Susanne Saygin. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (1390-1447) and the Italian Humanists.

(Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 105.) Boston and Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2002. xv + 307 pp. + 5 b/w pls. index, illus, bibl. $97. ISBN: 90-04-12015-7.

Duke Humphrey has traditionally emerged from received scholarship in a rather paradoxical manner. On the one hand, he is characterized as ambitious, selfish, a failed political operator, and champion of unchecked royal authority, while, on the other, he is praised as the founder of the Oxford library that bears his name and as the instrument through which Italian humanism was imported into England. Even in his role as patron of letters, however, the historical record is unkind, usually attributing his motives to a desire for self aggrandizement and recognition on the model of Federigo da Montefeltro or Alfonso of Aragon. It is the intention of Saygin's complex study of Duke Humphrey as a patron of humanism to revise these long established positions and rehabilitate the duke to some degree, particularly in his relations with those Italian humanists who served in his household, brokered his acquisition of humanist manuscripts or interceded on his behalf or on behalf of his clients.

Saygin argues effectively that, contrary to scholarly opinion from Stubbs to Pearsall, Humphrey did indeed have a singular organizing policy which consistently informed his actions, and that was his adherence to the role which he believed his brother Henry V had assigned him just before his early death: the protection of his young son, Henry VI, and the integrity of the Lancastrian dynasty. It was this single minded pursuit of dynastic policy which drove all of the duke's actions, including his literary patronage and his powerful interest in the humanism of Italy, both of which he believed to be of use in forging the education and character of the young king and in the formulation of diplomacy. Consequently, Saygin argues that there was no disjunction between Humphrey's scholarly patronage and his political activity; one was the reflection of the other. Humanist editions of important classical texts were acquired for his nephew's formal education; his commission of Tito-Livio Frulovisi's Vita Henrici Quinti and Humfoidos fulfilled similar goals and established his reputation as the keeper of his brother's legacy. Even his rich gifts to Oxford University represented diplomatic or political gestures designed to win favor: for example, in 1441 at the time of his wife's trial for sorcery and treason, and during his nephew's foundation of Eton and King's College, Cambridge.

If Duke Humphrey saw his literary patronage as integrally linked to his political, personal, and professional ambitions, so did the Italian humanists who were his clients. Part 2 of Saygin's book investigates the careers of the duke's two most prominent brokers in the acquisition of manuscripts, Zanone da Castiglione, bishop of Bayeux, and Pietro da Monte, the papal collector in England. In the case of these ecclesiastics as well Saygin illustrates that their relations with Humphrey were not driven purely by the desire to encourage the spread of Italian humanism; rather, they, too, were pursuing family, personal, and professional gain.

Finally, part 3 of Saygin's study is an analysis of the careers of those Italians whom Humphrey employed or patronized. The purpose of this section is to argue that the Italians who sought positions in England were not, as is generally assumed, lesser figures unable to secure prestigious appointments in Italy and hence had to travel to the farthest outposts of Christendom for work. Instead, Saygin convincingly establishes that their time in England can be seen as attractive opportunities in building their careers inasmuch as desirable appointments in Italy were seldom available and foreign experience was useful for humanists seeking positions in the papal or a princely chancery.

The archival research reflected in Saygin's study is impressive. Using overlooked material in the Vatican Library in particular, she has succeeded in reconstructing the activities and careers of those who appear in the book. Her fundamental thesis that Duke Humphrey and his brokers and clients saw their literary activities as informed by their professional and family ambitions is convincingly argued and supported by the evidence presented. Other, somewhat later, examples in England from the time of the Yorkists and Tudors can easily be found to parallel her assertions; and in Italy the humanist literary production of Humphrey's correspondents and clients, such as Bruni, Bracciolini, and Decembrio, equally reinforce Saygin's position.

The faults in this otherwise excellent book are two, and both relatively minor in the context of Saygiffs achievement. First, the book began as a doctoral thesis and it shows: it reads too often like a thesis and clearly required a thorough editing to focus the analysis and polish the style. Second, Duke Humphrey, the man of scholarly tastes and dynastic ambition, never emerges from the detailed, complex discussion of his career and patronage. Saygin's study begins with the death of Henry V, so there is no speculation on or attempt to reconstruct the duke's education. Although evidence is at best fragmentary, some assessment of Humphrey's personal erudition is needed: did he--or could he--read the hundreds of humanist Latin manuscripts he acquired or commissioned? Are there references to their contents recorded in his own words? Did other aspects of Italian humanism or culture influence him in any way, such as in the decoration and furnishing of his many residences or in other patterns of his life? If not, then Saygin's contention that Humphrey's interest was primarily political and dynastic is further supported; if so, then perhaps he was indeed actively engaged not only in court policy and diplomacy but also in self-fashioning, modeling his patronage on Federigo of Urbino or Alfonso of Naples.

KENNETH BARTLETT

University of Toronto