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Auf den Spuren Paolo Giovios? Herrscherdarstellung in Jacobus Sluperius’ Elogia virorum bellica laude illustrium

  • Marc Laureys
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Portraying the Prince in the Renaissance
This chapter is in the book Portraying the Prince in the Renaissance

Abstract

Among the minor genres lining the boundary between biography and historiography are collections of short biographies, the best known of which are the illustrated compilations of vitae based on the model of Andrea Fulvio’s Illustrium imagines and Paolo Giovio’s Elogia. Similar series of biographical sketches, organized according to particular themes or politico-genealogical criteria, were also composed without accompanying portraits, in both prose and verse. A heretofore neglected example of a poetic collection in this tradition is the Elogia virorum bellica laude illustrium by the Flemish poet Jacobus Sluperius (1532-1602). One year after Sluperius’ death, a portion of his Elogia was published from his Nachlass by his friend and fellow poet Philippus Meyerus (ca. 1565-1637); only two exemplars of this edition (Arras, 1603) are known to be extant. In his preface, Meyerus notes that Sluperius, in his own Elogia, had poetically reworked biographies of famous military men found in Giovio’s biographical collection of the same name (1551). In addition to the questions to what extent and in what way Sluperius actually made use of Giovio’s text, this article examines the distinctive features of Sluperius’ portrayal of princes against the backdrop of both ancient biographical models and the Renaissance tradition of collective biographies.

Abstract

Among the minor genres lining the boundary between biography and historiography are collections of short biographies, the best known of which are the illustrated compilations of vitae based on the model of Andrea Fulvio’s Illustrium imagines and Paolo Giovio’s Elogia. Similar series of biographical sketches, organized according to particular themes or politico-genealogical criteria, were also composed without accompanying portraits, in both prose and verse. A heretofore neglected example of a poetic collection in this tradition is the Elogia virorum bellica laude illustrium by the Flemish poet Jacobus Sluperius (1532-1602). One year after Sluperius’ death, a portion of his Elogia was published from his Nachlass by his friend and fellow poet Philippus Meyerus (ca. 1565-1637); only two exemplars of this edition (Arras, 1603) are known to be extant. In his preface, Meyerus notes that Sluperius, in his own Elogia, had poetically reworked biographies of famous military men found in Giovio’s biographical collection of the same name (1551). In addition to the questions to what extent and in what way Sluperius actually made use of Giovio’s text, this article examines the distinctive features of Sluperius’ portrayal of princes against the backdrop of both ancient biographical models and the Renaissance tradition of collective biographies.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents VII
  3. Introduction 1
  4. I. Virtues
  5. Der Herrscher und die gute Ordnung. Das Bild Karls VII. in der französischen Historiographie am Übergang von der tradierten zur humanistisch geprägten Historiographie 17
  6. Charlemagne am Renaissancehof. Die Darstellung Karls des Großen in Paolo Emilios De rebus gestis Francorum 39
  7. Guter König, schlechter König? Die Darstellung Heinrichs V. und Heinrichs VI. von England in Polydor Vergils Anglica historia 65
  8. Alfonso ›the Magnanimous‹ of Naples as Portrayed by Facio and Panormita: Four Versions of Emulation, Representation, and Virtue 95
  9. II. Cultural and Political Pretensions
  10. Illyrian Trojans in a Turkish Storm: Croatian Renaissance Lords and the Politics of Dynastic Origin Myths 121
  11. Personelle Serialität und nationale Geschichte. Überlegungen zu den Herrschergestalten in Franciscus Irenicus’ Germaniae Exegesis 157
  12. Riccardo Bartolinis Austrias (1516) oder: Wie ein Herrscher zum Feldherrn gegen die Türken wird 193
  13. III. Models Ancient, Medieval, and Modern
  14. Der Herrscher als zweiter Salomo. Zum Bild König Roberts von Anjou in der Renaissance 217
  15. Pier Candido Decembrio and the Suetonian Path to Princely Biography 237
  16. Die Cosmias des Giovanni Mario Filelfo (1426–1480) 271
  17. Einhard reloaded. Francesco Tedeschini Piccolomini, Hilarion aus Verona, Donato Acciaiuoli und die Karlsbiographik im italienischen Renaissance-Humanismus 287
  18. Auf den Spuren Paolo Giovios? Herrscherdarstellung in Jacobus Sluperius’ Elogia virorum bellica laude illustrium 307
  19. IV. Method
  20. Princes between Lorenzo Valla and Bartolomeo Facio 337
  21. Juan Páez de Castro, Charles V, and a Method for Royal Historiography 363
  22. Picturing the Perfect Patron? Francesco Filelfo’s Image of Francesco Sforza 391
  23. Verbis phucare tyrannos? Selbstanspruch und Leistungsspektren von zeithistorischer Epik als panegyrischem Medium im 15. Jahrhundert 415
  24. V. Critical Summary
  25. The Description Makes the Prince: Princely Portrayal from the Perspective of Transformation Theory 445
  26. Indices
  27. Index of Names 463
  28. Index of Places 485
  29. List of Contributors 491
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110473377-013

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents VII
  3. Introduction 1
  4. I. Virtues
  5. Der Herrscher und die gute Ordnung. Das Bild Karls VII. in der französischen Historiographie am Übergang von der tradierten zur humanistisch geprägten Historiographie 17
  6. Charlemagne am Renaissancehof. Die Darstellung Karls des Großen in Paolo Emilios De rebus gestis Francorum 39
  7. Guter König, schlechter König? Die Darstellung Heinrichs V. und Heinrichs VI. von England in Polydor Vergils Anglica historia 65
  8. Alfonso ›the Magnanimous‹ of Naples as Portrayed by Facio and Panormita: Four Versions of Emulation, Representation, and Virtue 95
  9. II. Cultural and Political Pretensions
  10. Illyrian Trojans in a Turkish Storm: Croatian Renaissance Lords and the Politics of Dynastic Origin Myths 121
  11. Personelle Serialität und nationale Geschichte. Überlegungen zu den Herrschergestalten in Franciscus Irenicus’ Germaniae Exegesis 157
  12. Riccardo Bartolinis Austrias (1516) oder: Wie ein Herrscher zum Feldherrn gegen die Türken wird 193
  13. III. Models Ancient, Medieval, and Modern
  14. Der Herrscher als zweiter Salomo. Zum Bild König Roberts von Anjou in der Renaissance 217
  15. Pier Candido Decembrio and the Suetonian Path to Princely Biography 237
  16. Die Cosmias des Giovanni Mario Filelfo (1426–1480) 271
  17. Einhard reloaded. Francesco Tedeschini Piccolomini, Hilarion aus Verona, Donato Acciaiuoli und die Karlsbiographik im italienischen Renaissance-Humanismus 287
  18. Auf den Spuren Paolo Giovios? Herrscherdarstellung in Jacobus Sluperius’ Elogia virorum bellica laude illustrium 307
  19. IV. Method
  20. Princes between Lorenzo Valla and Bartolomeo Facio 337
  21. Juan Páez de Castro, Charles V, and a Method for Royal Historiography 363
  22. Picturing the Perfect Patron? Francesco Filelfo’s Image of Francesco Sforza 391
  23. Verbis phucare tyrannos? Selbstanspruch und Leistungsspektren von zeithistorischer Epik als panegyrischem Medium im 15. Jahrhundert 415
  24. V. Critical Summary
  25. The Description Makes the Prince: Princely Portrayal from the Perspective of Transformation Theory 445
  26. Indices
  27. Index of Names 463
  28. Index of Places 485
  29. List of Contributors 491
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