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 VERGANI

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VERGILIUS

Vergani, Paolo, Italian political economist, b. in Piedmont, 1753; d. in Paris, about 1820. As a stu- dent, he devoted himself especially to ecclesiastical and civil law, and history. Having won distinction in theology and been ordained priest, he went to Rome the better to prosecute his studies and soon became a canon of St. John Lateran. It was then that he wrote the "Trattato suUa pena di morte" (2nd ed., Milan, 1780), the "Discorso sulla giustizia criminale", and "Dell' enormita del duello", which earned for hira a distinguished position among the jurists of the eighteenth century and particularly con- triliuted to the reform of the criminal law. It was also probably due to them that he was appointed assessor general of finances and commerce, and inspector of agriculture and the arts. He wrote on the financial system of the Pontifical States as reformed l)y Pius VI (Rome, 1791), taking the posi- tion of an advocate of import duties for the protection of home industries, and maintaining that agriculture cannot be tlie only source of wealth in a state. He displays at the same time a thorough acquaintance svith the history of political economy. In this work the author makes a remarkable appeal to religion and the duty of Christian charity, asserting the necessity af protecting and fostering the home industries, which provide occupation for so large a number of people, nhile manufacturing and foreign importation give work to only a few. This literary activity was in- terrupted for some thirty years: the Lateran Chap- ter having been dispersed in 1811, Monsignor Vergani went to Paris and there supported himself by giving lessons in Italian. He published also "La legislation le Napoleon le Grand consid^ree dans ses rapports ivec I'agriculture " (Paris, 1812) and "Essai histo- ■ique sur la derniere persecution de I'eglise" (1814). U. Benigni.

Vergerio, Pier Paolo, the Elder, humanist, >tatesman, and canonist, b. at Capodistria, 23 July, 1370; d. at Budapest, 8 July, 1444 or 1445. He itudied rhetoric at Padua, canon law at Florence
 * i387-89) and at Bologna (1389-90); taught logic at

r*adua and Florence, and was tutor of the princes of Carrara at their court at Padua. After 1406 we find lim at Rome as secretary to Innocent VII and Gregory ?fll. Later he became canon of Ravenna and took jart in the Council of Constance in 1414. The next ,fear he was one of the fifteen delegates who aecom- janied the Emperor Sigismund to Perpignan, where m endeavour was made to induce Benedict XIII to ■enounce his claims. From 1417 to his death he was lecr^tary to the Emperor Sigismund. In July, 1420, le was the chief orator of the Catholic party at the Hussite disputation at Prague. Though never narried and probably in minor orders, he was not a jriest. The following of his works have been printed : 'Pro redintegranda uniendaque Ecclesia", edited vith introduction and notes by Combi in "Archivio itoriro per Trieste, I'l.stria ed il Trentino" (Rome,
 * 882), 351-74; "Historia principum Carrariensium ad

mnum circiter MCCCLV", edited by Muratori, 'Rerum ital. script.", XVI, 11.3-184; "Vita Petrar- !se", edited by Tommassini in "Petrarca redivivus", Padua, 1701); "De ingenuis moribus ac liberalibus itudiis" (Venice, 1472). His letters, 146 in number, were edited by Luciani (Venice, 1887). There are itill in manuscript: a Latin version of Arrian's "Ciesta ^lexandri Magni " ; a Life of Seneca; a panog>Tic on St. lerome; a few comedies, .satires, and other poems.

BisrHOFF, SturKm zu P. P. Veracrio dem Aellern (Berlin. 1909); Vopp. Pietro Paolo Verfjrrio der erfile humanislische Pddagog Lucerne. 1>*94): Badcbeh. P. P. Vrrgtrin il seniore (Capodis- ria. 1806) ; Woodward, ViUorino da Fcllro and other Humanint Educators (Cambridge, 1897) ; Jachino. Del pedaoogisla Pier °aoto Vergerio (Florence. 1894): BrscHBELL, Reformation und Inquisition in Ilalien und die Mitte dea 16. Jahrhunderls (Pader- )oni, 1910), 103-54.

Michael Ott. XV.— 23

Vergil, PoLTDORE, b. at Urbino about 1470; d. there probably in 15.55. Having studied at Bologna and Padua, he became successively secretary to the Duke of Urbino and chamberlain to Alexander VI. He became famous by two early works, "Prover- biorum libellus" and "De inventoribus rerum", which attained extraordinary popularity. I n 1501 the pope sent him to Eng- land as s u fa- collector o f Pe- terspence. H e became intimate with Henry VII, who in 1505 commissioned him to write the history of Eng- land, and he ob- tained much pre- ferment, including the archdeaconry of Wells. On 22 Oct., 1510, he was naturahzed as an English subject.

PoLYDORE Vergil

From Thevet, Livre des Vrais Pourtraits,

Paris, 1584

Subsequently to a visit to Rome in 1514, he offended Wolsey who had entrusted him with business, and was imprisoned and deprived of his sub-collector- ship. Though finally released, he avenged himself by writing a ho.stile view of Wolsey in his history, which profoundly influenced later English historians. This work was published in 1533 and is specially valuable for his account of Henry VII's reign. In the third edition (Basle, 1555) the work is continued from 1509 to 1538. He is the first of the modern his- torians, consulting authorities, weighing evidence, and writing a connected story, not a simple chronicle. His other works are too numerousto specify. Through- out the religious changes he remained a loyal, though not a fervent. Catholic. He kept in touch with Italy by frequent visits, and the religious changes under Edward VI led him to return there to spend his last years in his native land.

There is no complete biography, hut references to him and his career are found in all the numerous sources for the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. The best connected accounts are: Ellis. Prefaces to the History of England published by the Cam- den Society (London, 1844); Archbold in Diet. Nat. Biog., a. v.

Edwin Burton.

Vergilius of Salzburg, Saint, Irish missionary and astronomer, of the eighth century. Vergilius (or Virgilius, in Irish Fergal, Fcrgliil, or Feirghit) is said to have been a descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages. In the "Annals of the Four Masters" and the "Annals of Ulster" he is mentioned as Abbot of Aghaboe, in Queen's County. About 745 he left Ireland, intend- ing to visit the Holy Land, but, like many of his countrymen, who seemed to have adopted this prac- tice as a work of piety, he settled down in France, where he was received with great favour by Pepin, then Mayor of the Palace under Childeric III. After spending two years at Cre.ssy, near Compiegne, he went to Bavaria, at the invitation of Puke Otilo, and within a year or two was made Abbot of St. Peter's at Salzburg. Out of humility, he "concealed his or- ders", and had a bishop named Dobd:igrecus, a fel- low countryman, appointed to perform his episcopal functions for him. It w;is while Abbot of St. Peter's that he came into collision with St. Boniface. A priest having, through ignorance, conferred the Sacra- ment of Baptism using, in pl.ace of the correct for- mula, the words "Baptizo te in nomine patria et filia et spiritu sancta", Vergilius held that the sacrament had been validly conferred. Boniface complained to