^{page 117 note 1} Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, New Series, Vol. XVI (London, 1902)Google Scholar.

^{page 117 note 2} Fueter, E., Histoire de l' historiographie moderne, transl. by Jeanmaire, Emile (Paris, 1914), pp. 199–203Google Scholar. See also The Age of the Reformation, by Smith, P. (New York, 1920), p. 581Google Scholar, who qualifies this remark with the statement “So much more modern in point of view than his contemporaries was Polydore Vergil … that the generalizations about humanist historiography are only partially true of him.”

^{page 118 note 1} As he is for the years 1509–33.

^{page 118 note 2} As an example of this, see article on Hall, Edward in the Encyclopædia Britannica (eleventh edition, 1910–1911)Google Scholar. On this whole question, cf. Busch, Wilhelm, England under the Tudors, transl. by Todd, Alice M. (London, 1895)Google Scholar; Appendix II, pp. 395–423. See also Gairdner, James, Early Chroniclers of Europe: England (London, 1879)Google Scholar.

^{page 118 note 3} Busch, Wilhelm, op. cit., p. 409Google Scholar.

^{page 118 note 4} Busch, Wilhelm, op. cit., p. 417Google Scholar.

^{page 119 note 1} The following sixteenth century editions of the Historia are extant: Basle, 1534; Basle, 1546; Basle, 1555; Basle, 1556 (reprint); Ghent, 1556–7 (2 vols, 8vo); Basle, 1557; Basle, 1570. In the seventeenth century we have the following editions: Douai, 1603 (2 vols., 8vo); Leyden, 1651 (8vo).

^{page 119 note 2} That portion of the Historia covering the period 1422–85, taken from a MS. translation made during the reign of Henry VIII, was published as No. XXIX of the Camden Society Publications in 1844 (London). In 1846 the Society published in a second volume the first eight books, covering the period prior to the Norman Conquest, from the same translation. Both were edited by Sir Henry Ellis.

^{page 120 note 1} Cf. the attitude towards him shown in such works as the Historiae Brytannicae Defensio, by Price, Sir John (London, 1573)Google Scholar; the Rerum Anglicarum post Bedam … by SirSavile, Henry (London, 1596)Google Scholar, the Illuslrium Maioris Britanniae Scriptorum … Summarium, by Bale, John (Ipswich, 1548)Google Scholar.

^{page 120 note 2} Opus Novum, Gildas Britannus Monachus, cui Sapientis cognomentum est inditum, de calamitate, excidio, et conquestu Britanniae quam Angliam nunc vocant, auctor vetustus, a multis diu desideratus, et nuper in gratiam D. Cuthberti Tonstalli Londinensis episcopi formulis excusus. . The dedicatory epistle to Bishop Tunstall concludes: “ad VIII Iduum April. MDXXV, Londini.” No name, date or place of printing are given, but it has frequently been said to have been done at Pynson's press. There is no proof of this, and it is worth noting that if this edition were printed in London it is the only one of all Polydore's works to come from an English press. See Sinker, R., A Catalogue of the English Books Printed before MDCI now in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (London, 1885), p. 400Google Scholar. It seems highly probable that the dedicatory epistle has misled later commentators to assume that the work was printed in London. Fine copies of this are available in the British Museum, the Bodleian Library, the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the Harvard College Library.

In the preface Polydore tells us that he first found references to Gildas in Bede and in William of Newbury and gives some details in regard to the collation of the manuscripts and the reasons for bringing out the edition.

^{page 121 note 1} Gildas De Excidio Britanniae … recensuit Stevenson, Josephus (London, 1838), published by the English Historical Society, preface, p. xix, note 1Google Scholar.

^{page 121 note 2} Monumenla Historica Britannica. Edited by Petrie, Henry, assisted by Sharpe, John (London, 1848), p. 5, § 8Google Scholar. See supra p. 119, note 2, referring to lack of definite proof that it was published in England.

^{page 121 note 3} Before the appearance of Polydore's edition, copies of Gildas must have been virtually unobtainable in England because Polydore, in spite of all the resources which had been placed at his disposal, tells us in his preface that the work “longe post tempore tandem mihi quaerenti in manus incidit.” Following his edition, however, two others appeared in England: in 1562 that published by J. Daye, and in 1568 the most famous of all the sixteenth-century editions, that edited by John Josseline, Secretary to Archbishop Parker. In comparing Josseline's text with Polydore's, Stevenson, , op. cit., p. xxiGoogle Scholar, points out that “an examination of the passages which his (Josseline's) manuscripts supplied to the text of Vergil, shows that these restorations are neither so numerous nor so important as the second editor would induce us to believe.”

Continental editions of Gildas appeared also in the years 1541, 1568, 1569, 1576 and 1587.

^{page 122 note 1} Vergil, Polydore, Historia Anglica, Vatican Library, Cod. Urb. MS. Nos. 497, 498, fol. 271Google Scholar. The exact date of his arrival in England remained undecided until Cardinal Gasquet (op. cit.) pointed out that the Vatican manuscript settled this point beyond question.

^{page 122 note 2} Einstein, L., Tudor Ideals (New York, 1921), p. 47Google Scholar.

^{page 122 note 3} Vergil, Polydore, Historia Anglica (ed. Basle, , 1570), pp. 580–1Google Scholar. The MS. version contains a less complete account of Adrian.

^{page 122 note 4} It is interesting to note that in the records of Wells Cathedral and also in the instrument appointing Polydore to the archdeaconry of Wells, the name Castello is frequently added. See Three Books of Polydore Vergil's English History, edited by SirEllis, Henry (London, 1844), preface, p. v, and notesGoogle Scholar. There is no mention of this cognomen in the will, nor does it appear in the genealogy of the Vergil family which is preserved in the library of the University at Urbino. In the Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, Vol. I, Document No. 1283, he is referred to as “Polydore Vergil alias Polydore Castellensis.”

^{page 123 note 1} Calendar of State Papers: Venice, edited by Brown, Rawdon and others (London, 1864)Google Scholar, Vol. I, letter No. 538.

^{page 123 note 2} At some time during the pontificate of Alexander VI (1492–1503) Polydore left the court of Urbino, where he had been brought up, first under the patronage of Duke Federigo and later, from 1482, under his son, Duke Guido Ubaldo. For a few years, we do not know how many, he acted as one of the papal secretaries, a post which he retained until he received the English appointment.

^{page 123 note 3} The first edition of Polydore's, Proverbiorum Libellus was published at Venice in 1498 by de Pensis, Christopher (4 vo.)Google Scholar. A second edition was necessary two years later and came from the same press. In 1499 de Pensis had also brought out the first three books of Polydore's most famous non-historical work, the De Inventoribus Rerum. There are at least nine-teen sixteenth-century editions of this work still extant, and we know that more than that number must have once existed. Including all the editions mentioned by Beckmann, , Beyträge zur Geschichte der Erfindungen (Leipzig, 1792), Vol. III, pp. 571–8Google Scholar, and the further editions mentioned by Professor Ferguson, John, Archceologia, Vol. LI (London, 1888), p. 107 ff.Google Scholar; Transactions of the Glasgow Archmological Society (Glasgow, 1883), Vol. II, part 3, p. 232 ff.Google Scholar; Transactions of the Glasgow Archceological Society, New Series (Glasgow, 1890), Vol. I, p. 195 ff.Google Scholar, there must have been to date some eighty editions of this remarkable work. There are ten extant sixteenth-century editions of the Proverbiorum Libellus (also known as the Adagiorum Liber).

^{page 123 note 4} De Inventoribus Rerum, by Vergil, Polydore (ed. Basle, 1521)Google Scholar; preface to his brother, Matthew, dated “Londini nonis decembris An. MDXVII.” Professor Archbold, W. A. J., in the Dictionary of National Biography, states definitely that it was in the year 1505 that Henry invited him to undertake the historyGoogle Scholar.

^{page 124 note 1} Epistolae Erasmi (ed. London, 1642), p. 749Google Scholar. Erasmus mentions Thomas More, Cuthbert Tunstall, Thomas Linacre, and William Latimer as being particular friends of Polydore's.

^{page 124 note 2} Adagiorum opus … by Vergil, Polydore (ed. Basle, 1525), p. 5Google Scholar. This would indicate that to the list of his friends mentioned by Erasmus (see note 1, supra) should be added the names of William Grocyn, William Lily, and Richard Pace. See also Epistle to Richard Pace, prefixed to the 1521 edition of the Adagia. From the tone of the epistle to John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, which precedes Polydore's, Commentary on the Lord's Prayer (first published by Froben, Basle, 1525)Google Scholar, it would seem that he too must be numbered among Polydore's intimates. In connection with this work, which is one of the most modern things Polydore ever wrote, it is interesting to consider the influence John Colet may have had upon it. Colet was made Dean of St. Paul's in 1505, and almost at once began to preach on such subjects as the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer, endeavouring to make them real and understandable to the people. (See The Oxford Reformers of 1498, by Seebohm, (London, 1867), p. 84Google Scholar.) The tenor of Polydore's comments on this prayer and what we knew of Colet's ideas are sufficiently similar to make it more than possible that some, at least, of Polydore's inspiration for this may have come originally from Colet.

page124 note 3 This misunderstanding arose when Polydore, quite correctly, took exception to Erasmus's claim that the latter's Adagia was the first work of its kind ever to be printed. After a graceful explanation from Erasmus the matter appeared to be settled, but Polydore for some curious reason took occasion to resurrect it in the prefatory epistle to Richard Pace pre-fixed to the 1521 edition of the Adagia. This brought from Erasmus a perfectly friendly but in places somewhat ironic reply. (See Epistolae Erasmi (ed. London, 1642), pp. 748–9)Google Scholar.

^{page 124 note 4} Epistolae Erasmi (ed. London, 1642), pp. 1006–7, 1093, etcGoogle Scholar.

^{page 124 note 5} For example, SirPrice, John in the preface to his Historiae Brytannicae Defensio (London, 1573)Google Scholar, remarks “Nullo enim modo me eloquentiae viribus, dicendive arte parem Vergilio censeo.” In the dedicatory epistle to this edition, written twenty years after the text (i.e., in the year of publication) by the son of Sir John Price, is to be found the following parenthetical characterization of Polydore's style: “vir quidem haud contemnenda dicendi facultate praeditus.”

^{page 125 note 1} Divi Joannis Chrysostomi de Perfeclo Monacho Principe Libellus (Basle, 1533)Google Scholar. The prefatory epistle to Erasmus is dated “Londini III Non. Aug. Anno MDXXVIII.” There is a copy of this edition in the British Museum. It was later reprinted at Basle in 1550 along with the Adagia. Ferguson, , Archaeologia, Vol. LI (London, 1888, p. 112)Google Scholar and the article in the Dictionary of National Biography which cites Ferguson as its authority, state that the Basle, 1533 edition, is the first of this work. This would seem to be an error, however, as we have a letter of Erasmus, dated “quinto Cal. Aprilis Anno Christo nato MDXXXI” in which he refers to this particular work and states definitely “excusum est autem Lutetiae” (Epistolae Erasmi (ed. London, 1642), p. 1354)Google Scholar. In view, too, of the date of the dedicatory epistle it would hardly seem likely that Polydore waited five years before publishing. On the other hand, it is not known that any earlier edition than that of 1533 is extant.

^{page 125 note 2} His prefatory Epistle to Erasmus would indicate that he had applied himself to the study of Greek while in England.

^{page 125 note 3} For a partial list of classical authors which could have been found in the ducal library at Urbino, see Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, by Dennistoun, James (London, 1851), p. 158Google Scholar. The remains of this remarkable library were transferred to the Vatican in 1631, when the duchy was formally incorporated in the Papal States by Urban VIII. See also Codices Urbinates Latini Recensuit Stornajolo, Cosimus (Rome, 1902)Google Scholar.

^{page 126 note 1} Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, New Series, Vol. XIX, pp. 279–94 (London, 1905)Google Scholar; Polydore Vergil in the English Law Courts, a paper by I. S. Leadam. Polydore got into trouble for attempting to negotiate illegal exchanges—presumably for his own advantage—and only got off by presenting a retroactive royal pardon! This was in the year 1503.

^{page 126 note 2} Lansdowne MSS. (Catalogue of 1819), Number 2, Item 66. A letter from Polydore to Mr. Secretary Cecil, desiring him to forward a warrant signed by the Council for procuring the gift from the king of 300 crowns. This letter is dated 10 Nov. 1551. The amount referred to had been voted on the first of November. On the thirteenth of the previous October he had also received 100 marks of the royal bounty. In the warrant of 1550, enabling him to depart the realm, he is expressly allowed to retain for the remainder of his life the “profits, rents and commodities” of the archdeaconry of Wells and the prebendary of Nonnington. (See Three Books of Polydore Vergil's English History, edited by SirEllis, Henry (London, 1844), Appendix, p. xxxvii. Number V.)Google Scholar The letter which he wrote to Mary on her accession (ibid., p. xxxviii) insured the continuance of these privileges during her reign. There are numerous other instances of grants similar to those cited above.

^{page 127 note 1} See Dictionary of National Biography, s. v. Polydore Vergil, which discusses the probable date of his death, citing the several contradictory authorities.

^{page 127 note 2} Archivio Notarile, Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, Vol. XXVII, Felice Guiducci Testamenti (from Dec. 1529 to March, 1583), No. 782, Div. I, Cas. 34.

^{page 127 note 3} The genealogical book (MS.) of the Borgogelli-Vergil family is kept at the University and runs from 1583 to the present day. According to the genealogy of the Vergil family (from the same source), in the year 1697 Faustina Vergil, the last direct descendant of the original Vergil family, married the Cavaliere Lorenzo Borgogelli, who thereupon added the name Vergil to his own. It is interesting to remark that their descendants have kept it to this day.

^{page 127 note 4} The Reign of Henry VIII (to the death of Wolsey), etc., by Brewer, J. S., ed. by Gairdner, James (London, 1884, 2 vols.)Google Scholar. See especially the remarks on the authorities and frequent references in the notes throughout Vol. I to Polydore's unfair treatment of Wolsey. Brewer feels that Polydore is merely taking “an immortal revenge” for having been placed in prison by Wolsey's order.

^{page 128 note 1} Op. cit.

^{page 128 note 2} Vergil, Polydore, Historia Anglica, Vatican Library, Cod. Urb. MS. Nos. 497, 498, fol. 293Google Scholar.

^{page 128 note 3} Polydore Vergil's English History, Vol. I, edited by SirEllis, Henry (London, 1846), Appendix, p. xi, No. 1Google Scholar.

^{page 128 note 4} Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, Vol. I, Document No. 5110.

^{page 128 note 5} On the first page there is a reference to a chapel in the cathedral donated by Polydore and dedicated to S. Andrea. A search of the archives of the Duomo revealed the fact that the gift of this chapel had been made in 1514 orally and that it had subsequently been confirmed in the will. On 22 August, 1514, Polydore paid to his brother, Giovanni Francesco, the sum of 600 florins for the endowment of this chapel. (MSS. Records of the Curia at Urbino, Vol. XXIII, p. 274.) Under date of 1534 is an entry (ibid., p. 275) that in the testament of that year Polydore confirmed and increased his gift to the cathedral. Local tradition in Urbino has it that in the present rebuilt cathedral, the second altar on the right of the entrance is that given by Polydore. This is confirmed by the entry in the records of the Curia (ibid., p. 274) which, referring to the original chapel, reads: “qui est secundus in ordine prime navis ingredientibus a dextris.”

The present cathedral was rebuilt in 1801 after the dome of the original structure had fallen. In this disaster Polydore's tomb was destroyed and all that remains of his chapel is the altar already mentioned. The destruction of his tomb apparently obliterated the only available evidence as to the exact dates of his birth and death. While the discovery of the will settles the latter date, the former remains undetermined.

^{page 129 note 1} Near Urbino.

^{page 130 note 1} An exact literal transcript of this document was made by the present editors, but this had to be printed in accordance with modern requirements.

^{page 131 note 1} notarii infrascripti—Felice Guiducci, who drew the will in 1534 and, as the final notation shows, authenticated the document in April, 1555, after Polydore's death. The will is at present filed in the Archivio Notarile, Palazzo Ducale, Urbino, under Felice Guiducci Testamenti (from Dec. 1529 to March, 1583), No. 782, Div. 1, Cas. 34.

^{page 131 note 2} At this point one word is illegible.

page 131 note 3 capella ipsius testatoris—see supra, p. 128, note 5.

^{page 132 note 1} contrafactum—addition in Polydore's own hand.

^{page 132 note 2} Hieronymo—Girolamo Vergil, a merchant, who spent some time in London, and, according to the MS. genealogy of the Vergil family in the library of the University at Urbino, was the grandfather of Antonio Vergil Batteferri who presented the present Vatican MS. of the Historia Anglica to Duke Francesco Maria II of Urbino in 1613. This brother seems to have been closest to Polydore and was chosen as the intermediary between Wolsey and Polydore while the latter was in Rome in 1514, occupied with the negotiations regarding Wolsey's cardinalate. See Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, Vol. I, Document No. 5110, and cf. supra, p. 128, note 5.

page 132 note 3 suis fratribus—Polydore had still another brother, Matteo, who was a professor (lettore) at Padua. He was alive as late as 1521, since Polydore's epistle to him is prefixed to the Basle edition of the De Inventoribus Rerum in that year. Presumably he had died before this will was drawn.

^{page 132 note 4} domo propria—Polydore's house is still, externally, the most pretentious private building in Urbino. It is directly opposite the University in the Via Saffi (formerly Via S. Paolo) and has a tablet with this inscription: Qui ebbe I Natali Polidoro Virgili Storico E Letterato Dotissimo Nel Secolo XV.

^{page 132 note 5} dicti Ser Jo. Franciscus et Hieronymus—insertion in Polydore's own hand.

^{page 132 note 6} filiabus Hieronymi—Girolamo Vergil and Angelina Battiferri also had a son named Polydore who was the father of Antonio Vergil Battiferri (see note supra). The silence of this will about the nephew of the testator who bore his name would seem to indicate that he was not born at the time it was drawn. But even this would not have prevented the addition of a codicil.

^{page 133 note 1} Foris Empronii—i.e. Fossombrone.

page 133 note 2 in loco Podii—this refers simply to the hill on which the Vergil house is situated. Cf. Du Cange—s.v. podium.

^{page 133 note 3} conventus Sancti Hieronymi—the present church of this name must be a part of this original foundation. The modern Contrada S. Girolamo fits the topographical requirements implied in medianti strata.

^{page 134 note 1} suscipiendum—correction in Polydore's own hand.

^{page 134 note 2} ad eum—insertion in Polydore's own hand.

^{page 134 note 3} tenebitur—“itur” is a correction in Polydore's own hand.

^{page 135 note 1} electus—Polydore corrected the orthography of this word in his own hand.

^{page 135 note 2} cognomen—In view of this, it is interesting to consider what actually did happen in 1697. See supra, p. 127, note 3.

^{page 136 note 1} Approbo—the bracketed words are a parenthetical expression in Polydore's hand. The brackets are the editors'.

^{page 136 note 2} The monogram of the notary is sketched in the lower left-hand corner of the page.

^{page 136 note 3} Ita est—This entire sentence is in the handwriting of Polydore.

^{page 136 note 4} Amen—This completes the will. What follows is the notarial addition.

^{page 136 note 5} Felici—Allowing for a lapse of twenty-one years, it does not appear improbable that the body of the will and this notation were written by the same hand. The fact that the document was found among the papers pf Felice Guiducci for the year 1534 would support this assumption.