Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/269

Rh 1em  GUIBERT (–), of Nogent, a theological and historical writer, who flourished at the and the, was born of rich and noble parents at Clermont-en-Beauvoisis on Easter Eve . Dedicated from infancy to the service of God and the Virgin, he received his early education at the Benedictine abbey of Fley (Flaviacum) or St Germer, in the diocese of Beauvais ; there he gave himself with great zeal to study, but chiefly of the secular poets, until a severe illness brought about a crisis in his spiritual life, in consequence of which he began to fix his attention almost exclusively upon the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the fathers, especially of Augustine and Gregory the Great. About this period he was largely influenced by personal intercourse with Anselm, afterwards of Canterbury, who at that time was head of the priory of Bec in the neighbourhood of St Germer’s. Encouraged by his friend he now devoted his energies to Old Testament exegesis, and wrote a commen- tary upon the narrative of the creation; this was followed by other literary works both in verse and in prose. In, when he had completed his fiftieth year, he was chosen to be head of the abbey of Notre Dame de Nogent, and there the remainder of his life was spent in a high degree of theological and ecclesiastical activity. He died in.

1em  GUIBERT, or (c.–), of Ravenna, better known as the antipope Clement III., was born of noble parents in the at Parma, where, on attaining the canonical age, he entered the priesthood. During the minority of Henry, Guibert was appointed by the empress Agnes to the chancellorship of the kingdom of Italy ; and in this capacity he steadfastly resisted, in the interests of the crown, the innovations of Hildebrand in relation to papal elections. For his servicesin this he was rewarded with the archbishopric of Ravenna, to which he was consecrated in ; his fidelity to Henry during the struggles which followed Hildebrand’s accession to the papal throne as Gregory VII. led to his being ecclesias- tically suspended in. By thirty bishops of the imperialist party he was elected pope at Brixen in , an election which was confirmed by the synod which Henry had convened in Rome in, Guibert assuming the title of Clement III. Although it was from his hands that Henry received his coronation, Clement III. met with scant recognition from the clergy and exercised few papal functions ; and his name is not enrolled in any list of popes. He died in September, and was buried at Ravenna ; by the order of Paschalis II. his ashes were afterwards disinterred and scattered to the winds. See Giesebrecht’s Kaisergeschichte, vol. iii.  GUICCIARDINI, (–), the celebrated Italian historian and statesman, was born at Florence in, when Marsilio Ficino held him at the font of baptism. His family was illustrious and noble ; and his ancestors for many generations had held the highest posts of honour in the state, as may be seen in his own genealogical Ricordi (Op. Ined., vol. x.). After the usual education of a boy in grammar and elementary classical studies, his father, Piero, sent him to the universities of Ferrara and Padua, where he stayed until. The death of an uncle, who had occupied the see of Cortors with great pomp, induced the young Guicciardini to hanker after an ecclesiastical career. He already saw the scarlet of a cardinal awaiting him, and to this eminence he would assuredly have risen. His father, however, checked this ambition, declaring that, though he had five sons, he would not suffer one of them to enter the church in its then state of corruption and debasement. Guicciardini, whose motives were confessedly ambitious (see Autobiogr. Ricordi, Op. Ined., x. p. 68), turned his attention to law, and at the age of twenty-three was appointed by the signoria of Florence to read the Jzstitutes in public. Shortly afterwards he en- gaged himself in marriage to Maria, daughter of Alamanno de’ Salviati, prompted, as he frankly tells us, by the political support which an alliance with that great family would bring him (2d., x. 71). He was then practising at the bar, where he won so much distinction that the signoria, in , entrusted him with an embassy to the court of Ferdinand the Catholic. Thus he entered on the real work of his life as a diplomatist and statesman. His conduct upon that legation was afterwards severely criticized ; for his political antagonists accused him of betraying the true interests of the commonwealth, and using his influence for the restoration of the exiled Casa Medici to power. His Spanish correspond- ence with the signoria (Op. Ined., vol. vi.) reveals the extra- ordinary power of observation and analysis which was a chief quality of his mind; and in Ferdinand, hypocritical and profoundly dissimulative, he found a proper object for his scientific study. To suppose that the young statesman learned his frigid statecraft in Spain would be perhaps too simple a solution of the problem offered by his character, and scarcely fair to the Italian proficients in perfidy. It is clear from Guicciardini’s autobiographical memoirs that he was ambitious, calculating, avaricious, and power-loving from his earliest years ; and in Spain he had no more than an opportunity of studying on a large scale those political vices which already ruled the minor potentates of Italy. Still the school was pregnant with instructions for so apt a pupil. Guicciardini issued from this first trial of his skill with an assured reputation for diplomatic ability, as that was understood in Italy. To unravel plots and weave counter- plots ; to meet treachery with fraud; to parry force with sleights of hand ; to credit human nature with the basest motives, while the blackest crimes were contemplated with cold enthusiasm for their cleverness, was reckoned then the height of political sagacity. Guicciardini could play the game to perfection. In Leo X. took him into service, and made him governor of Reggio and Modena. In Parma was added to his rule, and in he was appointed viceregent of Romagna by Clement VIT. These high offices rendered Guicciardini the virtual master of the papal states beyond the Apennines, during a period of great bewilder-