The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Libraries, Mediæval and Renaissance
LIBRARIES, Mediæval and Renaissance. — With the disruption of the Western Empire, learning passed into eclipse. It is impossible to estimate what has been lost to the world during that period of political and intellectual twilight. What was saved was saved by monasteries, for they became the refuge of both scholars and books. Thus Cassiodorus, the favorite minister of Theodoric the Goth, gathered a collection of books and retired to a monastery at Viviers which he had founded, endowing it with money and with his library. Numberless monasteries sprang up in Asia Minor and Egypt, their collections lost to the world until the researches of Tattam, Curzon and others brought them again to light. The majority of their books and manuscripts were theological, but many of these were of great importance, comprehending versions of the Gospels and books of the Old Testament in Greek, Hebrew, Coptic and Syriac, and also texts of ancient classics and palimpsests that have revealed productions of the writers of antiquity that otherwise would have been wholly lost. During the 6th century, it is said at the instance of Gregory the Great, missionaries, among them Augustine, went to the British Isles. Soon monasteries sprang up there which became great centres of learning. Canterbury was founded, and to this went Theodore of Tarsus with books obtained in Rome for its library. A library was also founded at York by Archbishop Egbert, of which Alcuin made use when there, and the lack of which he bemoaned when, at the solicitation of Charlemagne, he became abbot of Tours. In the north of England, Jarrow and Whitby, the home of the Abbess Hilda and the poet Caedmon, both possessed libraries, that of the latter monastery being catalogued in the 12th century. Many of these monasteries were destroyed during the raids of the Danes, and their treasures were finally scattered as the result of the decrees of Henry VIII. The library at Christ Church Monastery, Canterbury, which was one of those to suffer at the hands of the Danes, was restored in the 11th century by Lanfranc and Anselm. A catalogue made during the 13th century contains 698 titles, about 3,000 volumes. Consult Edwards, ‘Memoirs of libraries’ (Vol. I, p. 122). A catalogue of Saint Augustine's Monastery at Canterbury has also been preserved, revealing that it was rich in historical works and in French romances. According to Baeda, the first abbot of Wearmouth, Bennet Biscop, made five journeys to Rome, each time bringing back books for the abbeys of Wearmouth and Jarrow. The collection at Wearmouth was cherished and increased by Baeda himself until it became the largest in England. It was destroyed by the Danes in 867, and Jarrow in 973. Croyland Monastery also possessed 700 volumes which were destroyed by fire in 1091. The monastery of Glastonbury, famous for its connection with the Arthurian cycle of legends, was ravaged by the Danes, splendidly rebuilt by Henry II and finally destroyed in the reign of Henry VIII. A catalogue of its collections (circa 1248) is contained in Hearne's edition of John of Glastonbury. A catalogue of the Peterborough Monastery library (14th century) reveals that it possessed 344 volumes and the Surtees Society has published lists of the books in the Durham Monastery. On the Continent, Charlemagne was the first of the Frankish kings to encourage learning and formed a collection of books for his palace. He also encouraged the establishment of other libraries. His son, Louis, formed a library which was extant during the time of Charles the Bald. Everhard, Count of Triuli, formed a collection which was later bequeathed to a monastery. The greatest private collector of the 11th century, however, was Gerbert, afterward Pope Sylvester II, who spent large sums in developing his collections. The Benedictine Order was undoubtedly the most active in the cause of learning in western Europe, and its monasteries gathered large and valuable libraries. The oldest of the foundations, Monte Cassino (A.D. 529), was the beginning of a long line of institutions, among which may be named Fleury, Moelk, Saint Gall, Saint Vast, the famous Saint Maur; the English monasteries of Jarrow, Wearmouth, Bury Saint Edmunds, Croyland, Glastonbury, Whitby, Reading, Saint Albans and Tewkesbury.
The Augustinians and Dominicans rank next to the Benedictines as lovers of books. Saint Geneviève and Saint Victor had large libraries. The Barefoot Friars and other mendicant orders also collected books in their travels. Richard of Bury, the founder of a library at Oxford and the author of ‘Philobiblon,’ a treatise on the art of collecting and preserving books, praised their enthusiasm and industry, and Sir Richard Whittington (d. 1423) built a library for them at Gray Friars, London. In France, monasteries at Fleury, Cluny, Corbie and Saint Riquier possessed libraries. After suffering many vicissitudes the remnant of the Fleury collection was presented to the town library of Orleans (1793). From the Corbie Monastery 400 MSS. were transferred to Saint Germain des Prés in 1638, and in 1794 the remainder was divided between the Bibliothèque Nationale and the town library of Amiens. In Germany the monasteries of Fulda, Corvey, Richenau and Sponheim had excellent collections. At Fulda, it is said that 400 copyists were busy at one time. Sponheim is famous because of its Abbott, Johannes Trithemius, who established its library. The monastic library of Saint Gall, in Switzerland, founded by its abbott, Gozbert, is still extant. Several general catalogues of monastic libraries have been compiled, the first being one by the Franciscans (14th century), a sort of union catalogue of 160 European libraries. In the early 15th century John Boston of Bury, an Augustinian monk, made a list of the books in 195 British libraries, each collection being designated by a number, making, as John Bale says, “one library out of many” (cf. Tanner's ‘Bibliotheca,’ 1748, pp. xviii-xliiii). John Leland, 1506?-52, the famous antiquarian and librarian of Henry VIII, made notes of the collections in the institutions of England visited in the years 1536-42. These lists are contained in the edition of Leland published by Hearne in 1715.
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| Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. |
| THE VATICAN LIBRARY, ROME |
| One of the richly decorated halls, 220 feet long. This stately hall is not the largest of the library rooms. In the Vatican Palace are 11,000 rooms and halls, and its library preserves some of the rarest and most valuable manuscripts and books in existence; these include a copy of Virgil 1600 years old; a copy of the Bible in Greek 1500 years old |
Renaissance Libraries. — The lamp of learning
which had burned during the 8th to 10th
centuries and had become almost extinguished
during the period following the Crusades, flames
up again during the 12th-13th centuries, the age
of the cathedral builders, and again dies down,
not to revive until the 15th century. In
England the barbaric invaders from Denmark and
Norway had applied the torch to Wearmouth,
Jarrow, Whitby and other of Britain's noblest
foundations, and the institutions spared by the
Danes suffered from fires or from accumulated
wealth. Here, and on the Continent, the
interest in learning passed into decay, and the
monasteries that had been preservers of books
now became their tombs. Boccaccio, in an
account of a visit to the Abbey of Monte Cassino,
vividly describes the condition of its precious
manuscripts “personifying them as gentle
prisoners held in captivity by barbarous
jailers.” Poggio, who made a journey to the
Council of Constance as Apostolic Secretary,
also states that the manuscripts in the Abbey
of Saint Gall were kept in “a dungeon foul
and dark, at the bottom of a tower.” (Consult
‘Cambridge Modern History,’ Vol. I, p. 549).
Here and there were free spirits among men,
like Pope Sylvester II, who fought against the
moral and mental negation of the times, and
endeavored to maintain the traditions of learning,
yet scholarship, save among the Arabs, was
at a discount. It was not until the 15th century
that a new light was kindled by Petrarch,
Poggio and Boccaccio, and the revival of
learning began. Stimulated by their example, a
world-wide and almost mad search for classic
texts began. Palimpsests were discovered and
their concealed writings brought to light. The
Medici family, in particular, was keenly
interested in learning, and in founding libraries.
Cosmo de Medici, while an exile in Venice
(1433), founded the library of San Giorgio
Maggiore, and later, after his return to
Florence, was made one of the trustees of the
collection of 800 MSS. collected and copied by
Niccolo de' Niccoli. Four hundred of these
were presented to the library of the Convent
of San Marco (1441), the remaining 400 passing
into his own collection, thus forming the
nucleus of the Medicean Library. This joined
later with the collection of San Marco, and
that of Fiesole, also founded by him, now form
a part of the Biblioteca Medicio — Laurenziana.
In this work for libraries the Medici
found an able helper in Vespasiano de Bisticci
(1421-98) who might well be termed the
father of Italian libraries. Vespasiano also
assisted Federigo de' Montefeltro, Duke of
Urbino, in creating his splendid collection of
classics, theology, medicine and humanistic
literature. Vespasiano tells us that he kept a
large staff of scribes at work for 14 years
transcribing material. Few of the collections
rivalled those of Federigo, but there were other
large ones, particularly that of Cardinal
Bessarion, which, according to Vespasiano,
contained 600 Greek and Latin manuscripts. This
was presented to San Marco Cathedral, Venice,
in 1468, but a generation passed before it was
properly housed. The Vatican Library (q.v.)
as now constituted also dates from the 15th
century. Earlier collections had been formed
by the popes, but it was not until Nicholas V
(1447-55) filled the chair that the library
received any special attention. The Pope, who as
Tommaso Parentucelli, had been librarian of
San Marco, Florence, had perhaps imbibed
some of the enthusiasm of Vespasiano and the
Medici. At any rate the library was greatly
increased by him and his immediate successors,
being housed finally in the splendid apartment
in the Vatican (1475). In manuscripts,
the Vatican collections are perhaps the richest
in the world, many of the items being unique.
They number about 34,000. The Humanistic
movement spread rapidly over Europe and
many private collections of books were developed.
Among these collectors, John Bale and
John Leland in England have already been
mentioned, as has Trithemius, the work of
the latter being continued by Cardinal Bellarmine
in Italy. Matthias Corvinus, king of
Hungary, formed a splendid library, mainly
manuscripts, which is said to have numbered
50,000 items. This was dispersed by the Turks
after the fall of Buda, 1526. The kings of
France, particularly Saint Louis, Charles V
and Francis I, encouraged the book arts in
their every phase. It has been noted how the
religious institutions were the conservers of
learning during the Dark Ages and the Mediæval
Period, only to become their tombs or to
be destroyed during the events of the
religious wars. Eight hundred, it is said,
disappeared at this time. Another group of institutions,
however, now appeared to play the rôle of
the builders of libraries. These were the universities.
Even before the period of Renaissance
the universities under direction of the Church
had become centres of cultural activity. They
sprang into existence throughout Europe,
especially in France, Germany and Italy. Among
these might be noted Paris, Poitiers, Caen,
Bordeaux, Nantes, Pisa, Florence, Bologna,
Padua, Constance, Basel, Heidelberg, Cologne,
Frankfort-on-Oder, Prague, Louvain, Utrecht,
etc. In spite of the fact that theology was
the main concern of these institutions,
nevertheless they were forums of free discussion,
collectors of literature, and presented a strong
front against arbitrary restrictions upon their
prerogatives. Courses in physical science were
offered, and books were gathered. “John of
Dalberg, appointed in 1482 Curator of Heidelberg
and Bishop of Worms, divided his time
between the University and the bishopric; he
helped to establish the first chair of Greek, and
founded the famous Palatine library. Reuchlin
came to Heidelberg in 1496; he was made
librarian and in 1498 professor of Hebrew.”
(Consult ‘Cambridge Modern History,’ Vol. I,
p. 637). The invention of printing gave a
tremendous impetus to the making and the
collecting of books. They became so inexpensive
that many printed works could be
obtained at the cost of one manuscript. Libraries
accordingly began to increase rapidly in
numbers, and in the size of their collections.
The breakdown, of mediæval institutions, the
decline in power of the Holy Roman Empire,
and the strengthening of the principle of
nationality were also influences that encouraged
the development of libraries within the
different states of Europe. For this reason
their history after the beginning of the modern
era can best be told separately.