The Public Defense of the Doctoral Dissertation in Medieval Studies

of

LUKA ŠPOLJARIĆ

on

NICHOLAS OF MODRUŠ, ‘THE GLORY OF ILLYRIA’: HUMANIST PATRIOTISM AND SELF-FASHIONING IN RENAISSANCE

will be held on

Tuesday, June 11 2013, at 12:00,

in the

Monument Building, Senate Room Central European University Nádor u. 9, Budapest

Examination Committee

Chair Susan Zimmermann (Department of History)

Members Niels Gaul (Department of Medieval Studies) – Supervisor Gábor Klaniczay (Department of Medieval Studies) Tijana Krstić (Department of Medieval Studies)

External Neven Budak (University of Zagreb) James Hankins (Harvard University) Neven Jovanović (University of Zagreb)

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION ABSTRACT LUKA ŠPOLJARIĆ

NICHOLAS OF MODRUŠ, ‘THE GLORY OF ILLYRIA’: HUMANIST PATRIOTISM AND SELF-FASHIONING IN RENAISSANCE ROME

The dissertation reconstructs and contextualizes the life of Nicholas bishop of Modruš (ca. 1427–1480), most often evoked as a papal diplomat who played an important role in the events surrounding the fall of the Bosnian kingdom to the Ottomans in 1463, subsequently spending the rest of his life in the provinces of the where he formed his grand library and engaged himself with philosophical and antiquarian matters. In a word, the Nicholas of Modruš imagined today is one painted with broad strokes, a result of the fact that the bulk of his oeuvre still remains buried in manuscript, and his career at the papal Curia largely unstudied. By introducing an ample amount of unpublished material into discussion, establishing a new dating for a number of his works, correcting a number of mistakes and assumptions, and finally addressing various previously unconnected paths of research, the dissertation sheds new light on the role of Nicholas of Modruš on the stage of Renaissance Rome. Therefore, just as any other biography, so this dissertation too is selective. While it is divided into four sections that treat chronologically four successive phases of Nicholas’ life, it is the Part I and Part II, discussing the first years of his Curial career, that bring particularly two questions under close scrutiny: the bishop’s humanism and his patriotism.

The Prologue sets the stage for these discussions, presenting Nicholas’ life and career before his arrival to Rome in 1464. The section begins by treating his social background in Kotor, Dalmatia; his academic trajectory in Venice and Padua; and the beginnings of his ecclesiastical career in Croatia under the patronage of the Croatian noble family of Frankopans. The bulk of the Prologue, however, treats the bishop’s career in anti-Ottoman diplomacy, connected to the rapid expansion of the Ottoman

2 Empire during the 1450s and the first half of 1460s which led to the fall of the last remaining independent realms in the Balkans: Byzantium (1453), Serbia (1459), Morea (1461), Wallachia (1462), and finally Bosnia (1463), where the bishop of Modruš was sent as a papal legate on the eve of the Ottoman invasion. The final part of the section is dedicated to the period Nicholas spent at the court of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490), which considers the bishop’s attempt to secure the king’s favor in promoting his career, and the reasons for his eventual banishment from the court and move to the papal Curia.

Part I is the first of the two central sections, which discusses Nicholas of Modruš’s Curial career under pope Paul II (1464–1471), and which offers, most importantly, a more nuanced perspective on the somewhat monolithic image of a humanist that Nicholas of Modruš long enjoys in scholarship. Departing from Ronald Witt’s understanding of humanism as essentially an imitation of classical literary practices, Part I shows that Nicholas’ pre-Roman oeuvre, comprising of De mortalium felicitate (1462) and Navicula Petri (1463), was in fact defined by pursuit of theological and philosophical topics through the prism of Scotist scholasticism, in line with his education in Venice and Padua. Thus while the bishop’s pre-Roman works betray his weak knowledge of classical literature and ancient history before 1464, his arrival to Rome represents a gradual turn to the humanistic canon of texts and exploration of new topics. His first Roman works, De consolatione (1465–1466) and De humilitate (1470), but also the more traditional De titulis et auctorbus psalmorum (ca. 1470), were all conceived as manuals that targeted wide dissemination by appealing to broad audiences and that, in the process, employed a wide range of classical and patristic authorities. The works that followed in the later period of his curial career, De bellis Gothorum (1471–1472), translations of Isocrates’ speeches (1471–1472), the Oratio in funere Petri cardinalis S. Sixti (1474) and Defensio ecclesiasticae libertatis (1480) mark a complete turn to historiographical and rhetorical topics, which, as shown in the Epilogue, found much use at the Curia of Sixtus IV. Yet, while the dissertation treats Nicholas’ increasing appropriation of classicizing features in his writings, the bulk of

3 the discussion of his intellectual pursuits is based on the analysis of his library, as reconstructed from the identified manuscripts and a partial inventory of the books that were following the bishop’s death donated to the Augustinians of Santa Maria del Popolo. Approaching the identified corpus of books diachronically and synchronically shows that the library’s most significant aggrandizement can be traced to 1464–1471, the first period of Nicholas’ curial career, during which the bishop collected not only scholastic theological and philosophical writings but also made an energetic effort to assemble a complete collection of canonical works of classical and Christian antiquity. While numerous marginal notes adorning the preserved manuscripts allow us to trace the bishop’s engagement with the minutiae of ancient culture, their rich illuminations reveal that they were also supposed to play a role in the social space and convey to all the visitors of his library the good tastes of their owner. Not only a private studiolo, Nicholas’ library thus functioned, much as those of many other curial prelates, as a place for convivial discussions where Nicholas welcomed other members of the circle pivoted around cardinal Bessarion, to which he himself belonged. The Nicholas of Modruš that emerges, therefore, from Part I is not a disinterested humanist enjoying his otium in the provinces (as previously presented), but a traditionally- educated homo novus whose turn to humanism represented a response to the highly competitive field of the Renaissance Curia that regarded classicism as a cultural ideal.

Yet, as outlined in the Prologue, Nicholas was a South Slav, a Croatian prelate of Dalmatian origin who before coming to Rome had played a prominent role as papal legate in the events surrounding the fall of the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463. As Part II shows, all this had a formative role on the bishop’s patriotism, that is to say on the way he chose to articulate allegiance to his imagined patria. Documentary evidence shows that upon his arrival to Rome, in parallel to his engagement with the leading intellectual circles of the Curia and his appropriation of humanist standards, the bishop established himself as the leading figure of the local South Slavic or rather, as gradually conceptualized within the humanist circles, Illyrian community. Most light on his role in this community is provided by Corsin. 127, a manuscript comprising

4 Nicholas’ personal copies of his De bellis Gothorum, De humilitate, and translations of Isocrates’ speeches. Due to the severely truncated state of these copies, neither the dating of these works nor their dedicatees were previously established, and they were so far merely referred to as examples of the bishop’s antiquarian and philosophical interests. Yet, first, Part I identifies the dedicatee of De humilitate as Catherine titular queen of Bosnia, who following the fall of her kingdom to the Ottomans in 1463 took up residence in Rome where she became a papal ward and, alongside Nicholas, the leading representative of the Illyrian community. Part II, on the other hand, revolves around the bishop’s history of the Gothic wars. By shedding light on the negative image of the Goths in Italian humanist historiography on the one hand, and on South Slavic/Illyrian traditions of their own Gothic origins on the other, the analysis of Nicholas’ work traces his subtle manipulations of sources that were meant to convince the Italian elite into a positive image of the Ostrogothic Illyrian natio. Moreover, by dating the work to 1471–1472 and setting it within the context of the military and diplomatic preparation for the papal-Neapolitan-Venetian expedition against the Ottomans, in which Nicholas himself played an important role, De bellis Gothorum is unveiled as a piece of historiographical propaganda that argued for the utopian restoration of Ostrogothic Illyria under queen Catherine. The work was, it is furthermore argued, primarily supposed to be presented, and probably dedicated, to Ferrante king of , legitimizing his role in the expedition and possible future involvement in the Balkans, as well as evoking the active policy of his father, Alfonso V of Aragon, who for long had counted queen Catherine’s own father, Stephen Vukčić Kosača of Hum, as his vassal. This interpretation is finally corroborated by the fact that the likely dedicatee of Nicholas’ translations of Isocrates’ speeches was the crown prince of the Neapolitan kingdom, Alfonso duke of Calabria. Taken together, therefore, Nicholas’ works that now fill the fascicules of Corsin. 127, all composed in the context of fervent anti-Ottoman diplomatic activities in 1470–1472, during which the bishop established himself as the leading curial prelate for matters Illyrian, were meant to enhance the prestige of queen Catherine, and secure the involvement of the Neapolitan court and the rest of in banishing the Ottomans from the Balkans and

5 restoring the utopian Ostrogothic Illyria under her rule. At the same time, in Nicholas’ view of the world, he was for his learning, virtue, diplomatic and military performance in the expedition, and finally his role in the Illyrian national community in Rome, supposed to be rewarded with the cardinal’s hat and become the first Cardinalis Illyricus, the kingdom’s patron cardinal. The Epilogue – which outlines the final years of Nicholas’ Curial career: the time he spent as a member of the familia of cardinal Pietro Riario, his administrative posts in the Papal States and his role in the – shows that, in spite of his bitter disappointment with the unfavorable results of the elections of cardinals in 1473, and the subsequent reduction to the status of pope Sixtus’ courtier, it was a dignity he would continue to covet until the very end of his life.

The dissertation combines a wide range of extant documentary, epistolary, literary, codicological and palaeographical evidence, published and unpublished, most of which find their place among the Appendices. Appendix 1 presents all the identified documents and other sources directly referring to Nicholas, published and unpublished likewise. Appendix 2 includes the edition of Nicholas’ correspondence, Appendix 3 of his dedicatory letters, both important sources for the nature of his social networks and self-fashioning strategies. Appendix 4 contains the transcription of Nicholas’ De bellis Gothorum, while Appendix 5 offers the last four sections of his Defensio ecclesiasticae libertatis. Appendix 6 includes the edition of parts of the lost book of poems presented to Nicholas by his humanist client Francesco Maturanzio, which have been preserved as part of a larger collection of the latter’s poems. Appendix 7, the Repertorium, offers a list, and in most cases, the codicological descriptions of all manuscripts known to date which preserve the works of Nicholas of Modruš. Appendix 8a includes the 1480 inventory of Nicholas’ books donated to the Augustinians of Santa Maria del Popolo by Sixtus IV expanded by identifications of the titles, as well as of manuscript copies and incunable editions in question. Appendix 8b presents the catalogue of the presently identified manuscripts that formed Nicholas’ library. Finally, Appendix 9 offers plates in support of various details discussed in the body of the dissertation.

6 CURRICULUM VITAE LUKA ŠPOLJARIĆ

Education 2008–2013 PhD in Medieval Studies Central European University, Budapest 2007–2008 MA in Medieval Studies Central European University, Budapest 2002–2007 Diploma in History and Latin Language with Roman Literature Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb

Fellowships, Scholarships, and Awards 2012 Short-term Frances A. Yates Fellow at the Warburg Institute 2011 Attended the CEU Summer University course ‘Medieval Codicology and Palaeography: Greek book hand’; Budapest 2011 Attended the course ‘L’idea di Roma dall’Ellenismo all’Umanesimo: XXII Seminario di Alta Cultura’, organized by the Istituto Internazionale di Studi Piceni; Sassoferrato 2011 Renaissance Society of America Research Grant 2011 CEU Advanced Doctoral Student Award 2010 Visiting Fellow at the Harvard University History Department 2010 Attended a one-month-long course in philology, palaeography and codicology ‘Translating the Past’, organized by the Institute at Palazzo Rucellai, Johns Hopkins University, and Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo; Florence 2009 Incoming Visegrad Scholarship 2008 Attended the CEU Summer University course ‘From Holy War to Peaceful Cohabitation: Diversity of Crusading and Military Orders’; Budapest

Publications Forth. ‘O intelektualnom krugu i rukopisnoj kulturi na dvoru Matije Korvina: Nikola Modruški i Petrova lađica’ [On the intellectual circle and manuscript culture at the court of Matthias Corvinus: Nicholas of Modruš and Peter’s Barge]. In Građa za povijest književnosti hrvatske [Sources for the history of Croatian literature], vol. 38, ed. Dunja Fališevac. Zagreb: Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, 2013. Forth. ‘Reditus imperii ad Latinos: The Komnenian Emperors in William of Tyre’s Historia.’ In From Holy War to Peaceful Cohabitation: Diversity of Crusading and Military Orders, ed. József Laszlovszky and Zsolt Hunyadi. Budapest: CEU Press, 2013.

7 2012 ‘Ex libris Nicolai Episcopi Modrussiensis: Knjižnica Nikole Modruškog’ [Ex libris Nicolai Episcopi Modrussiensis: The library of Nicholas of Modruš]. Colloquia Maruliana 21 (2012): 25–68. 2009 ‘Rhetoricizing Effeminacy in Twelfth-Century Outremer: William of Tyre and the Byzantine Empire.’ Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU 15 (2009): 9–21.

Research Experience Archive of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb (Jan, Dec 2010); National Széchényi Library, Budapest (Jan 2009); Biblioteca Riccardiana, Florence (Jun 2010); Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence (Jun 2010); Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Florence (Jun 2010); Biblioteca dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei e Corsiniana, Rome (Feb 2010; Feb–Mar, Oct–Nov 2011); Biblioteca Angelica, Rome (Feb 2010; Feb–Mar, Oct–Nov 2011); Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome (Feb–Mar, Oct–Nov 2011); Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican (Feb–Mar, Oct–Nov 2011); Houghton Library, Cambridge MA (Sep–Dec 2010); Biblioteca Nazionale ‘Vittorio Emanuele III’, Naples (Nov 2011); British Library, London (Jan–Mar 2012); Bodleian Library, Oxford (Feb 2012); Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna (May 2013)

Teaching Experience (Courses and Workshops) 2012/2013b Selected Sources for the Late Medieval History of Croatia History Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb 2009/2010b MEDS 5909 Latin Beginner II (Teaching Assistant) Department of Medieval Studies, CEU Budapest 2009/2010a MEDS 5909 Latin Beginner I (Teaching Assistant) Department of Medieval Studies, CEU Budapest

2012 Apr Stories of Manuscripts (Sixth annual Latin student workshop) Marulić Days 2012, Split 2011 Apr Manuscript Scholia (Fifth annual Latin student workshop) Marulić Days 2011, Split

Research Interests Renaissance intellectual elite; humanist rhetoric and historiography; history of patriotism; Renaissance book culture; political and cultural history of late medieval Croatia in the context of the wider region; crusades; Nicholas of Modruš

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