THE IMMORTAL FAUSTO: THE LIFE, WORKS, AND SHIPS OF THE VENETIAN HUMANIST AND NAVAL ARCHITECT VETTOR FAUSTO (1490-1546) A Dissertation by LILIA CAMPANA Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Cemal Pulak Committee Members, Deborah N. Carlson Kevin Crisman Craig W. Kallendorf Head of Department, Cynthia Werner August 2014 Major Subject: Anthropology ABSTRACT At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the maritime power of the Republic of Venice was seriously threatened by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I in the East, and by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in the West. In order to regain its naval power in the Mediterranean, the Republic of Venice strongly encouraged Venetian shipwrights to submit new designs for war galleys. The undisputed founder and champion of this naval program was not a skilled shipwright but a young professor of Greek in the School of Saint Mark named Vettor Fausto (1490-1546), who in the heat of this renewal programme, proposed “naval architecture” as a new scientia. In 1529, Vettor Fausto built a quinqueremis whose design, he claimed, was based upon the quinquereme “used by the Romans during their wars” and that he had derived the shipbuilding proportions “from the most ancient Greek manuscripts.” The recovery of Classical traditions resulted in major changes in many fields. It included shipbuilding practices as well, especially after Fausto introduced in the Venetian Arsenal a new scientia, that of “naval architecture”, in opposition to the fabrilis peritia, the empirical shipbuilding practice. This study examines several Renaissance sources and archival material in order to illuminate the technical features and the design of Fausto’s quinquereme. Based on the study of the anonymous sixteenth-century Venetian manuscript Misure di vascelli etc. di…proto dell’Arsenale di Venetia from the State Archive of Venice, this dissertation presents a general overview of Fausto’s life and his cultural background in ii order to better understand the humanistic foundations that led him to propose the construction of the quinquereme. Also presented here is a theoretical reconstruction of Fausto’s quinquereme along with other types of vessels built by Fausto, namely light galleys and great galleys. Furthermore, it will be suggested that the anonymous manuscript Misure di vascelli records the shipbuilding instructions to build the ships that Fausto designed during his tenure in the Arsenal of Venice. iii DEDICATION To my family to whom I owe everything: Gastone, Alberta, and Manuel Campana iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a pleasure to acknowledge the support of the many people who allowed me to research and write this dissertation. I am grateful to the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (I.N.A.) for providing me the opportunity to advance my knowledge of Renaissance Venetian naval architecture by studying original shipbuilding manuscripts in various libraries and archives. I am especially thankful to all the Board of Directors, founders, sponsors, and donors of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology for their unremitting, generous funding, and for believing in my project and my ability to complete it. In particular, my deepest gratitude goes to the I.N.A. President, Dr. Deborah N. Carlson, and to the I.N.A. Vice-President, Dr. Cemal Pulak, for their professional support and attention thorough the years. Among the I.N.A. Directors, my most sincere thanks go to Drs. Robyn Woodward and to Gregory and Lauries Maslow for their support and kindness. Dr. Lucy and Grace Darden of the Discovery Fund awarded me a research grant in 2014 in the final stage of my doctoral dissertation. I am most grateful to the Chair of my dissertation committee, Dr. Cemal Pulak, as well as to the other members, Dr. Deborah Carlson, Dr. Kevin Crisman, and Dr. Craig Kallendorf. Dr. Cemal Pulak deserves my deepest gratitude for allowing me to be his assistant and to work with him for the past six years on his various and most interesting projects. He has generously allocated funds for me and supported me in many ways, allowing me to spend extended periods in Venice and to present portions of my research at various professional venues. Over the years, Dr. Pulak has become more than my v mentor and teacher, he has become the inspiration for the type of scholar I want to be. Through Dr. Pulak’s meticulous research and his every-day passionate hard work, I have learned how to approach my work with an inquisitive mind, leaving nothing unexplored. He has provided me with an excellent model to follow and built the foundations of my future professional life. During the years I served as Dr. Pulak’s research assistant, he provided me with several professional opportunities, guidance, and helpful insight. To Dr. Pulak, to whom I owe everything I have learned and accomplished in the past years, I would like to dedicate the following lines (which are perfectly fit for a nautical archaeologist!) by the Roman poet Martial: Fragmentum quod uile putas et inutile lignum, haec fuit ignoti prima carina maris. Quam nec Cyaneae quondam potuere ruinae frangere nec Scythici tristior ira freti. Saecula uicerunt: sed quamuis cesserit annis, sanctior est salua parua tabella rate. This fragment, which you think a common and useless piece of wood, was a portion of the first ship that ventured on unknown seas, a ship which neither the Cyanean rocks, so fertile in shipwrecks, nor the still more dangerous rage of the Scythian ocean, could formerly destroy. Time has overcome it; but, though it has yielded to years, this little plank is more sacred than an entire ship. - Martial, Epigrammata, VII.19 Dr. Deborah Carlson has always been supportive and encouraging. She has provided me with constructive criticism and I throughly enjoyed taking her class on Classical Seafaring back in 2007. As the I.N.A. President, she has been extremely vi generous toward my project and has invited me to present some portions of my research at the I.N.A. Board Meeting in 2011. Dr. Kevin Crisman is an amazing teacher and scholar, and a very cheerful person. I have taken three classes with Dr. Crisman and all of them were very intensive and demanding. As I am approaching the turning point in my life, graduating as a Doctor of Philosophy, I have to say that the professors I am most grateful are those who made me work the most! Dr. Craig Kallendorf deserves my special thanks not only for kindly agreeing to serve as a Member in my Committee, but most of all for the help, support, and opportunities he provided me along my journey at Texas A&M University. In particular, as a Member of the Scientific Committee of the Instituto Internzionale di Studi Piceni, Dr. Kallendorf offered me a scholarship to attend the 2011 Symposium organized by the Istituto every two years in Sassofferrato, Italy. My heartfelt gratitude and appreciation goes to the Faculty of the Nautical Archaeology Program for the numerous grants that allowed me to conduct the research and to present it at various conferences and symposia. My sincere appreciation is extended to the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University for the many travel grants, and to the ProMare Foundation Inc. for their financial assistance in 2008. The staff of the Marciana Library and of the State Archives in Venice, where much of my dissertation was written, deserves my special thanks. I have presented the preliminary results of this project at various conferences and I have benefitted from the stimulating discussions and comments audiences offered me. I also want to extend my gratitude to all my professors of the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University who have encouraged me to pursue archival research vii for the past years and contributed so much to my expertise in investigating manuscripts. My professors and fellow graduate students at the Nautical Archaeology Program, who became my family in the years I have spent in College Station, have shared, in one way or another, the long process of researching and writing this dissertation. My personal gratitutde goes to my fellow students Chris Dostal, Kevin Melia Teevan, Stephanie Koening, Rebecca Ingram, and Michael Jones, for their true friendship and love. Chris Dostal made my life in College Station much better, more colorful, bright, and easy; he constantly encouraged me to finish my dissertation and unconditionally supported me in many ways. Thank you for your love, patience, and most of all for being there. My most heartfelt and profound gratitude goes to my wonderful parents and to my brother Manuel for their warm support, unfailing encouragement, and unconditional love throughout my life in all of my pursuits. They built the foundations of the person I am today, and since I was a child they encouraged me to pursue my goals and dreams in life. viii NOMENCLATURE AGS Archivo General de Simancas State Archives of Simancas, Spain ASFi Archivio di Stato di Firenze State Archives of Florence, Italy ASVe Archivio di Stato di Venezia State Archives of Venice, Italy BA Biblioteca Ambrosiana di Milano Ambrosiana Library, Milan, Italy BAV Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Città del Vaticano Apostolic Vatican Library, Vatican City, Vatican BCVe Biblioteca del Museo Civico Correr, Venezia Correr Civic Museum Library, Venice, Italy BdG Biblioteca dei Girolamini, Napoli Girolamini Library, Naples, Italy BE Biblioteca Estense, Modena, Italia Estense Library, Modena, Italy BN Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli National Library of Naples, Italy BNC Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma Central National Library of Rome, Italy BNM Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana Marciana National Library, Venice, Italy BNP Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris National Library of Paris, France BL British Library, London, England LAM Libreria ‘Angelo Mai,’ Bergamo ‘Angelo Mai’ Library, Bergamo, Italy ix ONB Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna Austrian National Library, Vienna, Austria ULG University Library of Glasgow, Scotland Ms./Mss.