Anselmo Banduri (18 August 1671 or 1675 – 4 January 1743) was a
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
scholar, archaeologist and
numismatologist from the
Republic of Ragusa
hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world"
, population_estimate = 90 000 in the XVI Century
, currency = ...
.
Biography
Banduri was born in
Ragusa Ragusa is the historical name of Dubrovnik. It may also refer to:
Places Croatia
* the Republic of Ragusa (or Republic of Dubrovnik), the maritime city-state of Ragusa
* Cavtat (historically ' in Italian), a town in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Cro ...
,
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
as Matteo (Matija) Banduri, he joined the Benedictines at an early age and took the monk name Anselmo. He studied at
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, and was eventually sent to
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, then a flourishing center of higher studies. Here he made the acquaintance of the famous Benedictine scholar
Bernard de Montfaucon
Dom Bernard de Montfaucon, O.S.B. (; 13 January 1655 – 21 December 1741) was a French Benedictine monk of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He was an astute scholar who founded the discipline of palaeography, as well as being an editor of works ...
, at the time traveling in Italy in search of manuscripts for his edition of the works of St.
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his homilies, preaching and public speaking, his denunciat ...
. Banduri rendered him valuable services and in return was recommended to
Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Cosimo III de' Medici (14 August 1642 – 31 October 1723) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 until his death in 1723, the sixth and penultimate from the House of Medici. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the elder son of Grand Duke Ferdinan ...
for the chair of ecclesiastical history in the
University of Pavia
The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...
. It was also suggested that the young Benedictine be sent to Paris for a period of preparation, and especially to acquire a sound critical sense.
After a short sojourn at Rome, Banduri arrived at Paris in 1702 and entered the
Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The conce ...
as a pensioner of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He soon became an apt disciple of the French
Maurists and began an edition of the anti-iconoclastic writings of
Nicephorus of Constantinople, of the writings of
Theodore of Mopsuestia
Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350 – 428) was a Christian theologian, and Bishop of Mopsuestia (as Theodore II) from 392 to 428 AD. He is also known as Theodore of Antioch, from the place of his birth and presbyterate. He is the best known ...
, and of other Greek ecclesiastical authors. Banduri never published these works, though as late as 1722 he announced, as near at hand, their appearance in four folio volumes. In the meantime, he was attracted by the rich treasures of Byzantine manuscript and other material in the
Bibliothèque Royale and the
Bibliothèque Colbert.
In 1711 he published at Paris his
De Administrando Imperio
''De Administrando Imperio'' ("On the Governance of the Empire") is the Latin title of a Greek-language work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is ("To yown son Romanos"). It is a domes ...
(''Imperium Orientale, sive Antiquitates Constantinopolitanae''), a documentary illustrated work on the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, based on medieval Greek manuscripts, some of which were then first made known. He also defended himself successfully against
Casimir Oudin
Remi-Casimir Oudin (14 February 1638 – September 1717) was a French Premonstratensian monk and bibliographer, who later in life was a Protestant convert, and a librarian in Leyden. He engaged in controversy with Anselmo Banduri. His major work ...
, an ex-
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
, whose attacks were made on a second-hand knowledge of Banduri's work. In 1718 he published, also at Paris, two folio volumes on the imperial coinage from
Trajan Decius
Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251.
A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procla ...
to the last of the
Palaeologi
The House of Palaiologos ( Palaiologoi; grc-gre, Παλαιολόγος, pl. , female version Palaiologina; grc-gre, Παλαιολογίνα), also found in English-language literature as Palaeologus or Palaeologue, was a Byzantine Greek f ...
(249-1453), ''Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum a Trajano Decio usque ad Palaeologos Augustos'' (supplement by Tanini, Rome, 1791). Of this work Father
Joseph Hilarius Eckhel
Joseph Hilarius Eckhel (13 January 1737 – 16 May 1798) was an Austrian Jesuit priest and numismatist.
Biography
Eckhel was born at Enzersfeld, in Lower Austria.
His father was farm-steward to Count Zinzendorf, and he received his early educa ...
, S.J., prince of numismatologists, says (''Doctrina Nummorum'' I, cviii) that it contains few important contributions. At the same time he praises the remarkable bibliography of the subject that Banduri prefixed to this work under the title of ''Bibliotheca nummaria sive auctorum qui de re nummaria scripserunt'', reprinted by
Johann Albert Fabricius
Johann Albert Fabricius (11 November 1668 – 30 April 1736) was a German classical scholar and bibliographer.
Biography
Fabricius was born at Leipzig, son of Werner Fabricius, director of music in the church of St. Paul at Leipzig, who was the ...
(Hamburg, 1719).
In 1715 Banduri was made an honorary foreign member of the
Académie des Inscriptions
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
, and in 1724 was appointed librarian to the Duke of Orléans; he had in vain solicited a similar office at Florence on the death of the famous
Antonio Magliabechi
Antonio di Marco Magliabechi (or Magliabecchi; 29 October 1633 - 4 July 1714) was an Italian librarian, scholar and bibliophile.
Biography
He was born at Florence, the son of a burgher named Marco Magliabechi, and Ginevra Baldorietta.
Although ...
.
He died in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
Sources
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banduri, Anselmo
1671 births
1743 deaths
Italian archaeologists
Italian numismatists
Ragusan Benedictines
Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
Italian Benedictines