of homesickness, as well, and the thought of having left friends and country. The new humanism also had its influence over him. Grey's nephew, who had been sent by his uncle to study in Italy, had died there. In attempting to console his patron, Free made use of arguments taken from Petrarch; he bade him remember that although nothing could prevent death, yet beyond its threshold were glory and everlasting fame. His letters plainly betrayed the Renaissance spirit, and were full of the expressions and feelings of Italian humanism. He spoke of men "of ancient faith and virtue "; he called "Immortal God" to witness, and not the Blessed Virgin; he paid a fitting tribute to the scholarly attain✓ments of Valla. In every way he tried to show that he had left far behind him the scholastic traditions of the Middle Ages, and looked forward to the new ideals of the Renaissance. He was not only the most learned Englishman of his age, but the first who even attempted to reach the goal of universality Italy had created. In his love of learning he took up not only the classics and philosophy, but medicine and civil law. In the classics he achieved considerable success, and his funeral ora 1 On the margin of f. 1, Ms. CXXIV Ball. Coll. (a universal cosmography in the writing of John Free) is a note by a more recent hand. "This book on cosmography was written at Padua in Italy, by John Free of Bristol, who studied at Padua and at Rome and was a professed doctor in medicine, civil law and Greek." Free also wrote and compiled the first six books of Diodorus Siculus, perhaps from Poggio's translation. — Coxe, tion on Guarino was highly praised for its Latinity by Carbo of Ferrara. His principal study, however, was probably medicine, which he taught for some years in different Italian cities. About 1465 he went to Rome, where he found a patron in John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, to whom he dedicated his Latin poetry and several translations from the Greek. For his scholarly attainments, Pope Paul the Second granted him the bishopric of Bath and Wells, but he died, not without suspicion of poison, before his consecration. John Gunthorpe and Robert Flemming were among the other scholars who belong to this early generation. The former had been Free's companion in Italy. He too had collected there many books, most of which were later distributed among the colleges at Oxford.1 On his return to England he became royal chaplain and Dean of Wells where the deanery house built by him showed the Italian influence in its architecture.2 His remaining literary work was confined to a rhetoric,3 remarkable for its occasional use of Greek words and letters, and the minute analysis of the Latin parts of speech. Leland however mentions certain Latin epistles and poems also by his pen. Robert Flemming had perhaps been induced to visit Italy by his kinsman, Richard, who at the Council of Constance, where Italian humanism first crossed the 1 Leland, Script. Brit., p. 463, also Leland, Collectanea, III, 16. 2 Creighton, Early Renaissance, p. 29. * Ms. 587 Bod. Alps, had distinguished himself by the violence of his attacks on Wyclif. Flemming's desire for learning was strong enough to make him leave the cathedral of which he was the dean, to undertake the Italian journey. After visiting the famous universities and studying at Ferrara under Battista Guarino, he settled down for some years in Rome. There he formed a friendship with Platina, the papal historian and librarian of the Vatican, while from Sixtus the Fourth he obtained a preferment. He dedicated to the Pope his Lucubrationes Tiburtina, written at Tivoli, where he passed the warm summer months. This poem in ✓ heroic metre was probably the first important humanist verse written by any Englishman. In addition he compiled a Greek and Latin dictionary, no longer extant. The remaining years of his life were uneventful. After his return to England he settled at Lincoln, and on his death the manuscripts collected by him were left to the Oxford college which bore his cathedral's name. One more English scholar who belonged to this early group will be mentioned. John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, proved himself a quite different type of man from the others, whom he resembled only in his love of letters. He was revered in Italy as a second 1 Voigt, II, 260. A few lines are cited by Leland, Script. Brit., p. 461. "Sane quisquis in hunc oculos defixerit acreis, Mæcenas, known alike for his scholarship and the zeal with which he collected manuscripts. Like the Italian despots of that age, he united a fondness for learning and patronage of the arts with tyranny and oppression. He has often been considered the first example of an "Italianate Englishman," a type so common a hundred years later. This is untrue in so far as the name stands for the affected dandyism of Elizabethan courtiers. On the other hand, he represented the blood and iron of fifteenth century Italy, with its energy impatient of restraint, eager only to accomplish its end, heedless of difficulty. He represented, too, its zeal for learning, perhaps the one love in which it was sincere. Tiptoft had gone to Padua to continue his Latin studies; afterwards he visited the aged Guarino at Ferrara, and then went to Florence to have manuscripts copied. Everything interested him, and arm in arm with the bookseller, Vespasiano, he saw the sights of the city, and even heard John Argyropulos lecture.1 In Rome Tiptoft is said to have caused Pius the Second to weep with joy at hearing such eloquence flow from English lips. He met scholars as well, in Italy, while humanists like Francesco d'Arezzo dedicated their works to him. No mean scholar himself, he is supposed to have translated into English, Cicero's essay on friendship, and Cæsar's commentaries. His great wealth, moreover, allowed him to take back with him such a number of books that he was said to have despoiled the Vespasiano, p. 403. 2 Voigt, II, 258. V libraries of Italy to enrich those of England. Oxford shared in his benefactions and gratefully acknowledged them. Through him the authorities wrote1, the university approached nearer to his Padua since the fame of his attainments, and with it of their own, had become known to the Italians, the masters of eloquence. Just as no reward could have been too great for the late Duke Humphrey who had favored their cause, there now was no one worthier than himself to succeed to his place in their affections. They felt it time for others than Italians to enjoy his fame. Such lavish praise did not fail to obtain its reward. A letter of some years later mentioned the fact that the earl had left Oxford a large number of books.2 Caxton also eulogized Tiptoft's love of letters, and praised his learning and cultivation of the arts; like praise can be found as well in the Canterbury Necrology. Unfortunately the less pleasant side to his life earned for him the title of the "butcher of England." He was especially hated for introducing the so-called Paduan law, which attempted to substitute the Roman law, revived at Bologna and Padua, for the common law. This change, while of advantage to trained jurists, seemed like an infringement on the rights of the poorer people 2 Ibid., II, 390. 1 Epist. Acad., II, 354. 8 Leland, Script. Brit., p. 480. 4 "Vir undecumque doctissimus, omnium liberalium artium divinarumque simul ac secularium litterarum scientia peritissimus." Cited by Gasquet, Eve of the Reformation, p. 23, note 3. |