Chapter 5 How Reimarus Read His Bible

In July 1744, Reimarus sent a long-awaited response to his benefactor Angelo Maria Querini in . Ever since September 1736, the two men had main- tained an intensive correspondence. From Reimarus’s point of view, Querini’s help had been vital for the success of his Cassius Dio edition, which was well under way, but still far from completion.1 Most importantly, the cardinal pro- vided him with collations from two Dio manuscripts from the Vatican Library2 and helped advertise his project to scholarly circles across the Alps.3 Such pub- licity was essential for the young German scholar, whose meager publication record up to that point had barely made him visible in the larger Respublica literaria. But the exchange was not only to Reimarus’s advantage. Having been trained by one of the greatest bibliographers of his time, Reimarus was able to provide Querini with all sorts of scholarly materials. Among his main assets was the scholarly legacy of his father-in-law Fabricius and the latter’s mag- nificent library, whose auction catalogue Reimarus was compiling.4 This task had put Reimarus at an important intersection in the world of learning and made him an attractive correspondent even to scholarly heavyweights such as Querini. Though Querini was by no means a stranger to scholars throughout Europe,5 Reimarus was still able to do his part to publicize the latter’s work,

1 The first volume appeared in 1750. For greater detail on this subject, see chapter 4 above. 2 See VQS. Ms. 257, letter Reimarus to Querini, 29 February 1737: “[. . .] Ipse, Amplissime Cardinalis, petam abs Te audacter et libere, Dionis nimicrum Cassii ut collationem ad Codices Vaticanos institui haud gravitam cures [. . .].” 3 See VQS. Ms. 257, letter Reimarus to Querini, 10 December 1746: “[. . .] Quando enim iam ante triennium, ni fallor, Dionis mei non tantum mentionem publice fecisti, sed patronum Te adeo magnum et adiutorem, ne dicam laudatorem, causae praebuisti [. . .].” 4 Hermann Samuel Reimarus, Bibliothecae Beati Jo. Alb. Fabricii S. Theol. Doct. P.P. Hamb. [. . .], 4 vols. (Hamburg, 1738–41); Reimarus sent Querini the auction catalogue of Fabricius’s library so that Querini could select those materials that seemed useful for his work. See VQS. Ms. 257, letter Reimarus to Querini, 11 December 1737: “Nunc mittere quoque ausus sum, cujus tum mentionem injeci, Catalogum Bibliothecae Fabricianae, in qua si quid fuerit desideriis Tuis aut Amicorum accommodatum, honori ducam, si id a me, ex mandato Tuo, candide curatum iri existimes.” 5 Giulia Cantarutti, “Angelo Maria Querini e il mondo tedesco. Invito alla ricerca,” in Dalla libreria del vescovo alla biblioteca della città: 250 anni di tradizione della cultura a , ed. Ennio Ferraglio and Daniele Montanari (Brescia, 2001), 223–38.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���5 | doi ��.��63/9789004272989_007 How Reimarus Read His Bible 225 for example, in a review of his Primordia Corcyrae6 in Friedrich Otto Mencke’s prestigious Nova acta eruditorum.7 Ever since, Querini had again been hard at work on a new project. He was planning a scholarly edition of the works of the sixteenth-century English cardinal (1500–1558).8 In fact, Pole’s famous response to Henry VIII, his Pro ecclesiasticae unitatis defensione (1536), more commonly known as De unitate ecclesiastica, may have been a source of inspiration for Querini’s own irenic leanings and dispositions.9 In the spirit of his famous sixteenth-century brother-in-arms, Querini sought out the occasion to engage some Protestant luminaries in a friendly debate of the historical events surrounding the English Reformation and the roles of both Henry VIII and Cardinal Pole. Before submitting the edition to the printer, he sent out portions of the work, notably his Diatriba ad epistolas Reginaldi Poli to such scholars as Johann Georg Schelhorn (1694–1773) in Memmingen and the above-mentioned Mencke in Leipzig. Most importantly for us, he included Reimarus in the list of recipients.10 Querini’s goal was ultimately to include a Protestant perspective into his proposed edition, possibly with an added

6 Angelo Maria Querini, Illustrium auctorum dicta expensa et emendata in libro cui titulus Primordia Corcyrae (Brescia, 1738). Querini was of Corfu from 1723 to 1727, which may have motivated this project. See Giorgio Fedalto, “Angelo Maria Querini, arci- vescovo latino di Corfù (1723–1727),” in Cultura, religione e politica nell’età di Angelo Maria Querini, Atti del Convegno di studi promosso dal Comune di Brescia in collaborazione con la Fondazione Giorgio Cini di Venezia, ed. Gino Benzoni and Maurizio Pegrari (Brescia, 1982), 361–67. 7 See letter Reimarus to Querini, 5 November 1738, BBQ, E IV 14, 108v: “Ita vero captus sum lectione Primordiorum Corcyrae, libri profunda veterum Graecorum et Antiquitatum peritia refertissimi, ita exhilaturus lecionibus Dioneis multa profutura docentibus, ut utrumque publice pro merito praedicare non intermittam. Dabo enim ipse in Actis Lipsiensibus recensionem Primordionum quantum potero accuratam et diligentem, cum Animadversiones illas ad Euclidem, jussu Tuo, a Mathematico Lipsiensi, per Menckenium Actorum Moderatorem recensendas curaverim, ut ex adjecto Actorum Mense Octobr. perspicias.” 8 On Reginald Pole, see Thomas F. Mayer, Reginald Pole: Prince and Prophet (New York, 2000). 9 Friedrich Lauchert, “Die irenischen Bestrebungen des Cardinals Angelo Maria Querini (O.S.B.) speziell in seinem literarischen Verkehr mit den deutschen protestantischen Gelehrten,” Mitteilungen aus dem Benediktiner—und dem Zisterzensier—Orden 24 (1903), 243–75; also Giuseppe Alberigo, “Cattolicità e ecumenicità nel Settecento,” in Cultura, religione e politica, 9–21, as well as Mario Bendiscioli, “La Germania protestante tra orto- dossia, pietismo, Aufklärung, nell’età e nella corrispondenza del cardinale Angelo Maria Querini,” in ibid., 24–31. 10 Lauchert, “Die irenischen Bestrebungen,” 248.