigne's, but as the library custodian's, with Aquinas's sermons, anti-Lutheran material, and documents used at the Council of Trent. This paper tries to sort out to what extent the selection of books and items that Montaigne saw at the Vatican Library can be considered as the meeting ground between the interests of Montaigne himself as skeptic and the agenda of the Counter-Reformation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , Fall 2011 , pp. 847 - 874
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The inventory made in the 1980s by the late Franca Caldari Bevilacqua was an essential point of departure for my work. I am much indebted to Massimo Ceresa, whose assistance with original documents at the Vatican Library was invaluable. I am also grateful to Marco Buonocore, who helped me find my way through the Seneca manuscripts, and to Philippe Desan and George Hoffmann for their willingness to read a draft of this paper and provide useful advice. A first version was presented at a Renaissance Colloquium in Princeton on 1 April 2010. I wish to thank the organizers and a number of colleagues whose remarks were crucial to redefining my project, especially Marina Brownlee, Carla Caponegro, Gian Mario Cao, Pietro Frassica, Meghan Gottschall, Anthony Grafton, Mary Harper, Sarah Kay, Alain Legros, Russell Leo, Nicos Panou, Elizabeth Petcu, Eileen Reeves, Nigel Smith, and Ronald Surtz. Once again my wife, Carol, kindly reread my text and made many useful suggestions.

References

Balsamo, Jean. “Les premières relations des missions de la Chine et leur réception française.” Nouvelle Revue du Seizième Siècle 16 (1998): 155–84.Google Scholar
Bevilacqua, Franca Caldari. “Montaigne alla Biblioteca vaticana.” In Montaigne e l'Italia. Atti del Congresso internazionale di studi di Milano-Lecco, 26–30 ottobre 1988, ed. , Balmas, Enea and , Emmanuele, Kanceff, 363–90. Geneva, 1991.Google Scholar
Bignami Odier, Jeanne, and , José, Ruysschaert. La Bibliothèque Vaticane de Sixte IV à Pie XI. Recherches sur l'histoire des collections de manuscrits. Vatican City, 1973.Google Scholar
Bjaï, Denis. “Chine.” In Dictionnaire de Michel de Montaigne (2004), 164.Google Scholar
Boutcher, Warren. “Le moyen de voir ce Senecque escrit à la main: Montaigne's Journal de Voyage and the Politics of Science and Faveur in the Vatican Library.” In (Ré)interpretations: Études sur le Seizième Siècle, ed. , O'Brien, John, 177–214. Ann Arbor, 1995.Google Scholar
Buonocore, Marco, ed. Vedere I Classici. L'illustrazione libraria dei testi antichi dall'età romana a; tardo medioevo. Vatican City, 1996–97.Google Scholar
Buonocore, Marco. “Per in ITER tra I codici di Seneca alla B.A.V.: primi traguardi.” Giornale italiano di filologia 52.1–2 (2000): 17–100.Google Scholar
Cavallini, Concetta. “Cette belle besogne.” Étude sur le Journal de voyage de Montaigne avec une bibliographie critique. Fasano, 2005.Google Scholar
Charpentier, Françoise. “Curiosité.” In Dictionnaire de Michel de Montaigne (2004), 238–39.Google Scholar
Clarke, Andrea, and , Susan, Doran, eds. Henry VIII: Man and Monarch; Exhibition Curated by David Starkey. London, 2009.Google Scholar
Courcelle, Pierre. Lecteurs païens et lecteurs chrétiens de l’“Énéide.” Les Témoignages littéraires. Paris, 1984.Google Scholar
D'Ancona, Alessandro. L'Italia alla fine del secolo XVI . Giornale di viaggio di Michele de Montaigne in Italia nel 1580 e 1581. Città di Castello, 1889.Google Scholar
Dejob, Charles. Marc-Antoine Muret, un professeur français en Italie dans la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle. 1881 Reprint, Geneva, 1970.Google Scholar
De Landa, Manuel. Assemblage Theory and Social Complexity. New York, 2006.Google Scholar
Deleuze, Gilles. Empiricism and Subjectivity. New York, 1991.Google Scholar
Desan, Philippe, ed. “Une philosophie impréméditée et fortuite: nécessité et contingence chez Montaigne.” In Bulletin de la Société des Amis de Montaigne 21–22 (1990): 69–83.Google Scholar
Desan, Philippe. Dieu à notre commerce et société. Montaigne et la théologie. Geneva, 2008.Google Scholar
Desan, Philippe. “L'appel de Rome, ou comment Montaigne ne devint jamais ambassadeur.” In Les Chemins de l'exil, havres de paix. Migrations d'hommes et d'idées au XVIe siècle, ed. , Balsamo, Jean and , Chiara, Lastraioli, 229–59. Paris, 2009.Google Scholar
Dictionnaire de Michel de Montaigne. Ed. Desan, Philippe. Paris, 2004.Google Scholar
Godman, Peter. The Saint as Censor: Robert Bellarmin between Inquisition and Index. Leiden, 2000.Google Scholar
Goodman, Howard L. “East Asia in the Vatican Vaults.” In Rome Reborn (1993), 251–92.Google Scholar
Grafton, Anthony, ed. Joseph Scaliger: A Study in the History of Classical Scholarship. Vol. 1, Textual Criticism and Exegesis. Oxford, 1983.Google Scholar
Hankins, James. “The Popes and Humanism.” In Rome Reborn (1993), 47–85.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, George. Montaigne's Career. Oxford, 1998.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenny, Neil. Curiosity in Early Modern Europe: Word Histories. Wiesbaden, 1998.Google Scholar
Kenny, Neil. The Uses of Curiosity in Early Modern France and Germany. Oxford, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kingdon, Robert M. Myths about the St. Batholomew's Day Massacres: 1572–1576. Cambridge, MA, 1988.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Legros, Alain. “La main grecque de Montaigne.” Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 61.2 (1999): 461–98.Google Scholar
Legros, Alain. “Théologie.” In Dictionnaire de Michel de Montaigne (2004), 967–72.Google Scholar
Legros, Alain. “Montaigne between Fortune and Providence.” In Chance, Literature, and Culture in Early Modern France, ed. , Lyons, John D and , Kathleen, Wine, 17–30. Farnham, 2009a .Google Scholar
Legros, Alain. “Montaigne face à ses censeurs romains de 1581 (Mise à jour).” Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 71.1 (2009b ): 7–33.Google Scholar
Luther, Martin. Three Treatises from the American Edition of Luther's Works. Trans. Charles M. Jacobs. Philadelphia, 1970.Google Scholar
Martin, Daniel. Montaigne et la Fortune. Paris, 1977.Google Scholar
Marucchi, Valerio, and , Paola Scarcia, Piacentini. Les Manuscrits latins de la Bibliothèque Vaticane 3.1. Paris, 1991.Google Scholar
McKinley, Mary. Words in a Corner: Studies in Montaigne's Latin Quotations. Lexington, 1980.Google Scholar
Mercati, Giovanni. “Per la storia della biblioteca apostolica: bibliotecario Cesare Baronio.” In Opere minori raccolte in occasione del settantesimo natalizio sotto auspici di S. S. Pio XI (1937) 3:201–75.Google Scholar
Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays of Montaigne. Ed. , Frame, Donald M. Stanford, 1965.Google Scholar
Montaigne, Michel de. Les Essais. Ed. , Villey, Pierre and , V. L., Saulnier. Paris, 1978.Google Scholar
Montaigne, Michel de. Montaigne's Travel Journal. Trans. Donald M. Frame. San Francisco, 1983.Google Scholar
Montaigne, Michel de. Journal de voyage. Ed. , Rigolot, François. Paris, 1992.Google Scholar
Nolhac, Pierre de. Le Virgile du Vatican et ses peintures. Paris, 1897.Google Scholar
Pellegrin, Elisabeth, , François, Dolbeau, , Jeannine, Fohlen, , Jean-Yves, Tillette, , Adriana, Marucchi, and , Paola Scarcia, Piacentini. Les Manuscrits latins de la Bibliothèque Vaticane, vol. 3, pt. 1, Fonds Vatican latin, 224–2900. Paris, 1991.Google Scholar
Petitmengin, Pierre. “Recherches sur l'organisation de la Bibliothèque Vaticane à l’époque des Ranaldi (1547–1645).” Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire 75 (1963): 561–628.Google Scholar
Phillips, Margaret Mann. The Adages of Erasmus: A Study with Translations. Cambridge, 1964.Google Scholar
Plutarch, . Les Vies des hommes illustres. Trans. , Amyot, Jacques. Ed. , Gérard, Walter. Paris, 1951.Google Scholar
Reiss, Timothy. “Montaigne et le sujet du politique.” Œuvres et Critiques 8.1–2 (1983): 127–52.Google Scholar
Rigolot, François. “Perspectives modernes sur la subjectivité montaignienne.” In La Problématique du sujet chez Montaigne, ed. , Kushner, Eva, 149–70. Paris, 1995.Google Scholar
Rigolot, François. “Montaigne's Anti-Mannerist Mannerism.” In Le Visage Changeant de Montaigne — The Changing Face of Montaigne, ed. , Cameron, Keith and , Laura, Willett, 207–30. Paris, 2003.Google Scholar
Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture. Ed. Grafton, Anthony. New Haven, 1993.Google Scholar
Ruysschaert, José. “Il copista Bartholomeo San Vito, miniatore padovano a Roma dal 1469 al 1501.” Archivio della Società romana di Storia patria 109 (1989): 37–47.Google Scholar
Salmon, Pierre. Les Manuscrits liturgiques latins de la Bibliothèque vaticane . Vol. 2, Sacramentaires épistoliers, évangéliaires, graduels, missels. Vatican City, 1969.Google Scholar
Smith, Malcolm. Montaigne and the Roman Censors. Geneva, 1981.Google Scholar
Starobinski, Jean. Montaigne en mouvement. Paris, 1982.Google Scholar
Tarrête, Alexandre. “Fortune.” In Dictionnaire de Montaigne (2004), 415–16.Google Scholar
Tocci, Luigi Michelini, ed. Il Libro della Bibbia, esposizione di manoscritti e edizioni a stampa della B.A.V. dal secolo III al secolo XVI. Vatican City, 1972.Google Scholar
Tocci, Luigi Michelini. “La Statue du bon Aristide.” In Studi offerti a Giovanni Incisa della Rocchetta. Miscellanea della società romana di storia patria, 337–53. Rome, 1973.Google Scholar
Tocci, Luigi Michelini. ed. Quinto Centenario della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1475–1975. Vatican City, 1975.Google Scholar
Vian, Nello. “La presentazione e gli esemplari Vaticani della Assertio septem sacramentorum di Enrico VIII.” In Collectanea Vaticana in honorem Anselmi M. Card. Albareda a Bibliotheca apostolica edita, 2:355–75. Vatican City, 1962.Google Scholar
Virgil, . The Aeneid. Trans. Frederick Ahl. Ed. , Fantham, Elaine. Oxford, 2007.Google Scholar
Walker, D. P. “The Prisca Theologia in France.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 17 (1954): 204–59.Google Scholar
Walker, D. P.. “Esoteric Symbolism.” In Poetry and Poetics from Ancient Greece to the Renaissance: Studies in Honor of James Hutton, ed. , Kirkwood, G. M, 225–26. Ithaca, 1975.Google Scholar
Wind, Edgar. Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance. New Haven, 1958.Google Scholar