My first visit to the Vatican library - Spring in Rome as PhD student

[This post is a translation of a blog post I wrote on JYU Medieval studies blog in June 2020. The original post can be found here.]

The first spring of my doctorate program started with a bang. I spent the spring of 2020 in the Finnish Institute in Rome, where I worked as a part of the research group of the director Arja Karivieri. The building where the institute is situated, Villa Lante, is without a doubt on the best spot in Rome, from which one can admire all of Rome. The surroundings were motivational to say the least, and I was looking forward to the working possibilities of the coming spring. Along with the work in the research group, my aim was to start to write my doctoral thesis as efficiently as possible. Because my research focus deals with Italian Renaissance manuscripts and incunables, the Eternal City offered a perfect framework. I had planned to utilize the multiple libraries of Rome to find research literature, but my main aim was to visit the Vatican Apostolic Library, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

A view from the balcony of Villa Lante. Picture: Riikka Vuoksenmaa

 

Why study book history?

This question is one I have heard countless of times (along with: Who really needs to study medieval history? But that one is a subject for another time). I do not intend to give a full and satisfactory answer, for my focus is going to be on my views and why I think book history is an important discipline.

History is, in essence, stories. Those stories are told over and over again. One key feature about stories is that they spread the ideas within them. Thus, ideas move through humanity via stories. While the most common way to tell a story is orally, the most enduring one is text. Today, ideas spread through internet, social media and other electronic devices. It might appear that no one reads physical texts anymore. Well, before the digital age, information and ideas had to be transferred usually via written texts. And before the newspaper industry, that format was a book, or a codex.

Studying a copy of Decades in the Biblioteca Angelica in Rome last June.

Book history studies the books as vessels which transmit ideas among humans. Well, at least in one sense. It also studies the book itself, its dimensions, structure, material, writing, layout etc. Just like scholars who study social media platforms and newspapers, book historians study the book. The physical appearance of a book can tell us much about the technology of the period when the book was made. It can also help in locating the origin of a book, whether it is a manuscript or a printed book. The used writing material informs us what kind of animal skins were used, whether some animals were popular in specific regions etc. Moreover, finding a watermark in a paper manuscript can point to a specific paper manufacturer revealing important information of the paper trade.

Who was Flavio Biondo (1392-1463)?

Flavio Biondo was born in the city of Forlì in Romagna in 1392. He spent his youth in Cremona, where he was educated, as was the custom, in grammar, poetry and rhetoric. After concluding his education, Biondo worked in multiple civic administrative posts around Northern Italy. These included the cities like Vicenza, Bergamo and Brescia. During this period Biondo befriended with a Venetian diplomat and humanist, named Francesco Barbaro (1390-1454). He later helped Biondo to gain the citizenship of Venice. In 1420, when Biondo was 28 years old, he met a distinguished humanist Guarino Veronese (1374-1460). Guarino would be later known especially for his work in translating Greek manuscripts into Latin and teaching the Greek language. This in mind, it surely feels odd, that though Biondo had a friend like Guarino, he never mastered the Greek language. Regardless, he and Guarino became lifelong friends. 

Majority of scholars may classify Flavio Biondo mainly as an employee of the papacy and the church. This is not farfetched due to the fact that he worked almost continuously for 29 years for the successors of Peter. In this sense, the career of Biondo truly started in 1433 when he became a notary in the papal curia under the pope Eugene IV (pope 1431-1447).

Subject of my doctoral thesis

Hopefully, this is going to be my longest blog post. I intend to keep the rest of my posts short for the purpose of not using too much time on the blog alone. Below I try to lay down the subject of my doctoral thesis. I try to be as clear as I can and to avoid using too confusing language. Obviously, I cannot write about my topic conclusively, that is reserved for my actual thesis. However, I find it helpful to write my thought process in a more relaxed manner. This might help me organize my thoughts and bring up new ideas regarding my research.