A Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts from the Meerman Collection in the Bodleian Library, 2011
several decades the location of these manuscripts was uncertain as they passed from one owner to ... more several decades the location of these manuscripts was uncertain as they passed from one owner to the next; now, as most of them have reached important national libraries in Europe or in the United States that are not likely to sell them, their location is known and can be considered inal. Only a few still have to be traced. An unresolved question about the history of the Clermont-Meerman-Phillipps collection concerns the arrival in the Clermont library of the manuscripts belonging to Pellicier or to other owners. It is not known how they came to be there, whether they were bought or bequeathed, and if so by whom. With the exception of Pellicier and a few others, the identities of the previous owners of many Clermont manuscripts remain unknown, including the owner of the forty-six Greek manuscripts and the six Latin ones inscribed with the motto Non quae super terram. I have therefore reconsidered the principal movements of this collection and tried to summarize what is known about it and what still remains to be ascertained, hoping in this way to improve our knowledge of the Clermont-Meerman library in order to arrive eventually at a complete elucidation of its history. A large part of the Clermont-Meerman Greek manuscripts had belonged originally to Guillaume Pellicier, Bishop of Montpellier and, from 1539 to 1542, the French ambassador to Venice. The owners of other manuscripts, not all known by name, have also been identiied; their dates fall between the last quarter of the sixteenth and the middle of the seventeenth century. Signs of the passage from one owner to the next are still visible on several specimens. Guillaume Pellicier was born in Mauguio, near Montpellier, in 1497; he was brought up by his uncle, Guillaume Pellicier the Elder, Bishop of Maguelone (the old residence of the bishops of Montpellier), who in 1526 eventually renounced the bishopric in his nephew's favour. From that date onwards Pellicier lived in Montpellier; he was presented to the court, where he had a powerful protector in the sister of the king, Marguerite d'Angoulême, Queen of Navarre. When, in 1533, Francis I stopped in Montpellier on his way to Marseille, where his second son, Henry of Orléans, was to marry Catherine of Medici, Guillaume Pellicier accompanied the court and took part in the festive ceremonies. The Bishop of Montpellier soon became one of the leading cultural and political igures of his time, and, after spending two years in Rome (1535-7), he was nominated ambassador to the Republic of Venice (1539), an important diplomatic post. Thanks to Pellicier's correspondence it is possible to appreciate the multiplicity of his interests and the complexity of his duties. The king had given him a dual mission, which was both political and cultural: Pellicier was asked to do his best to maintain the existing good relationship between Venice and France, and to prevent the risk of the Republic inclining politically towards the emperor, Charles V. He was also given the task of acquiring Greek manuscripts for the royal library at Fontainebleau. At that time Venice was the centre of Greek culture in Europe; 3 the numerous public and private libraries in the city held a quantity of Greek manuscripts that scholars could consult or borrow; several Greek émigrés had found refuge in Venice after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and earned their living by copying texts. A further element in the dissemination of Greek culture in Venice was the importance accorded to classical studies at the University of Padua. Venice was also the centre of Greek printing. These factors made the city the meeting point for all those who had an interest in Greek culture, in the printing of Greek texts or in the copying and trade of Greek manuscripts. 4 Pellicier used the resources offered by the Republic in this ield to their full potential. He was well acquainted with the most famous merchants of Greek manuscripts, Antony Eparchus, 5 Demetrius Zeno 6 and Nicholas Sophianos; 7 he asked friends living in the East, such as Nicholas Petreius, 8 to search for manuscripts for him; he engaged scribes who would copy the manuscripts he was not able to acquire and scholars to Thanks to the identiication of so many of Pellicier's manuscripts, it is possible to describe the general characteristics of his library. Guillaume Pellicier was the ideal Renaissance homo universalis, interested in all branches of human knowledge. He was a bishop, an intelligent politician, a learned humanist and a subtle and courteous diplomat. All these aspects of his personality are relected in his choice of books. His strong inclination towards scientiic matters is immediately noticeable. There are barely a dozen literary texts, and, to the surprise of the modern reader, no manuscripts containing the work of the tragic poets; only one codex contains two Sophoclean tragedies (Ajax and Electra). Such a notable lacuna cannot be due to chance but must surely relect his personal choice. As for poetry, Pellicier's library contains only Homer's Iliad and the commentaries by Eustathius of Thessalonica and Psellus, two manuscripts of Theognis, one of Theocritus and one of Pindar; we also ind a manuscript containing Aristophanes (Plutus,
A Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts from the Meerman Collection in the Bodleian Library, 2011
several decades the location of these manuscripts was uncertain as they passed from one owner to ... more several decades the location of these manuscripts was uncertain as they passed from one owner to the next; now, as most of them have reached important national libraries in Europe or in the United States that are not likely to sell them, their location is known and can be considered inal. Only a few still have to be traced. An unresolved question about the history of the Clermont-Meerman-Phillipps collection concerns the arrival in the Clermont library of the manuscripts belonging to Pellicier or to other owners. It is not known how they came to be there, whether they were bought or bequeathed, and if so by whom. With the exception of Pellicier and a few others, the identities of the previous owners of many Clermont manuscripts remain unknown, including the owner of the forty-six Greek manuscripts and the six Latin ones inscribed with the motto Non quae super terram. I have therefore reconsidered the principal movements of this collection and tried to summarize what is known about it and what still remains to be ascertained, hoping in this way to improve our knowledge of the Clermont-Meerman library in order to arrive eventually at a complete elucidation of its history. A large part of the Clermont-Meerman Greek manuscripts had belonged originally to Guillaume Pellicier, Bishop of Montpellier and, from 1539 to 1542, the French ambassador to Venice. The owners of other manuscripts, not all known by name, have also been identiied; their dates fall between the last quarter of the sixteenth and the middle of the seventeenth century. Signs of the passage from one owner to the next are still visible on several specimens. Guillaume Pellicier was born in Mauguio, near Montpellier, in 1497; he was brought up by his uncle, Guillaume Pellicier the Elder, Bishop of Maguelone (the old residence of the bishops of Montpellier), who in 1526 eventually renounced the bishopric in his nephew's favour. From that date onwards Pellicier lived in Montpellier; he was presented to the court, where he had a powerful protector in the sister of the king, Marguerite d'Angoulême, Queen of Navarre. When, in 1533, Francis I stopped in Montpellier on his way to Marseille, where his second son, Henry of Orléans, was to marry Catherine of Medici, Guillaume Pellicier accompanied the court and took part in the festive ceremonies. The Bishop of Montpellier soon became one of the leading cultural and political igures of his time, and, after spending two years in Rome (1535-7), he was nominated ambassador to the Republic of Venice (1539), an important diplomatic post. Thanks to Pellicier's correspondence it is possible to appreciate the multiplicity of his interests and the complexity of his duties. The king had given him a dual mission, which was both political and cultural: Pellicier was asked to do his best to maintain the existing good relationship between Venice and France, and to prevent the risk of the Republic inclining politically towards the emperor, Charles V. He was also given the task of acquiring Greek manuscripts for the royal library at Fontainebleau. At that time Venice was the centre of Greek culture in Europe; 3 the numerous public and private libraries in the city held a quantity of Greek manuscripts that scholars could consult or borrow; several Greek émigrés had found refuge in Venice after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and earned their living by copying texts. A further element in the dissemination of Greek culture in Venice was the importance accorded to classical studies at the University of Padua. Venice was also the centre of Greek printing. These factors made the city the meeting point for all those who had an interest in Greek culture, in the printing of Greek texts or in the copying and trade of Greek manuscripts. 4 Pellicier used the resources offered by the Republic in this ield to their full potential. He was well acquainted with the most famous merchants of Greek manuscripts, Antony Eparchus, 5 Demetrius Zeno 6 and Nicholas Sophianos; 7 he asked friends living in the East, such as Nicholas Petreius, 8 to search for manuscripts for him; he engaged scribes who would copy the manuscripts he was not able to acquire and scholars to Thanks to the identiication of so many of Pellicier's manuscripts, it is possible to describe the general characteristics of his library. Guillaume Pellicier was the ideal Renaissance homo universalis, interested in all branches of human knowledge. He was a bishop, an intelligent politician, a learned humanist and a subtle and courteous diplomat. All these aspects of his personality are relected in his choice of books. His strong inclination towards scientiic matters is immediately noticeable. There are barely a dozen literary texts, and, to the surprise of the modern reader, no manuscripts containing the work of the tragic poets; only one codex contains two Sophoclean tragedies (Ajax and Electra). Such a notable lacuna cannot be due to chance but must surely relect his personal choice. As for poetry, Pellicier's library contains only Homer's Iliad and the commentaries by Eustathius of Thessalonica and Psellus, two manuscripts of Theognis, one of Theocritus and one of Pindar; we also ind a manuscript containing Aristophanes (Plutus,
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Books by Anna Gioffreda