Opera. Legatio Babylonica de Orbe Novo Decades Octo Opus Epistolarum / Introduction Dr. Erich Woldan.

Aus der Bibliothek von Prof. Wolfgang Haase, langj�igem Herausgeber der ANRW und des International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT) / From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - sehr guter Zustand / very good condition - PETRUS MARTYR DE ANGLERIA -- HIS LIFE AND HIS WORKS -- PETRUS MARTYR was descended from the ancient family of the earls of ANGHIERA. He was named after an Inquisitor, who was assassinated and later canonized. Pietro was born at Arona on Lake Maggiore, on February 2, 1457, or according to another calculation, in 1459. From 1477 onwards he lived in Rome and its neighbourhood and sought the company of learned men. About 1485 a Spanish special legation visited the Papal Court and PETRUS MARTYR entered service with its leader, DON INIGO LOPEZ DE MENDOZA, the earl of Tendilla, and followed him to Spain. Here he found further patrons because of his poetic talents. On their invitation he even delivered a lecture at the University of Salamanca on a satire by JUVENAL. But he soon took part as a soldier in the battle against the declining Moorish dominion in Spain. -- After the fall of Granada (1492) PETRUS MARTYR was entrusted with the instruction of the young noblemen residing at the Spanish Court. He kept this office until his death, and thus he made the acquaintance of many a member of Spanish high society. He was also in close contact with state officials and foreign ambassadors. The Papal nuncio GIOVANNI RUFFO was his intimate friend. In 1501 he led a legation to Egypt to restrain the Sultan from his intention to retaliate upon the Egyptian Christians the persecutions inflicted by the Spaniards upon the conquered Moors in Spain. PETRUS MARTYR succeeded in that commission and returned to Spain in 1502. -- About 1504, after having already become a royal chaplain in 1501 he took Holy Orders and was soon nominated a Papal proto-notary and Prior of the Cathedral of Granada. Even after the death of Queen ISABELLA (1504) who had particularly favoured him, he retained the esteem of King FERDINAND, who ruled the country during the minority of the heir to the throne, Carlos, later the Emperor CHARLES V. -- In 1510 a special Privy Council was created for the Spanish colonies, under the designation of �Council of the Indies� (both East and West Indies). PETRUS MARTYR became the chronicler of this Authority appointed to describe all events happening in the newly discovered countries. Only in 1518 was he appointed a full member of this Council. MARTYR had already occupied himself with the great discoveries in America since 1493 when he had been a reporter to his patron ASCANIO SFORZA, and had written down the first chapters of his �Decades�. These he published together with his �Poemata� and �Epigr a mm a t a� and the description of his diplomatic mission to Egypt, the �Legatio Babylonica�, in a volume of �Opera� at SEBASTIAN CRONBERGER�s in Sevilla in folio, in 1511. Some copies of this publication contain a sea-chart of the West Indies (woodcut) � the first local map of an American region � some do not. -- Because of his official position in the Council of the Indies he received all the reports about the New World and became personally acquainted with the officials and explorers who were returning to Spain as well. Thus he was able � after having revised and completed the first decade � to finish two further Decades about the new discoveries. In 1516 he published under the leadership of the grammarian ANTONIO DE LEBRIJA (NEBRISSENSIS) �De orbe novo decades tres� in folio, with, and in some copies without, the reprint of the �Legatio Babylonica�, at Alcal�e Henares. -- During his lifetime there appeared from ADAM PETRI�s Press at Basel a fourth Decade under the title �De nuper sub D. Carlo repertis insulis� (1521, 4to) already dealing with the expedition of Hern�Cort�to the American continent. It is doubtful whether this publication was edited with (or without) the author�s consent. The major part of MARIA R�s first Decade had been translated already from Latin into Italian from a copy handed by him to the Venetian, ANGELO TRIVIGIANO. This translation, entitled �Libretto de tutta la Navigazione de Re de Spagna de le isole e terreni novamente trovati�, appeared in Venice 1504 (4 to) and as the fourth book of the collection of reports of travels, entitled �Paesi novamente trovati . . .�, published in Vicenza, 1507. Because that collection of travels was translated into other languages in the following years, MARTYR�s work was already popular through pirated editions, before the legal edition of the �Opera� (1511). -- Fortunately the author was able to finish five further Decades, which always refer � with one minor exception � to events, conditions and situations in America before the year 1525. -- As the result of his friendship with the teacher of the late Emperor CHARLES V, Dean ADRIAN VON LOWEN � later Bishop, Cardinal and finally Pope � PETRUS MARTYR was given even more honours. In 1523 he was made a Count Palatine by CHARLES V, and in 1524, Abbot of Jamaica by Adrian�s successor CLEMENT VII. Thus he had the first church made of stone built in that island, at his own expense. He never � however � visited the New World himself. At the end of the year 1526 he died when he was in attendance at the Court in Granada, having suffered from kidney complaints since 1501.