44

REUCHLIN'S MARRIAGE.

P. II.

and received express permission to apply for his doctor's degree elsewhere.

When the first reforming movement began, especially in Lower Germany, Reuchlin determined to be useful to his native country, and, first in his birthplace, to contribute his share towards the revival of learning and true religion. He hastened therefore to Tübingen, and caused himself to be entered in December, 1481, in the hope of being employed in the new university founded by Eberhard 'the Bearded.' At first he practised as advocate, and so gained, not only his maintenance, but a great reputation. His pecuniary circumstances, which had not been very prosperous either at Basle or in France, now permitted him to marry; and his marriage, though childless, was as happy as it was lasting. He, as well as his friends, bear the most favourable testimony to his wife in their letters. Rudolf Agricola, in a letter to Reuchlin, commends the important step which he could not prevail on himself to take, and wishes him health and happiness in it. It soon happened that Reuchlin was made known to Eberhard the elder, being most highly recommended by the friends he had acquired partly in France, partly in that city. Pleasant were the hours he passed in literary labours during his sojourn in Tübingen among such companions as John Fergen (Nauclerus), chancellor of the university, friend and tutor of the prince, Gabriel Biel of Spire', and Summenhart',

8 The diploma drawn up on the 14th of June, 1481, is in the collection of Reuchlin's Letters. Upon the history of this period, compare the preface to his Rudim. Hebraic.

9 First preacher in Mentz, then in Urach, whence he was called to Tübingen.

1 Summenhart, a native of Wirtemberg, who came as Master of Arts from Paris, 1478, to Tübingen, and there became Doctor of Theology, the 12th of October, 1489.

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FIRST JOURNEY TO ITALY.

45

eminent scholars, by whom the forms of the schools were still more discarded; the devout Wendel Steinbach, pupil of Biel, and godfather to Eberhard and Louis Fergen, his brother.

His acquaintance with the prince began in a somewhat curious way. Papal nuncios had come from Italy (so Caspar Bucher says in a discourse printed at Tübingen, in 1615, entitled Mercurius), who were then to take their leave. The high chancellor, a Hechinger, otherwise a good, clever man, had even in Latin the detestable pronunciation, which is still to be heard among the inhabitants of this district. He made his oration in the following tone: Ceilsissimus et eilustrissimus naoster prainceips eintellexit,' &c. The Italians were astonished at this speech, and thought it never could be meant as a dispatch for them. In this embarrassment the by-standers remembered Reuchlin, who could speak pure Latin. was called, carried on the discourse in a dialect cultivated by practice and travelling, and was generally praised and admired 2.

He

He soon became the prince's favourite companion, private secretary, and privy councillor, and, as such, accompanied Eberhard in his second journey to Rome, in 1482. This journey, so agreeable to Reuchlin, was commenced by Eberhard, under the conduct of his councillors and friends, Naucler, Biel, and Peter of Arlun. They arrived in Rome on the Sunday before Latäre, on which day the Pope was accustomed to consecrate a golden rose for every prince in Christendom. This honour was conferred on Eberhard on account of his services to the holy chair, and because he had taken the trouble to come in person to show his veneration for the sacred place, as a

2 Schnurrer, 1. c. u Manlii Loc. Comun. coll. Basle, 1562, p. 47, relates it somewhat differently.

46

REPUTATION IN ROME

P. II.

papal document informs us3. The Pope himself, Sixtus IV., conceived a great respect for Eberhard in the conversation he had with him, but not so Eberhard for the Pope and the Romish Church, since he saw much at Rome, of which he could by no means approve, and which diminished his former reverence for the holy see.

Reuchlin, meanwhile, to the joy of all good Germans, earned no inconsiderable fame in Rome. When Eberhard paid his respects to the Pope, surrounded by his cardinals, he made an oration in such pure fluent Latin, and with so polished an elocution, which was then little expected from an ultramontane who had not studied in Italy, that the whole assembly not only heard him in preference to any other German, but listened even with admiration; and the Pope himself declared, that Reuchlin deserved to be placed among the best orators of France and Italy. From this time the prince kept Reuchlin always at his side, showed him all possible regard, and employed him in all important embassies.

From Rome Eberhard took his journey to Florence, which town had in this century become a new focus of free enquiry, wherein arts and sciences prospered under the protection of the house of Medici. The conquest of Constantinople by Mahomet II. occasioned the transfer of many literary treasures into Italy by the fugitive scholars, who found a good reception in Florence. Besides these, there were acting in concert with Lorenzo di Medici for the revival of learning, such men as Marsilius Ficinus,

"The Pope Leo in his bull to the Elector Frederic, of the 24th of October, 1518, by which he presented him through Miltitz, with the golden Rose, gives an explanation of this symbol; by which,' says he, 'is the body of Christ represented, which is the flower of flowers, more fragrant and glorious than all which the earth produces.'

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AND IN FLORENCE.

47

Count Giovanni Pico di Mirandola, Aurispa Philelphus, Angelo Politiano, tutor to the sons of Lorenzo (Peter, the successor of his father, and John, afterwards Pope Leo X.), with whom the Greek Demetrius Chalcondylas allied himself, who however left Florence as soon as the learned Politiano had enticed away all his hearers. It was Marsilius Ficinus, who by the diffusion of Platonism in opposition to scholasticism was a precursor of what may be called the re-appearance of Christianity, and whose fame brought so many young men to Italy, and whose friendship was so useful and improving to Reuchlin *. When Eber

hard came with his companion to Lorenzo, the latter showed him his treasures, and, among these, his collection of books, on whose value and beauty Reuchlin exclaimed aloud in the utmost admiration. Upon this, Lorenzo went up to him, and promising to discover to a man so athirst for knowledge a yet more precious treasure, he opened an apartment, in which Angelo Politiano was instructing his family in polite literature. This spectacle, as well as the wisdom of the prince, surprised and delighted not only Reuchlin, but Eberhard so much, that he cried out: Indeed, friend, there is no more precious treasure for a father than such children ".'

Reuchlin says of him and Politiano, 1494, de Arte Cabal. p. 1: "Marsilius Ficinus Græciam duxit in Latium, Romanos in Græciam reduxit Politianus."

5 Reuchlin de Arte Cab., preface.

6 Majus in his Vita Reuchlini, Durlach, 1687, which is indeed industriously compiled, but often written carelessly and uncritically, leaves a chasm of six years in the life of Reuchlin, from 1481 to 1487. He relates this journey of Reuchlin, but places it in the year 1487, and then supposes Reuchlin to have remained in Rome till 1490. He follows here, as he does generally, Melanchthon, whose short discourse contains much error. In this period two journeys of Reuchlin to Rome took place; the one mentioned, and a second of the year 1490. contradiction of Reuchlin's having been in Rome from 1487

In

48

STATE-EMPLOYMENTS.

P. II.

Reuchlin's efficiency in Tübingen was interrupted, after his return to his own country; for he lived now-in Stuttgard, where Eberhard remained, and here became licentiate and assessor of the supreme court in 1484'. A year after, the order of Dominicans elected him their proctor, not only in Swabia, but in the whole of Germany, which office he exercised twentynine years with great integrity, and without any hope of gain. A year later, when Reuchlin had taken his doctor's degree in Tübingen, Eberhard the pious sent him with two other companions, Louis Bergenhaus (Fergen), and Hermann of Sachsenheim, on the coronation of Maximilian, the first king of the Romans, 1486, to Frankfort, Cologne, and Aix-la-Chapelle. Here he had the first opportunity of gaining

to 1490 there are many letters from Reuchlin's friends, and a discourse composed at Stuttgard in 1488; by which it appears that he was in his native country in the years 1488 and 1489. Brfslg. pp. 19, 20. 22, 23. 113, &c. The error of Melanchthon arises from an account of the year 1487 in Reuchlin's work de Art. Cab. p. 1. But, on the other side, all authors, and especially Naucler, the contemporary and friend of Reuchlin, in his Chronicle, place the journey of the Count in 1482, and no others in 1487 or later; that Reuchlin was present during the journey, he himself says, de Art. Cab. in the preface. We must now admit that there is a mistake either in Naucler's or Reuchlin's date; but it is clear that Naucler is most to be trusted here, because he wrote his Chronicle much the earliest, that is, before the close of this century; Reuchlin, on the contrary, wrote his work de Art. Cab. about thirty years later. Hence it is more natural to suppose an error in him, or a blunder in writing or printing the first edition, which was transmitted through the following. There is also this additional reason for 1482: that Reuchlin met Politiano as the tutor of Lorenzo's sons, which in 1487 he no longer was; that Eberhard was honourably received by Sixtus IV., which could only have been before 1484, for in that year Sixtus died; and, finally, that Eberhard in 1487 was settled in his native country.

7 Steinhofer, Würt. Chronicle, part iii. p. 410. 8 Brfslg. pp. 119. 158.