chapter I

shall describe the changes in Library arrangements adopted during the period which succeeded the Middle Ages; but, before ending this present chapter, there are a few points affecting the older libraries and their organization to which I should like to draw attention.

In the first place all medieval libraries were practically public. I do not mean that strangers were let in, but even in those of the monasteries, books were let out on the deposit of a sufficient caution; and in Houses such as S. Victor and S. Germain des Pres, Paris, and at the Cathedral of Rouen, the collections were open to readers on certain days in the week. The Papal library and those at Urbino and Florence were also public; and even at Oxford and Cambridge there was practically no objection to lending books on good security. Secular corporations followed the example set by the Church, and lent their manuscripts, but only on security. A very remarkable example of this practice is afforded by the transaction between the Ecole de Medecine, Paris, and Louis XI. The king wanted their copy of a certain work on medicine; they declined to lend it unless he deposited 12 marks worth of plate and 100 gold crowns. This he agreed to do; the book was borrowed; duly copied, and 24 January, 1472, restored to the Medical Faculty, who in their turn sent back the deposit to the king[423].

As a general rule, these libraries were divided into the lending library and the library of reference. These two parts of the collection have different names given to them. In the Vatican Library of Sixtus IV. we find the common library (_Bibliotheca communis_) or public library (_B. publica_), and the reserved library (_B. secreta_). The same terms were used at Assisi. At Santa Maria Novella, Florence, there was the library, and the lesser library (_B. minor_). In the University Library, Cambridge, there was "the public library" which contained the more ordinary books and was open to everybody, and "the private library" where the more valuable books were kept and to which only a few privileged persons were admitted[424]. At Queens' College, in the same university, the books which might be lent (_libri distribuendi_) were kept in a separate room from those which were chained to the shelves (_libri concatenati_), and at King's College there was a public library (_B. magna_) and a lesser library (_B. minor_). In short, in every large collection some such division was made, either structural, or by means of a separate catalogue[425].

I have shewn that two systems of bookcases, which I have called lectern-system and stall-system, were used in these libraries; but, as both these have been copiously illustrated, I need say no more on that part of the subject. Elaborate catalogues, of which I have given a few specimens, enabled readers to find what they wanted in the shortest possible time, and globes, maps, and astronomical instruments provided them with further assistance in their studies. Moreover in some places the library served the purpose of a museum, and curiosities of various kinds were stored up in it.

No picture of a medieval library can be complete unless it be remembered that in many cases beauty was no less an object than utility. The

## bookcases were fine specimens of carpentry-work, carved and decorated; the

pavement was of encaustic tiles worked in patterns; the walls were decorated with plaster-work in relief; the windows were filled with stained glass; and the roof-timbers were ornamented with the coat-armour of benefactors.

Of these embellishments the most distinctive was the glass. At St Albans the twelve windows contained figures illustrating the subjects of the books placed near them. For instance, the second window represented Rhetoric and Poetry; and the figures selected were those of Cicero, Sallust, Musaeus, Orpheus. Appropriate verses were inscribed beneath each. The whole scheme recalls the library of Isidore, Bishop of Seville, which I have already described[426]. In the library of Jesus College, Cambridge, each light contains a cock standing on a globe, the emblem of Bishop Alcock the founder, with a label in his beak bearing a suitable text, and under his feet an inscription containing half the designation required. For instance, the first two bookcases contained works on Physic, and in the window is the word PHI-SICA divided between the two lights[427]. In Election Hall at Eton College--a room originally intended for a library--we find the Classes of Civil Law, Criminal and Canon Law, Medicine, etc., illustrated by medallions shewing a church council, an execution, a physician and his patient, and the like[428]. At the Sorbonne, Paris, the 38 windows of the library were filled with the portraits of those who had conferred special benefits on the college[429]; at Froidmont[430] near Beauvais the authors of the _Voyage Litteraire_ remark the beautiful stained glass in the library: and in Bishop Cobham's library at Oxford, according to Hearne, there "was brave painted glass containing the arms of the benefactors, which painted glass continued till the times of the late rebellion[431]."

Lastly, I will collect the different terms used to designate medieval

## bookcases. They are--arranged alphabetically--_analogium_, _bancus_ or

_banca_, _descus_, _gradus_, _stallum_, _stalla_, _stallus_ or _staulum_, and _sedile_. I have sometimes thought that it would be possible to determine the form of the bookcase from the word used to describe it; but increased study has convinced me that this is impossible, and that the words were used quite loosely. For instance, _bancus_ designates the cases in the Vatican Library which represent a variety of the lectern-system; and its French equivalent _banc_ the cases at Clairvaux which were stalls with four shelves apiece. Again "desk" (_descus_) is used interchangeably with "stall" (_stallum_) in a catalogue of the University Library, Cambridge, dated 1473, to designate what I strongly suspect were lecterns; in 1693 by Bishop Hacket when describing the stalls which Dean Williams gave to the library at Westminster Abbey[432]: and in 1695 by Sir C. Wren to describe bookcases which were partly set against the walls, partly at right-angles to them.

It has been already shewn that _gradus_ means a shelf, or a lectern, or a side of a lectern[433]; and _sedile_ is obviously only the Latin equivalent for "seat," which was sometimes used, as at S. John's College, Cambridge, in 1623[434], to designate a bookcase. It was also used at Christ Church, Canterbury, for what I have shewn to be a stall with four shelves[435]. The word _analogium_ was used in France to signify a lectern[436]. The word "class" (_classis_) is used at the University Library, Cambridge, in 1584, instead of the ancient "stall," and afterwards superseded it entirely. For instance, when a Syndicate was appointed in 1713 to provide accommodation for Bishop Moore's Library, the

## bookcases are described as _Thecae sive quas vocant classes_. Gradually the

term was extended until it reached its modern signification, namely, the shelves under a given window together with those on the sides of the

## bookcases to the right and left of the spectator facing it[437].

We sometimes meet with the word _distinctio_. For instance, an Apocalypse in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, which once belonged to St Augustine's College, Canterbury, is noted as having stood "_distinctione prima gradu tertio_"; and the same word is used in the introduction to the catalogue of Dover Priory to signify what I am compelled to decide was a bookcase. The word _demonstratio_, on the other hand, which occurs at the head of the catalogue of the library of Christ Church, Canterbury, made between 1285 and 1331, probably denotes a division of subject, and not a piece of furniture.

Until the lectern-system had gone out of fashion, a word to denote a shelf was not needed. When shelves had to be referred to, _textus_[438] was used at Canterbury, and _linea_[439] at Citeaux. On the other hand, at Saint Ouen at Rouen, this word indicates a row of bookcases, probably lecterns. In a record of loans[440] from that library in 1372 and following years, the books borrowed are set down as follows (to quote a few typical instances):

Item, digestum novum, linea I, E, II. Item, liber de regulis fidei, cum aliis, linea III, L, VIII. Item, Tulius de officiis, linea II a parte sinistra, D, II.

These extracts will be sufficient to shew that the cases were arranged in three double rows, each double row being called a _linea_. Each lectern was marked with a letter of the alphabet, and each book with the number of the row, the letter of the lectern to which it belonged, and its number on the lectern. Thus, to take the first of the above entries, the Digest was to be found in the first row, on lectern E, and was the second volume on the said lectern. It is evident that there was a row of lecterns on each side of a central alley or passage, and that a book was to be found on the right hand, unless the left hand was specially designated.

A catalogue has been preserved of the books in the castle of Peniscola on the east coast of Spain, when the anti-pope Benedict XIII. retired there in 1415. They were kept in presses (_armaria_), each of which was subdivided into a certain number of compartments (_domuncule_), each of which again contained two shelves (_ordines_)[441]. I suggest that this piece of furniture resembled, on a large scale, Le Chartrier de Bayeux, which I have already figured (fig. 26).

In conclusion, I will quote a passage in which the word library designates a bookcase. It occurs in an inventory of the goods in the church of S. Christopher le Stocks, London, made in 1488:

On the south side of the vestrarie standeth a grete library with ij longe lecturnalles theron to ley on the bokes[442].

I need hardly remind my readers that the French word _bibliotheque_ has the same double meaning.

FOOTNOTES:

[356] Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Malastestianae Caesenatis bibliothecae fratrum minorum fidei custodiaeque concreditae.... Auctore Josepho Maria Mucciolo ejusdem ordinis fratre et Ravennatis coenobii alumno. 2 vols. fol. Caesenae, 1780-84.

[357] These measurements were taken by myself, with a tape, in September, 1895.

[358] The desk bearing a single volume shewn on this seat (fig. 93) is modern.

[359] These measurements were taken by myself with a tape, in April 1898, and verified in April 1899.

[360] This catalogue is in the State Archives at Modena.

[361] I visited Monte Oliveto 19 April, 1899.

[362] See _Ueber Mittelalterliche Bibliotheken_, v. T. Gottlieb. 8vo. 1890, p. 181. I have twice visited Assisi and examined the Catalogue here referred to. My best thanks are due to Professor Alessandri for giving me every assistance in my researches.

[363] Inprimis facimus inventarium de libris in libraria publica ad bancos cathenatis in hunc modum. Et nota, quod omnia folia omnium librorum, qui sunt in isto inuentario sive per sexternos vel quinternos aut quaternos seu quemvis per alium numerum majorem vel minorem omnes quotquot sunt, nomina quaternorum tenent, ut apparet in quolibet libro in primo quaterno in margine inferiori; quare omnes sunt ante et retro de nigro et rubeo per talem figuram intus cum suo numero signati. Item lictere alphabeti, qui desuper postes ponuntur, omnes debent esse aliquantulum grosse et totaliter nigre, sicut inferius in fine cuiuslibet libri signatur. The spots round this figure are alternately black and red.

[364] Ducange s. v. _solarium_ shews that occasionally it =_armarium_.

[365] I have to thank Father C. J. Ehrle, _S. J._, Prefect of the Vatican Library, for the very great kindness with which he has assisted me in these researches during three visits to Rome in 1898, 1899, 1900; and also the officials who allowed me to examine parts of the palace not usually accessible to strangers.

Further, I wish it to be clearly and distinctly understood that my researches are based upon an essay by M. Paul Fabre, _La Vaticane de Sixte IV._, which had appeared in the _Milanges d'Archeologie et d'Histoire of the Ecole Francaise de Rome_ for December 1895, but of the existence of which I had never heard until Father Ehrle shewed it to me. On reading it, I found that M. Fabre had completely anticipated me; he had done exactly what I had come to Rome to do, and in such a masterly fashion that I could not hope to improve upon his work. After some consideration I determined to verify his conclusions by carefully examining the locality, and to make a fresh ground-plan of it for my own use. I have also studied the authorities quoted by M. Eugene Muentz (_Les Arts a la Cour des Papes_) from my own point of view.

There are two works to which I shall frequently refer: _Les Arts a la Cour des Papes pendant le xv^e et le xvi^e siecle_, par Eugene Muentz: Part III. 1882 (Bibl. des Ecoles Francaises d'Athenes et de Rome, Fasc. 28): and _La Bibliotheque du Vatican_ _au xv^e Siecle_, par Eugene Muentz et Paul Fabre; Paris, 1887 (Ibid. Fasc. 48). The former will be cited as "Muentz"; the latter as "Muentz et Fabre." My paper, of which an abstract only is here given, has been published in the _Camb. Ant. Soc. Proc. and Comm._ 6 March 1899, Vol. X. pp. 11-61.

[366] This document, dated 17 December, 1471, has been printed by Muentz, p. 120. I am afraid that this order can have but one meaning: viz. the excavation and destruction of ancient buildings.

[367] This is the date assigned by Platina himself. See below, p. 231.

[368] MS. Vat. Lat. 3947, fol. 118 b. Notatio omnium librorum Bibliothecae palatinae Sixti quarti Pont. Max. tam qui in banchis quam qui in Armariis et capsis sunt a Platyna Bibliothecario et Demetrio Lucense eius alumno custode die xiiii. mensis Septemb. M.CCCC.LXXXI facta. Ante vero eius decessum dierum octo tantummodo. This _Notatio_ has been printed, Muentz et Fabre, p. 250, but without the catalogue to which it forms an appendix. This, so far as I know, still remains unprinted.

[369] Muentz et Fabre, pp. 148-150, _passim_.

[370] _Ibid._ p. 32.

[371] _Ibid._ p. 141. The catalogue is printed pp. 159-250.

[372] MS. Vat. 5008.

[373] These accounts, now preserved in the State Archives at Rome, have been printed with great accuracy (so far as I was able to judge from a somewhat hasty collation) by Muentz, _Les Arts a la Cour da Papes_, Vol. III. 1882, p. 121 sq.; and by Muentz and Fabre, _La Bibliotheque du Vatican au xv^e Siecle_, 1887, p. 148 sq.

[374] The entries referring to these purchases are given in full, with translations, in my paper above referred to.

[375] The name is derived from the frescoes with which its external walls were decorated during the reign of Pius IV. (1559-1565). They represented palm trees, on which parrots (_papagalli_) and other birds were perching. Fragments of these frescoes are still to be seen. The court beyond this "del Portoncin di Ferro" was so called from an iron gate by which the passage into it from the Cortile del Papagallo could be closed.

[376] The difference of level between the floor of the court and the floor of the library is eighteen inches. An inclined plane of wood now replaces the steps.

[377] Item pro purganda bibliotheca veteri et asportandis calcinaciis duarum fenestrarum factarum inter graecam et latinam b. XX die qua supra, i.e. 20 Aug. 1480. Muentz, p. 132.

[378] A Foundling Hospital, alluding to the Ospedale di Santo Spirito founded by Sixtus IV.

[379] Fabre, _La Vaticane_, p. 464. Bunsen, _Die Beschreibung der Stadt Rom_, ed. 1832, Vol. II.. Part 2, p. 418.

[380] The following entry is curious: Habuere Paulus et Dionysius pictores duos ducatos pro duobus paribus caligarum quas petiere a domino nostro dum pingerent cancellos bibliothecae et restituerent picturam bibliothecae graecae, ita n. Sanctitas sua mandavit, die xviii martii 1478. Muentz, p. 131.

[381] Fabre, _La Vaticane_, p. 465, citing Bandini, _Bibliothecae Mediceo-Laurentianae catalogus_, I. p. xxxviii.

[382] Enumeravi, praesente Clemente synescalcho familiae s. d. n., Salvato librario, et Demetrio lectore, ducatos XLV Francischo fabro lignario mediolanensi habitatori piscinae urbis Romae pro banchis Bibliothecae conficiendis, maxime vero decem quae ad sinistram jacent, quorum longitudo est XXXVIII palmorum, vel circa, et ita accepta parte pecuniarum, cujus summa est centum et XXX ducatorum, facturum se debitum promittit et obligat, die XV Julii 1475. Muentz, p. 121.

[383] Item solvi eidem ducatos XXX pro reliquo XXV banchorum bibliothecae: pro longioribus autem qui sunt X solvebantur centum et triginta, ut supra scriptum est; pro reliquis solvebantur centum et septuaginta; quae summa est tricentorum ducatorum: atque ita pro banchis omnibus ei satisfactum est, die VII Junii 1476. Muentz, p. 126. The rest of the money had been paid to him by instalments between 15 July, 1475, and this date.

[384] Magister Joanninus faber lignarius de Florentia habuit a me Platyna s. d. n. bibliothecario pro fabrica banchorum Bibliothecae secretae, pro Armario magno et Spaleria ejusdem loci, quae omnia extimata fuerunt centum et octuaginta ducat' a magistro Francisco de Mediolano; habuit, ut praefertur, ducatos sexaginta quinque et bononenos sexaginta die VII maii 1477. Muentz, p. 130. There were 100 bononeni in each ducat.

[385] Habuit ultimo ducatos octo pro tribus tabulis ex nuce cornisate (?) ad continenda nomina librorum e per le cornise de tre banchi vechi ex nuce die supradicta; nil omnino restat habere ut ipse sua manu affirmat, computatis in his illis LX bononenis qui superius scribuntur. Muentz, p. 130.

[386] Dedi Joanni pictori famulo m. Melotii pro pictura trium tabularum ubi descripta sunt librorum nomina carlenos XVIII die X Octobris 1477. _Ibid._, p. 131.

[387] Item pro XII capsis latis in bibliothecam secretam. Muentz et Fabre, p. 158.

[388] Magister Joanninus de Florentia et m. Marcus ejus frater faber lignarius habuere ducatos XXV pro parte solucionis banchorum quae fiunt in bibliotheca addita nunc a S^mo. d. nostro, die XVIII Julii 1480. Muentz, p. 134.

[389] Muentz, pp. 124-126.

[390] Magister Joannes fabricator catenarum habuit a me die XIIII aprilis 1477 ducatos decem, ad summam centum et quinque ducatorum quos ei debebam pro tribus miliaribus et libris octingentis ferri fabrefacti ad usum bibliothecae, videlicet pro quadraginta octo virgis ferreis ad quas in banchis libri connectuntur [etc.]. Muentz, p. 128.

[391] _Ibid._, p. 127.

[392] _Ibid._, p. 135.

[393] MSS. Vat. 3947.

[394] MSS. Vat. 7135.

[395] _La Vaticane_, etc., p. 475.

[396] MS. Vat. 3946.

[397] MS. Vat. 3948.

[398] For an account of what Sixtus accomplished at Santo Spirito see Pastor, _History of the Popes_, Eng. Tran. IV. 460-462.

[399] Brockhaus, _Janitschek's Repertorium fuer Kunstwissenschaften_, Band VII. (1884); Schmarsow, _Melozzo da Forli_ (1886), pp. 202-207.

[400] I have taken 1 palm = metre 0.223; and 1 metre = 39.37 in.

[401] My calculation works out as follows. Each of 10 seats was 38 palms long: total length, 380 palms. As these 10 seats cost 130 ducats, each palm cost 130/380 ducats = 1/3 a ducat nearly.

As the total paid was 300 ducats, this first payment, viz. 130 ducats, left 170 ducats still due for the 15 remaining seats. As each palm cost a third of a ducat, 170 ducats would buy 510 palms = 113.73 metres = 4477 inches (nearly) = 373 feet.

[402] Per lo tellaro del mappamondo b. 52. Muentz, p. 129. Habuere pictores armorum quae sunt facta in duabus sphaeris solidis et pro pictura mappemundi ducatos III, die XII decembris 1477. Muentz et Fabre, p. 151. This map had probably been provided by Pius II. (1458-1464), who kept in his service Girolamo Bellavista, a Venetian maker of maps. Muentz et Fabre, 126.

[403] Expendi pro cobopertura facta duobus sphaeris solidis quarum in altera est ratio signorum, in altera cosmographia, ducatos IIII videlicet cartenos XVI in octo pellibus montoninis, cartenos XXV in manifactura; sunt nunc ornata graphio cum armis s. d. n., die XX decembris 1477. Muentz el Fabre, p. 152. M. Fabre quotes an extract in praise of the map and globes from a letter written from Rome in 1505, _La Vaticane de Sixte IV._, p. 471 _note_.

[404] _Ibid._

[405] Muentz, p. 130.

[406] Bibl. Nat. Paris, MSS. Lat. 13123, fol. 220, quoted by Muentz et Fabre, p. 140.

[407] This statue, found in Rome in the middle of the sixteenth century, represents Aristides Smyrnaeus, a Greek rhetorician of the second century after Christ. It is still in the Vatican Library, at the entrance to the Museo Cristiano.

[408] In the omitted passage Montaigne describes a number of books shewn to him.

[409] _Journal du voyage de Michel de Montaigne en Italie_, ed. Prof. Alessandro d' Ancona. 8vo. Citta di Castello, 1895, p. 269. I owe this quotation to M. Fabre.

[410] Muentz et Fabre, p. 299.

[411] _Ibid._, pp. 269-298. MSS. Vat. Lat. 3964.

[412] Quisquis es qui tuum nomen hic inscribis ob acceptos commodo libros e bibliotheca pontificis, scito te indignationem ejus et execrationem incursurum nisi peropportune integros reddideris. Hoc tibi denuntiat Platyna, S. suae bibliothecarius, qui tantae rei curam suscepit pridie Kal. Martii 1475.

[413] Dedi die XIII Septembris 1475 ducatum unum Salvato scriptori pro emendis calligis. Item expendi pro veste una Salvati scriptoris seminudi et algentis ducatos XIII de mandato sancti domini nostri. Muentz et Fabre, p. 148.

[414] Habui ego Platyna sanctissimi domini nostri bibliothecarius ducatos triginta pro salario meo, quod est decem ducatorum in mense, ab idibus Julii usque ad idus Octobris 1477, quemadmodum apparet in bulla de facultatibus officiis et muneribus a sanctissimo domino nostro papa Sixto IIII facta. _Ibid._ p. 150.

[415] Muentz, pp. 129, 133.

[416] Item dedi ducatos quinque pro quolibet Demetrio et Johanni ligatori librorum quos ex mandato domini nostri foras misi, mortuo ex peste eorum socio, ne ipsi quoque eo loci interirent vel alios inficerent, die VIII junii 1478. Muentz et Fabre, pp. 153.

[417] The entries alluded to in this account will all be found in Muentz and Fabre, pp. 148-158.

[418] The document is printed by Muentz and Fabre, p. 300.

[419] I visited Urbino for the purpose of studying this library 28 April, 1900.

[420] _Memorie concernenti la Citta di Urbino._ Fol. Rome, 1724, p. 37. See also Vespasiano, _Federigo Duca d' Urbino_; ap. Mai, _Spicilegium Romanian_, I. pp. 124-128; Dennistoun, _Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino_, 8vo. 1851, I. pp. 153-160. The duties of the librarian, which remind us in many particulars of those of the monastic _armarius_, are translated by Dennistoun (p. 159) from Vat. Urb. MSS. No. 1248, f. 58.

[421] _Codices Urbinates Graeci Bibl. Vat._ 4to. Rome, 1895, p. 12. For this statement, the writer cites Raffaelli, _Imparziale istoria dell' unione delta Biblioteca ducale di Urbino alia Vaticana di Roma_. Fermo, 1877, p. 12.

[422] _Vasari_, ed. 1856, vol. XII. p. 214.

[423] Franklin, _Anc. Bibl. de Paris_, II. 22.

[424] This statement rests on the authority of Dr Caius, _Hist. Cant. Acad._ p. 89. Cum duae bibliothecae erant, altera priuata seu noua, altera publica seu vetus dicebatur. In illa optimi quique; in hac omnis generis ex peiori numero ponebantur. Illa paucis, ista omnibus patebat.

[425] _Arch. Hist._ III. p. 401.

[426] See above p. 45. Dr James has printed the verses from Bodl. MSS. Laud. 697, fol. 27, _verso_, in _Camb. Ant. Soc. Proc. and Comm._ VIII. 213.

[427] The whole series is given in _Arch. Hist._ III. p. 461.

[428] I quote this account of the glass at Eton from Dr James, _ut supra_, p. 214.

[429] De Lisle, _Cabinet de Manuscrits_, vol. II. p. 200.

[430] _Voyage Litteraire_, ed. 1717, II. 158.

[431] Bliss, _Reliquiae Hearnianae_, II. 693; _ap._ Macray, _Annals_, p. 4.

[432] See above, p. 188.

[433] See Index.

[434] _Arch. Hist._ Vol. II. p. 270.

[435] See above, p. 192.

[436] See Index.

[437] _Arch. Hist._ Vol. III. p. 30. Conyers Middleton, _Bibl. Cant. Ord. Meth._ Works, Vol. III. p. 484.

[438] See above, p. 192.

[439] See above, p. 105.

[440] _Du pret des livres dans l' abbaye de Saint Ouen, sous Charles V._ par L. Delisle. _Bibl. de l' Ecole des Chartes_, ser. III. Vol. I. p. 225. 1849.

[441] _Le Librairie des Papes d' Avignon_, par Maurice Faucon, Tome II. p. 43, in _Bibl. des Ecoles Francaises d'Athenes et de Rome_, Fasc. 50.

[442] _Archaeologia_, Vol. 47, p. 120. I have to thank my friend Mr P. T. Micklethwaite, architect, for this quotation.

##