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Giles of Viterbo: A Reformer's Thought on Renaissance Rome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

John W. O'Malley S.J.
John W. O'Malley S.J.*
Affiliation:
University of Detroit
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Extract

Giles of Viterbo (Egidio da Viterbo, 1469-1532) has been receiving increasing attention as his place in early sixteenth-century intellectual and religious history becomes clearer: he combined a central and effective position in ecclesiastical administration with an active role in the leading scholarly and literary circles of the late Italian Renaissance. As prior general of the Augustinian friars from 1508 until 1518 he undertook from Rome a vigorous reform of the order. He was a trusted adviser of Pope Julius II, under whose powerful patronage he had been elected head of the Augustinians, and he enjoyed a very cordial relationship with the two Medici popes, Leo X and Clement VII, the former of whom created him a cardinal in 1517.

Type
Research Article
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , Spring 1967 , pp. 1 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 2002

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References

1 For an excellent study of Giles's fate at the hands of historians, see Francis X., Martin, 'The Problem of Giles of Viterbo: A Historiographical Survey,’ Augustiniana ix (1959), 357–379 Google Scholar; x (1960), 43-60.I have listed the more pertinent books and articles which have appeared since Professor Martin's survey was published in my article,‘Giles of Viterbo: A Sixteenth Century Text on Doctrinal Development,’ Traditio XXII (1966), 445-450. By far the most important of these pubHcations is François Secret's edition of Giles's lengthy Christian interpretation of the cabala, undertaken at the request of Pope Clement vn and addressed to Emperor Charles, v, Scechina e Libellus de litterishebraicis, 2 vols. (Rome, 1959)Google Scholar. This is the only one of Giles's major works that has been published. Secret's latest article on Giles is:‘Notes surEgidio da Viterbo,’ Augustiniana xv (1965), 68-72. To the studies by Eugenio Massa which Martin lists in his survey, the following which touches indirectly on Giles, should now be added:‘Intorno ad Erasmo: unapolemica chesicredevaperduta,’ Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies in Honor of Berthold Louis Ullman n (Rome, 1964), 435-454. Also of interest are the pages dealing with Giles in the careful study by Gérard E., Weil, ÉlieLévita, Humaniste e Massorète(Leiden, 1963).Google Scholar

2 ‘… homines per sacra immutarifasest, non sacra per homines,’ Ioannes Dominicus, Mansi, ed., Sacrorumconciliorum nova etamplissimacollectio xxxn (Paris, 1902), 669.Google Scholar

3 On this aspect of Giles's life, see Heinrich, Böhmer, Luthers Romfahrt (Leipzig, 1914), pp. 36–76 Google Scholar, and Weijenborg, R.,‘NeuentdeckteDokumenteimZusammenhangmit LuthersRomreise,’ Antonianum xxxn (1957), 147–202.Google Scholar

4 All three were published in Padua in 1493: Egidii Romani eremitae de materiacoeli quaestio; Egidii Romani de intellectupossibili contra Averroimquaestioaurea; Egidii Romani Commentaria in VIII librosphysicorumAristotelis. The first two of these incunabula were published together and are listed under No. 114 inHain and 7213 in the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke. The commentary on the Physics is listed under 128 in Hain and 7197 in the Gesamtkatalog.

5 Giles's enthusiasm is forcefully conveyed in his letter to Ficino, published in Edmund, Martène and Durand, U., eds., Veterumscriptorumetmonumentorumhistoricorum, dogmaticorum, moraliumamplissimacollectiom (Paris, 1724), 1250-1252Google Scholar. This same letter was published by Paul Oskar Kristellerwidi the variant readings of the Angelica library manuscript 1001, SupplementumFicinianum n (Florence, 1937), 314-16. For a biobibliographical note on Giles, see p. 354.

The commentary on Peter Lombard is unfinished. The codex to which reference will be made in this article is a copy in the Vatican Library, Vat. Lat. 6325. Giles's Historia XX saeculorum which along with the Scechina and the Lombard commentary is to be numbered among his major works, also is unpublished; two copies are in the Biblioteca Angelica in Rome, Ang. Lat. 351 and Ang. Lat. 502. Except for a relatively few letters, Giles's extensive correspondence is also unedited and unpublished.

6 See Francois, Secret, Les kabbalisteschrétiens de la Renaissance (Paris, 1964), pp. 106–126 Google Scholar. Giles never met Pico or Reuchlin personally but corresponded with the latter and tried to help with the defence of his case in Rome, etc. For comment on them, see, e.g., Scechina 1, 24, 40.

7 See Hubert, Jedin, Girolamo Seripandoi(Wiirzburg, 1937), 24–33, 80-95Google Scholar, and François, Secret, ‘GirolamoSeripando et la kabbale,’ Rinascimento, Seconda Serie, III (1963), 251–268.Google Scholar

8 Elogiadoctorumvirorum (Antwerp, 1557), pp. 187-189. With a touch of rhetoric but in all truth Giles describes his zeal for reform, Ang. Lat. 1170, 21v:‘Sumus die noctuque inlaborereformandi, nihilquealiudagimus, inspicimus, cogitamus nisi ut, iubente et pontifice et protectore, collapsa nostra respublica [Augustinian order] faciemrecuperet antiquaemaiestatis.'

9 See, for instance, Ang. Lat. 502, 100r , where Giles, explaining the divine origin of numbers and the transcendent meaning they have, tries to make the point which so often engages him: everything in the created world has its origin and prototype in God, and not vice versa; realities in the world are explained, therefore, by reference to the divine prototypes, and these prototypes are in no way dependent upon their earthly counterparts. At this juncture Giles interjects the principle that our function, consequently, is to conform to the divine and not to expect the divine to adjust itself to us:‘Imitemurenimdivinanosoportet, non a divinisimitandinossumus.’ This is simply a more generalized articulation, metaphysical in its scope, of the reform principle of the Fifth Lateran Council: 'Homines per sacra immutarifasest, non sacra per homines.’ See also ibid., 107r, 252r-v, 258V, and Scechina II, 8-9.

10 See Delio, Cantimori, Ereticiitalianinel Cinquecento (Florence, 1939), p.6 Google Scholar. Giles's criticism of his own age is,‘… ad humana … [vestrasaecula] conversasunt,’ Scechina 1, 104.

11 BibliotecaComunale, Siena, MS. G.X.26, 261:‘Non enim nova facimus, sedleges patrum in ista patria extinctas, Deoitaiubente, suscitamus.’ This Siena manuscript contains a large number of letters written by Giles as prior general of the Augustinians, many of which concern the reform of the order.

12 See, for instance, Ang. Lat. 502,63r:‘… Apostoli… sylvas pro patria, pro domibus antra, ferassibi pro comitibusascivere.’ Also, ibid., 37r, 39r, 62v, 123r∼v, 128v-129r, 166v, etc., and Scechina I, 166; n, 278. On Giles and the eremitical tradition in the Augustinian order, see Francis X., Martin,‘Giles of Viterbo and the Monastery of Lecceto: the Making of a Reformer,’ Anakcta Augustiniana xxv (1962), esp. 234–236.Google Scholar

13 Ang. Lat. 502, 26ov:‘… nihilius, nihilfas; aurum, vis et Venus imperabat.’ See also, Scechina , e.g., 1, 136.

14 Scechina 1, 98:‘Non emendat quae debet Roma.’ Also, 1, 105, 170, etc.

15 Martène, col. 1259.

16 Ang. Lat. 502, 193r-104v. See also, ibid., 112 v- 113r, 116v, 132r-134r, 185r, 191r, 198r, 245v-249r, and Mansi, col. 673. See also Giles's oration,‘De incremento ecclesiae,’ delivered before Julius II in Saint Peter's basilica on December 21, 1507, and sent as a 'libellus’ to Manuel 1 of Portugal the next year, Evora MS. CXVI/1/30, 58v-6or. This manuscript was discovered by Professor Martin, who very kindly informed me of it.

17 Scechina 1, 130:‘… utpervidens [David] nihilessealiudhistoriamsacram quam sephirotfigurae, providentiae imago, exemplariumprocessio, rerumimitamentadivinarum.' See also, 11,13-14,113, and Ang. Lat. 502,6or. For an understanding of the cabala the works of Gershom, Scholem are basic, beginning with his Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (3rd ed., New York, 1961)Google Scholar. On dynamic and developmental patterns of history in the cabala, see Scholem's, Ursprung und Anfänge der Kabbala(Berlin, 1962), pp. 407–419 Google Scholar, and by the same author,‘La signification de la Loidans la mystique juive,’ Diogène XV (1956), esp. 80, 102-114. Silvester Meucci da Castiglione's Venice ed., 1527, of Expositio magniprophetaeAbbatisIoachim in Apocalipsim was dedicated to Giles and was actually undertaken at his prompting, as the dedication relates. The tenfold scheme of Christian history provides the basic structure for Giles's Historia XX saeculorum.

18 See, e.g., André, Chastel,‘L'Antéchrist à la Renaissance,’ Cristianesimo e Ragion di Stato; L’ Umanesimo e il Demoniaconell'Arte: Atti del II CongressoInternaz. diStudiUmanistici, ed. Enrico, Castelli (Rome, 1952), pp. 177–186 Google Scholar, and by the same author, Art et Humanisme à Florence au temps de Laurent le Magnifique (Paris, 196i),pp. 341-351. See also Giuseppe, Ermini, ed., L'Attesadell'etànuovanellaspiritualitàdellafinedelMedioevo(Todi, 1962)Google Scholar, and Norman, Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium (London, 1962)Google Scholar. The volume of Archivio di Filosofia entitled Umanesimo e Esoterismo (1960) has a number of articles touching in some way on this topic. See also Eugenio Garin,‘Paolo Orlandini e ilprofeta Francesco da Meleto’ and‘II“nuovosecolo” e i suoiannunciatori’ in La culturajilosqfica delRinascimentoitaliano (Florence, 1961), 213-223, 224-228, and G. Vasoli,‘La profezia di Francesco da Meleto’ in Umanesimo e Ermeneutica: Archivio di Filosofia (1963), 27-80. Also see Paul Oskar, Kristeller,‘MarsilioFicino and LodovicoLazzarelli,’ and‘Ancoraper Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio,’ in Studies in Renaissance Thought and Letters (Rome, 1956), 221–247, 249-257Google Scholar. The fact that the Fifth Lateran Council, with which Giles was so much involved, put restrictions on popular prophetic preaching is indicative of how widespread the phenomenon was. See Joseph, Alberigo, et al., eds., Conciliorumoecumenicorum decreta(Basle, 1962), pp. 610–614.Google Scholar

19 See Kristeller, SupplementumFicinianum II, 316:‘Quo factum est, utdivinaprovidentia missumMarsiliumFicinumarbitremur, qui misticamPlatonistheologiam nostrissacrisinstitutis in primisconsentaneam, atqueillorumpreviamdeclararet. Hec sunt mi MarsiliSaturnia regna, hectoties a Sibilla et vatibusaetasaureadecantata, hec Platonis ilia tempora, quibus fore precinuit, utsua quam optimestudia nota fierent.’ See also Ang. Lat. 502, 187r.

20 It is in the HistoriaXXsaeculorum , which was written while the Fifth Lateran Councilwas in session, that Giles's most heated attacks on the Paduanperipatetics occur. He possibly had PietroPomponazzi principally in mind. What Giles finds particularly vicious in his Paduan adversaries, besides their real or imagined rejection in one form or another of the immortality of the soul, is their at least imphcit rejection of the doctrine of providence. See, e.g., Ang. Lat. 502, 21r, 87r_v, 95v-96r, 103r, 159r-l65r, 235v, 288v-289r, etc., and also, Scechina 1, 92; 11, 16, 181-183.

Did Giles play an active role in obtaining the condemnation by the Fifth Lateran Council of certain Averroist theses, esp. as these concerned personal immortality? Although no direct evidence has as yet been discovered to show that this is the case, the persistence of his attack in the Historia certainly inclines one to the view that he was one of the principal promoters of this condemnation of Dec. 19, 1513.

21 Giles tells Leo x that, just as his father Lorenzo the Magnificent caused Greek letters to be restored to mankind, so he, Leo, by his patronage would bring back to life a proper understanding of Scripture:‘… ita, tepontifice, … et utraquelex et universa sacra tamquamabinteritu et abipsisvelutcineribusreviviscant,’ Ang. Lat. 502, 8r. See also, ibid., 195v-196r. For a remarkable letter of Giles's to GianMatteoGiberti on the relationship between the discovery of the cabala by the Christians of his day and the recognition of the papacy by all peoples of the world, see Martène, cols. 1260-61.

22 Giles's enthusiasm for the voyages and conquests of the Spaniards and Portuguese can be traced back to the early years of the Sententiae and swells to a crescendo in the Scechina as the theological significance of these events became clearer to him. In the tenth age all secrets are to be revealed, those of the divine and eternal world through the cabala and those of the created world by means of the voyages of discovery. Mankind would thus be brought into an intellectual and religious unity under the papacy, fulfilling the words of Christ in Saint John's Gospel,‘… et fietunumovile et unuspastor.'John 10:16. See e.g., Vat. Lat. 6325, 28r, 88r, 143v; Ang. Lat. 502, 176v-177v, 191v-193r;Evora cxvi/1-30, 43v, 52r, 69r_v, etc.; Scechina I, 77, 88, 142, 145, 183; n, 30, 156, etc. The military defeat of the Turk would be a major step in the accomplishment of religious unity but had eschatological overtones of even greater import. It meant that Jerusalem would be recovered, an event which for Giles was an integral part of the divine plan for the last age of the world. See Evora cxvi/1-30, 62r, 74r_v, 8or; Ang. Lat. 502, 23v-24r, 25V, 304V-309r.

23 Ang. Lat. 502, 236r: ‘ Enituititaqueprius Musa in Pio, opumauri et gemmarum splendor in Paulo; alter utauribuseloquio, alter utoculissacrisornamentissatisfaceret.' See also, 197v, 230r, 235v-236r, and esp. 245r, where Giles speaks of Paul II's ornamentation of churches:‘… utDeo, sicut passim testanturoracula, in victuvelpaupertas probata sit velfrugalitas, in sacriscultusmagnificentiasplendorqueplacuerit.’ Giles praises the popes of the fourth and fifth centuries for their work in raising churches and for not abusing wealth, viz., not using it selfishly, e.g., 38v, 39v. See also Scechina 11, 30.

For Renaissance formulations of the concept of a rebirth of art and literature, see Wallace K., Ferguson, The Renaissance in Historical Thought (Cambridge, Mass., 1948), 18–28 Google Scholar, and Weisinger, H.,‘Renaissance Accounts of the Revival of Learning,’ Studies in Philology, XLV (1948), 105–118 Google Scholar, as well as the other articles by Weisinger listed by Paul Oscar, Kristeller,‘Studies on Renaissance Humanism during the last Twenty Years,’ Studies in the Renaissance, IX (1962), 30.Google Scholar

24 Evora cxvi/1-30, 59v, and Ang. Lat. 502, 193v.

25 See e.g., Ang. Lat. 502, 5v, 12r , 12v, 15v-17v, 70v, 129r-136v, etc. See also Scechina 1, 116 :‘… LegiEvangelia, gens Hebraeis, Europa Asiae, Roma Ierosolymae, et Sionmonti praeponiturVaticanus.'

26 Siena G. X. 26, 60. See also Scechina 1, 155.

27 See, e.g., Ang. Lat. 502, 4r-8v, 17r , 70v, 100r , etc., and Evora cxvi/1-30,12v-23v, etc. On the‘Etruscan revival,’ see Chastel, Art etHumanisme , pp. 63-71.

28 Siena G. X. 26, 60:‘… sanctorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli morteinstaurata, sanctorummartyrum sanguine adauctatasedis, et sancto Petro heredidedicata.’ See also Ang. Lat. 502, 36v, 78v, 91 r , 170 (a)v, 278v, etc., and esp. 5v :‘… [Petrus] in montesancto [Vaticano] sepultusest, ubiaeternaimperandiauctoritasiusque in perpetuumorbis administrandi.’ See also Scechina 1,156; II, 79.

29 Siena G. X. 26, 204-205. See also Evora cxvi/1-30, 54(a)v, 58v, and Ang. Lat. 502, 194r, 286r∼v. On the question of a city or temple as axis mundi , see Mircea, Eliade, Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return (New York, 1959), pp. 12–17 Google Scholar. Giles loves to manipulate the Virgilian phrase,‘pietateinsignis et armis’ (Aeneid, VI, 403), e.g., Ang. Lat. 502,6v, 14v, 57v, etc. Giles did not intend to deprive the emperor of his role in empire or church, as is particularly clear in the Scechina , e.g., 1, 69, 99, 219; 11, 149, 177-178, 281-282.

30 Ang. Lat. 502, 15v-17v, etc., and esp. 245v-249r. See also Scechina 1, 151. For the theme of Solomon's Temple in the Vatican of the Renaissance, see Eugenio, Battisti, 'II significatosimbolicodella Cappella Sistina,’ Commentari VIII (1957), 96–104.Google Scholar

31 In the tenth age there are really three fullnesses or plenitudes: fullness of time, of peoples, and of doctrine. On this last see my article on Giles in Traditio.