Table Of ContentCULTURAL POLITICS IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND
BRILL’S STUDIES
IN
INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
General Editor
A.J.Vanderjagt, University of Groningen
Editorial Board
M. Colish, Oberlin College
J.I. Israel, Princeton University
J.D. North, University of Groningen
R.H. Popkin, Washington University, St. Louis-UCLA
VOLUME124
CULTURAL POLITICS
IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY
ENGLAND
The Case of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
BY
ALESSANDRA PETRINA
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2004
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Petrina, Alessandra.
Cultural politics in fifteenth-century England : the case of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
/ by Alessandra Petrina.
p. cm. — (Brill’s studies in intellectual history, ISSN 0920-8607 ; v. 124)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-13713-0 (alk. paper)
1. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 1391-1447. 2. Great Britain—History—Lancaster and
York, 1399-1485—Biography. 3. Great Britain—Politics and government—1399-1485. 4.
Authors and patrons—England—History—To 1500. 5. Book
collecting—England—History—To 1500. 6. England—Intellectual life—1066-1485. 7.
Nobility—Great Britain—Biography. 8. Humanists—England. I. Title. II. Series.
DA247.H8P48 2004
942.04’092—dc22
2003069556
ISSN 0920-8607
ISBN 90 04 13713 0
© Copyright 2004 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
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CONTENTS
Foreword .................................................................................... vii
List of Illustrations .................................................................... xi
Introduction: A definition of humanism in early
fifteenth-century England ...................................................... 1
Chapter One: Roberto Weiss’s inheritance and the current
state of studies ...................................................................... 17
Early studies on English humanism .................................... 18
Roberto Weiss ........................................................................ 28
After Weiss: reactions, refutations, continuations ................ 36
Chapter Two: The beginning of humanism in England ...... 59
Divinae and humanae litterae .................................................... 71
The establishment of English as the language of policy
and administration ............................................................ 81
Chapter Three: A sense of history: Duke Humphrey living
and writing his own times .................................................... 91
Duke Humphrey’s failure as a politician ............................ 98
Protector of England ............................................................ 105
The care and education of the future king ........................ 127
The 1430s and the beginning of Humphrey’s activity as a
patron ................................................................................ 132
The 1440s: Duke Humphrey’s downfall and death .......... 142
Chapter Four: “Thairlibrairvniuersal”:Collectingand
donatingbooks ........................................................................ 153
Building a library: the shape of ideology ............................ 153
Book-collecting in the Lancastrian house: The Duke of
Bedford and Henry V ...................................................... 163
The library of Duke Humphrey .......................................... 174
The book donations to the University of Oxford .............. 224
vi contents
Chapter Five: Curiosity and erudite humanism: Duke
Humphrey as a patron of letters ........................................ 259
The translations and the new role of the vernacular ........ 263
John Lydgate .......................................................................... 281
Commissioning literary and non-literary works .................. 312
English humanists around Duke Humphrey: squaring the
circle .................................................................................. 346
Bibliography .............................................................................. 357
Primary sources ...................................................................... 357
Studies .................................................................................... 359
Index .......................................................................................... 375
FOREWORD
The picture on the cover of this book shows a fifteenth-century
patron, sitting on what seems to be a very stylised high-backed chair
or a throne, surrounded by a number of people; one of them kneels
before the central figure, presenting him with a book; the others,
standing around this central group, look at the donor. The picture,
a fifteenth century Flemish miniature, bears no direct relation to
Duke Humphrey of Gloucester; indeed, the patron portrayed here
might even be one of Humphrey’s many enemies. But it has been
chosen for its symbolic significance, representing a scene that seems
to be typical of the relations between patron and poet in the fifteenth
century. There are manuscripts, particularly presentation copies, in
which the same scene is proposed, more or less skilfully, with Humphrey
as the receiver of the book; what fascinated me about this particu-
lar, anonymous image was that the two central actors, poet and
patron, are surrounded by a number of other figures, who have
arranged themselves so as to form a circle around the patron. Who
were they? Other poets, or simple courtiers? Or both?
This image haunted me while I was researching and writing this
book. For it seemed to me that an exploration of the Duke of
Gloucester’s role and his contribution to the first generation of English
humanism, did not consist solely in a reconstruction of his indefati-
gable activity as a book collector and donor. It was necessary to rec-
oncile two different, occasionally contrasting images: Humphrey the
ambitious but unsuccessful politician, Humphrey the wise and (occa-
sionally) generous patron. At the same time those figures standing
around the patron could belong to both worlds: a poet could also
be, indeed needed sometimes to be, finely attuned to the political
changes of his own time; a courtier, a nobleman, an abbot could
also be an avid reader, fascinated by the immense heritage of medieval
learning but also by the novelties proposed by Italian humanism,
which were beginning to make themselves perceived in northern
Europe.
As chapter 1 shows, there has been a certain amount of research
on Duke Humphrey and his activity as a book collector, especially
in the past seventy years; posterity has perhaps been kinder to the
viii foreword
Duke than he might have any right to expect, and sometimes much,
perhaps too much, has been made of his contribution to English
intellectual life. Yet most studies on Humphrey, and on early fifteenth-
century English humanism, have been especially interested in the
relationship of the patron with Italian humanists, and the achieve-
ments of English writers and scholars have always been measured
against the achievements of contemporary Italian literature and
thought. This, though an indispensable part of the research on the
duke and his circle, has condemned both to a sort of dependence
on an implicitly superior model. Perhaps there was something to be
gained by analysing the English side of Humphrey’s intellectual activ-
ity, and its relation with a political role that set the Duke at thecen-
tre of the stage in the most difficult years of the Lancastrian reign.
This is what I have set out to do with this book. I have deliber-
ately devoted less attention to the relationship between the duke and
a number of Italian humanists with whom he corresponded or who
entered his service, and focused instead on his political and intel-
lectual activity in his country: his skilful use of propaganda, his col-
lection of books (especially against the background of a bibliophilia
shared by his brothers, and perhaps his nephew), his role in the
development of a university library in Oxford.
This book has accompanied me for the last three years, and many
friends and colleagues have walked with me for part of the way. To
acknowledge one’s debts in this case also means looking back on
months of exciting, if sometimes exhausting, research, fascinating dis-
cussions, surprising discoveries. I have first of all a debt with the
two institutions that have given me the necessary time and resources
to complete this work: the University of Padova and the Warburg
Institute. Both have funded my research and, in the case of the for-
mer, granted me the occasional leave from teaching duties. I am
very grateful to my Department for its material and intellectual sup-
port, and especially to Giuseppe Brunetti, who beside guiding me in
all my years of work there also read the finished manuscript of this
book, correcting mistakes and suggesting improvements with metic-
ulous kindness. Mario Melchionda directed my initial efforts, and
has always been ready to support and spur me on. To them, and
all my other colleagues, my thanks. The Warburg Institute, by award-
ing me a Brian Hewson Crawford Fellowship in 2002, has allowed
