Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance

CCCXX

John Lewis

ADRIEN TURNEBE (1512-1565)
A HUMANIST OBSERVED

LIBRAIRIE DROZ S. A.

11, rue Massot

GENÈVE

1998

Frontispice

Figure 1

 : Portrait of Adrien Turnèbe.

(B.N. Cabinet des Estampes)

Mentions légales

Résumé

La première monographie sur Adrien Turnèbe, humaniste parisien, lecteur royal de grec, auteur des Adversaria.

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Abstract

For Montaigne Adrien Turnebe was “le plus grand homme qui fut il y a mil’ans... il sçavoit toutes choses”. From the early optimism of Guillaume Budé (1468) to the more severe age of the Huguenot Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614), Paris could boast a dazzling array of resident scholars whose works on both Latin and Greek authors would have been found in the libraries and private collections of all educated men. It is to that glittering circle of scholars that Adrien Turnèbe belongs. As a scholar, he bears comparison with the best of them. But unlike them, Turnèbe also enjoyed a considerable reputation as a printer, poet, and controversialist. From his appointment as a lecteur royal in 1547 to his death in 1565, Turnèbe produced an uninterrupted flow of editions, translations and commentaries on an astonishing range of Greek and Latin authors, and John Lewis studies and presents all of them.

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www.droz.org

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Références papier

ISBN-10 : 2-600-00270-7

EAN : 9782600002707

ISSN : 0082-6081

Copyright (1998) by Librairie Droz S.A., 11, rue Massot, Genève.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche or any other means without written permission.

Distribué en France par de Boccard :

www.deboccard.com

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Références numériques

EAN ePUB : 9782600302708

EAN PDF : 9782600102704

ISSN : 0082-6081

Copyright (2021) by Librairie Droz S.A., 11, rue Massot, Genève.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, microfiche or any other means without written permission.

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.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents

7

Acknowledgements

8

List of Illustrations

9

Abbreviations

10

Chronology

12

Introduction

15

I Early Life and Gareer (1512-47)

27

II Lecteur Royal (1547-65)

43

III Against the Jesuits

77

IV Scholar and Printer

105

V The Trouble with Cicero : Controversy at Paris with Petrus Ramus (1550-56)

213

VI Poets and Poetry

263

VII Religion and the Last Things

295

Conclusions

321

Appendices

325

General Bibliography

331

Index

363

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The publication of this work has been helped by a grant from the Publications Fund of the Queen’s University of Belfast. I am enormously indebted to Mrs Vivien Dodds, who prepared a camera-ready copy of a difficult manuscript with enormous skill and patience. My thanks are also due to the staff of the Service Photographique of the Bibliothèque Nationale and the Photographic Service of the British Library ; but most of all to my colleagues in the United Kingdom and France, too numerous to mention individually, whose interest and suggestions have stimulated me and shaped my thoughts about Turnèbe. A special debt of thanks is owed to my old supervisor, the Reverend Professor M. A. Screech, who first opened my eyes to the glories of the French Renaissance.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

Fig. 1

 :
Portrait of Adrien Turnèbe
Frontispiece

Fig. 2

 :
Title-Page of St Clement,

De rebus ...B. Petri Epitome

(Paris, G. Morel, 1555)
Between pp. 109-110

Fig. 3

 :
Title-Page of Homer,

Iliad

(Paris, A. Turnèbe, 1554)

Fig. 4

 :
Title-Page of St Clement,

De rebus ... S. Petri Epitome

(Paris, A. Turnèbe, 1555)

Fig. 5

 :
Title-Page of Demetrius Pepagomenos,

De Podagra

(Paris, G. Morel, 1558)

Fig. 6

 :
Title-Page of Theophrastus,

De Lapidibus

(Paris, F. Morel, 1577)

ABBREVIATIONS

The following abbreviations are used throughout the text without further indication :

BB

Bulletin du Bibliophile

BHR

Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance

BSHP

Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire de Paris et de l’Ile de France

BSHPF

Bulletin de la Société de l’Histoire du Protestantisme Français

Clément

L. Clément,

De Adriani Turnebi Regii Professoris Præfationibus et Poematis

(Paris, 1899).

Demerson

G. Demerson,

Polémiques autour de la mort de Turnèbe

, Editions du Centre de Recherches sur la Réforme et la Contre-Réforme (Clermont-Ferrand, 1975).

Douarche

A. Douarche,

L’Université de Paris et les Jésuites (XVI

e

et XVII

e

 siècles)

(Paris, 1888 ; reprinted Slatkine, Geneva, 1970)

ER

Etudes Rabelaisiennes

HR

Humanisme et Renaissance

JHI

Journal of the History of Ideas

JWCI

Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes

Legay

M. Legay,

Adrien Tournebus, lecteur royal

(Caen, 1877). Extrait du

Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie

, 8 (1875-77), 357-405.

MLR

Modern Language Review

Ong

W. J. Ong,

Ramus and Talon Inventory. A short-title inventory of the published works of Peter Ramus (1512-72) and of Omer Talon (ca.1510-62) in their original and in their variously altered forms

(Cambridge, Mass., 1958)

Opera

Viri clariss. Adriani Turnebi… Opera, nunc primum ex bibliotheca… Stephani Adriani f. Turnebi… in unum collecta, emendata, aucta et tributa in tomos III…

(Strasbourg, L. Zetzner, 1600)

Oratio funebris

Léger Du Chesne,

Oratio funebris de vita et interitu Adriani Turnebi, habita Lutetiœ in Regio auditorio anno Domini 1565 mense Decembri

(Paris, T. Richard, 1566). Also included in

Opera

(III, 98-102)

Poëmata

Adr. Turnebi Philosophiæ et Græcarum literarum professoris Regii Poëmata

(Paris, M. Le Jeune, 1580)

REG

Revue des Etudes Grecques

RHLF

Revue d’Histoire Littéraire de la France

RHT

Revue d’Histoire des Textes

RLC

Revue de Littérature Comparée

RSS

Revue du Seizième Siècle

SF

Studi Francesi

Sharratt

P. Sharratt, “Peter Ramus and the Reform of the University : the Divorce of Philosophy and Eloquence ?” in

French Renaissance Studies : Humanism and the Encyclopedia

, edited by P. Sharratt (Edinburgh, 1976), pp. 4-20

SP

Studies in Philology

STFM

Société des Textes Français Modernes

THR

Travaux d’Humanisme et Renaissance

TLF

Textes Littéraires Français

CHRONOLOGY

1512

Turnèbe born at Les Andelys

1523

Begins his studies in Paris at the Collège de Justice

1532

Awarded M.A. and teaches, firstly at the Collège de Justice and then at the Collège Sainte-Barbe

1544

Voyage to Flanders with Pierre Galland

1545

Turnèbe appointed to the University of Toulouse as Lecturer in Greek on the recommendation of Cardinal Odet de Châtillon

1545
(18 April)
François Olivier appointed Chancellor of France

1547

Turnèbe appointed

Lecteur Royal

in Latin and Greek Philosophy on the death of Jacques Toussaint

1550

Publication of Ramus’ commentary on Cicero’s

De Fato

, beginning the quarrel with Turnèbe

1551
(9 Nov)
Marriage to Madeleine Clément

1552

Appointed

Imprimeur royal pour les livres grecs

1552
(March)
Henry II’s expedition to Germany

1555

Resignation from the post of

Imprimeur Royal

in favour of Guillaume Morel

1557
(12 May)
Riots at the Pré-aux-Clercs

(24 May)
Turnèbe and Ramus included in the deputation sent by the University to the King to defuse the situation, and to persuade the King to revoke the measures taken against the University

1558
(7 January)
Calais recaptured from the English

(24 April)
Mary Stuart married to the dauphin François

1559

De Nova Captandae Utilitatis e Literis Ratione

(April)
Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis

(29 June)
Henry II wounded in a tornament and dies shortly afterwards

1560
(15 March)
Death of François Olivier, succeeded as Chancellor by
Michel de L’Hospital (May)

1561

Turnèbe appointed

Lecteur Royal

in Greek
Philosophy

1562
(April)
Wars of Religion begin

1563
(19 March)
Pacification of Amboise

1564

Adversaria

Vol. I (Books 1-12)

1565

Adversaria

Vol. II (Books 13-24)

Ad Sotericum gratis docentem

(12 June)

Turnèbe dies in Paris from phthisis at 7 a.m. and is
interred at 9 p.m. the same day

1573

Adversaria

Vol. III (Books 2-30)

1580

Poëmata

Adversaria

Vols. I-III (Books 1-30)

1600

Opera omnia

INTRODUCTION

Turnebus iacet hic. Quis sit, si quærere pergis

Iam dignus es qui nescias.

1

[Here lies Turnèbe. If you persist in asking

who he is, you deserve not to know.]

For over two hundred years after his death, the works of Adrien Turnèbe (1512-65) were the familiar working tools, leisure companions and reference books of those educated or interested in the Classics. Those works were the product of the years Turnèbe spent at the recently formed

Collège des lecteurs royaux

, firstly as Royal Reader in Greek (1547-61) and then for the last four years of his life as the Reader in Greek and Latin Philosophy.

2

In his own day, Turnèbe enjoyed an immense reputation as a humanist scholar and teacher, and was warmly praised by all the major intellectual and literary figures. If some of these eulogies appear exaggerated to the point of insincerity, the majority are singularly warm and consistent. Montaigne, a man not usually given to hyperbole, had “a quite exceptional admiration”

3

for Turnèbe : he appreciated his vast erudition, and sought his opinion on Raymond Sebond and his

Theologia Naturalis.

4

Montaigne also welcomed in Turnèbe a refreshing lack of professional arrogance :

[…] Adrianus Turnebus, qui, n’ayant faict autre profession que de lettres, en laquelle c’estoit à mon opinion, le plus grand homme qui fut il y a mil’ans, n’avoit toutesfois rien de pedantesque que le port de sa robe, et quelque façon externe, qui pouvoit n’estre pas civilisée à la courtisane, qui sont choses de neant.

5

In purely academic terms, Turnèbe enjoyed a reputation which was second to none : tributes to his acumen, diligence, erudition, vast memory and prodigious appetite for learning were heaped upon him ; for the younger Scaliger, Turnèbe was the “greatest and the most learned man of his century” ;

6

similarly, for Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, Turnèbe was the “ornament of his age” ;

7

the historian Jacques-Auguste De Thou considered that Turnèbe married that vast erudition to a life of virtue ;

8

Henri Estienne,

9

Sainte-Marthe

10

and his translater Guillaume Colletet

11

all stress the exemplary modesty which Turnèbe displayed in his lectures and written works In a letter to Turnèbe’s son Adrien, Justus Lipsius assures the son that his father will enjoy eternal glory for as long as Greek and Latin are valued.

12

That enviable reputation was not confined to France : when Etienne Pasquier gives his opinion on the relative merits of the

lecteurs royaux

, he cites the manner in which several German universities honoured the memory of Turnèbe :

J’ay autrefois appris de trois Allemans, gens d’honneur, qu’en plusieurs Universitez d’Allemagne, lors que ceux qui sont en chaire alleguent Tournebus et Cujas, aussi tost mettent ils la main au bonnet, pour le respect et honneur qu’ils portent à leurs memoires.

13

Admittedly, as Turnèbe’s nephew, Pasquier may be biased in his favour ; but it is clear from the huge number of contemporary tributes to Turnèbe that he was an exceptional scholar, held in extremely high esteem.

14

The obscurity into which the Works of Turnèbe have fallen reflects a relatively modern shift in values away from the Classics. Much the same obscurity surrounds many eminent humanists of the sixteenth century ; their work is often neglected simply for having been written in Latin, and unavailable in convenient modern translations. Nevertheless this work is, on the whole, much more interesting than its reputation would suggest : and fortunately, this modern neglect of the Classics has not always been so marked. Preoccupation with the study and imitation of classical literature was a central concern of Renaissance scholars. The

studia humanitatis

fostered identification with the men and ideals of the ancient world, and held out the promise of intellectual, educational and moral regeneration ; this awareness of older insights into moral philosophy, logic, rhetoric or literary theory often encouraged Renaissance writers to believe that they could reshape their own societies in the image of an idealised classical past. And even though the humanist movement eventually affected all areas of intellectual and artistic endeavour, its initial impact was strongest in – and was perhaps even limited to – the “teaching, study and promotion of classical literature”.

15

It was also commonly accepted that those activities were most profitably and most sympathetically carried out in Latin. Because the last forty years of criticism have been dominated by works devoted to authors who wrote in the vernacular, it is easy to underestimate (or even to forget) the immense influence and prestige enjoyed by those who used Latin as their normal means of expression :

What passes today as Renaissance literature – vernacular literature – no matter how great its excellence, occupied the periphery of Renaissance consciousness insofar as this consciousness thought of literature as connected with formal education.

16

Latin was the language of the universities and the schools, the language of all worthwhile intellectual, scientific and philosophical intercourse. Command of that language came through the revival of the Latin classics. Such command enabled Renaissance man to speak well and to Write well, to “impress his peers, denounce his enemies, thunder in defence of creed or city”.

17

Nevertheless, scholars had to face the problem that, even when they had not been lost altogether, classical latin texts had for centuries been badly copied and misinterpreted. Important phrases, sentences or whole sections of a work could vary significantly from manuscript to manuscript ; therefore, the rediscovery of an author’s original meaning and intention involved finding appropriate techniques in the new science of textual criticism. Renaissance philology confronted these problems directly, and came of age in Italy with scholars such as Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406) who rediscovered Cicero’s letters, Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459) who rediscovered Cicero’s speeches, Lorenzo Valla (1407-57), and Angelo Poliziano (1454-94) ; through their pioneering editions and commentaries, these scholars made available writers of Antiquity who had been neglected, unknown or simply misunderstood for centuries.

The application of these new techniques to Latin manuscripts was undoubtedly of considerable importance, but real knowledge of the past (including the early Christian past) depended equally upon familiarity with Greek writings. In this respect, what distinguished the humanist movement of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries from similar movements of the twelfth century was the role played by Greek scholars, and the extensive use they made of philological techniques.

18

Philology provided the key to a fuller understanding of classical views on ethics, moral philosophy, or history ; it was an indispensable instrument of linguistic investigation ; and in the right hands, it was an invaluable tool for those who sought the true interpretation of Christian doctrine. Those heady possibilities were soon being widely investigated outside of Italy ; and if the initial impetus had been given to philological studies in Italy, then it was in sixteenth-century France that Greek and Latin scholarship eventually flowered most brilliantly.

Specifically Greek scholarship survived and eventually prospered in Paris

19

thanks to the early efforts of scholars like Janus Lascaris (1445-1535),

20

Jérôme Aléandre [Girolamo Aleandro] (1480-1542)

21

and Georgius Hermonymus

22

, who had all arived from Italy. Later on their French students would continue those efforts, but they faced a long and a hard struggle in the face of determined opposition from the reactionary forces of the Sorbonne, for whom the study of Greek and Hebrew threatened theological tradition. Nevertheless, from the early optimism of Guillaume Budé (1468-1540) to the more severe age of the Huguenot Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614), Paris could boast a dazzling array of resident scholars whose works on both Latin and Greek authors would have been found in the libraries and private collections of all educated men. Budé, Pierre Galland, Jacques Toussaint, Pierre Danès,

23

Denis Lambin, Jean Dorat, Marc-Antoine Muret, and the Scaligers

père et fils

, were all scholars of immense talent and reputation ; students flocked from great distances to listen to their lectures and to be taught by them. The Works of all these scholars are marked by a devotion to textual criticism ; their fame rests upon long hours of dedicated study, allied to imaginative emendation of corrupt manuscript readings, with the result that these critics “conspicuously advanced both the standard and the technique of editing classical texts”.

24

But in our own day, these scholars are more often than not represented as dry, unapproachable figures...