Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini as a Transitional Figure between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance”’- Groningue Décembre 1997

"Studies in Intellectual History - Volumes 101-150" See other formats BRILL’S STUDIES IN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY General Editor A.J. Vanderjagt, University of Groningen Editorial Board M. Colish, Oberlin College J.I. Israel, University College, London J.D. North, University of Groningen R.H. Popkin, Washington University, St. Louis-UCLA VOLUME 117 ✓ s ^ 68 ^ PIUS II ‘EL PIU EXPEDITIVO PONTIFICE’ Selected Studies on Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini ( 1405 - 1464 ) EDITED BY ZWEDER VON MARTELS and ARJO VANDERJAGT ✓ s V 6 8 'i ' BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2003 The medal on the front of this book is by Andrea Guazzalotti of Prato (1460); a copy may be seen at the Schweizerisches Landmuseum, Zurich. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pius II, “el piu expeditivo pontifice” ; selected studies on Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405-1464) / edited by Zweder von Martels and Arjo Vanderjagt. p. cm. - (Brill’s studies in intellectual history. ISSN 0920-8607 ; v. 117) “This volume finds its origin in a workshop which was held at the University of Groningen on December 12-13, 1997, entitled Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini as a Transitional Figure between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance”’-Pref. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 90-04-13190-6 (alk. paper) 1. Pius II, Pope, 1405-1464. 2. Church history—Middle Ages, 600-1500.1. Title: Pius 2nd, “el piu expeditivo pontifice”. II. Martels, Z. R. W. M. von. III. Vanderjagt, Arie Johan. IV Series. BX1308.P565 2003 282’.092-dc21 2003052333 ISSN 0920-8607 ISBN 90 04 13190 6 © Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced , translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS CONTENTS Preface. vii Contributors. ix Enkyklios paideia in the Work of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini Benedikt Konrad Vollmann. 1 From Samarkand to Scythia: Reinventions of Asia in Renaissance Geography and Political Thought Margaret Meserve. 13 Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini as a Historiographer: Asia Benedikt Konrad Vollmann. 41 The New Landesgeschichte: Aeneas Silvius on Austria and Bohemia Rolando Montecalvo. 55 Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini’s De curialium miseriis and Peter of Blois Keith Sidwell. 87 Alltag an der Kurie: Papst Pius DL (1458-1464) im Spiegel Zeitgenossischer Berichte Claudia Marti. 107 Pius II and Francesco Sforza. The History of Two Allies. Marcello Simonetta.147 VI CONTENTS Pius II and the Formation of the Ecclesiastical Institutions of Pienza Giuseppe Chironi. 171 ‘Reject Aeneas!’ Pius II on the Errors of his Youth Thomas M.. Izbicki. 187 ‘More Matter and Less Art.’ Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini and the Delicate Balance between Eloquent Words and Deeds Zweder von Martels. 205 The Fruit of Love. Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini about his Illegitimate Child Zweder von Martels. 229 Index. 249 PREFACE This volume finds its origin in a workshop which was held at the University of Groningen on December 12-13, 1997, en¬ titled ‘Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini as a Transitional Figure between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance’. The organizers were fully aware that a short workshop could not do full jus¬ tice to Piccolomini (1405-1464), the humanist, author, courtier, inveterate traveller, conciliarist and then papalist, priest, bishop and finally pope under the name Pius II (1458-1464), urban architect of Pienza, grand patron of the arts, and would-be cru¬ sader. Piccolomini’s scholarship, his literary and widely rang¬ ing humanist work, his political and ecclesiastical activities, but especially the personal, likeable style of his writings led Jacob Burckhardt to call him his ‘Liebling’ - his love -, a term he used only for one other person: the painter Raphael. 1 Given this estimation and that of others down to our own century, the workshop sought to understand Piccolomini and his work as a way to approach the Latin literature and culture of the fifteenth-century Renaissance. Hence a title was chosen for this book that would demonstrate the importance of Picco¬ lomini to his contemporaries. It was taken from the words of the Milanese ambassador Agostino Rossi (f after 1476) a year after Piccolomini’s death, which describe him as el piii expedi- tivo, el piii libero pontifice chefusse may. 2 Tom Izbicki, Keith Sidwell, Zweder von Martels and Bene¬ dict Vollmann were participants in the original workshop; their papers were rewritten and expanded to the form in which they are published here. Furthermore, Dr von Martels and Professor 1 Ludwig von Pastor, Tagebiicher, Briefe, Erinnerungen , ed. W. Wlihr (Heidelberg) 1950), p. 273. For an evaluation of Burckhardt’s utterances, see B. Widmer, Enea Silvio Piccolomini in der sittlichen und politischen Entscheidung, Basler Beitrage zur Geschichtswissenschaft 88 (Basel and Stutt¬ gart, 1963), pp. 1-3. 2 See Professor Marti’s article below, p. 145.