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Thomas Dempster and ancient Etruria: a review of the autobiography and de Etruria regali

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2013

Robert Leighton  and
Celine Castelino
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Papers of the British School at Rome , Volume 58 , November 1990 , pp. 337 - 352
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Copyright © British School at Rome 1990

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References

1 The full title is: Thomae Dempsteri, De Etruria Regali libri VII, nunc primum editi curante Thoma Coke, Regiae Celsitudini Cosmi III Magni Ducis Etruriae (Florentiae, apud Joannem Caietanum Tartinium et Sanctem Franchium, 1723–1724)Google Scholar. Abbreviated below as DER.

2 See, recently, Cristofani, M., “Sugli inizi dell'Etruscheria. La pubblicazione del De Etruria Regali di Thomas Dempster,” Mélanges de l'École Française de Rome 90 (1978) 577–625CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, “La cultura Toscana del Settecento alla scoperta degli Etruschi”, Annuario dell'Accademia Etrusca di Cortona XVII (1978) 15–30; idem, La Scoperta degli Etruschi. Archeologia e Antiquaria nel ‘700 (Rome 1983); Hus, A., Les Étrusques et Leur Destin (Paris 1980) 297–349Google Scholar; Marchei, M. C., “Il γένος etrusco; storia degli studi,” in Bibliotheca Etrusca. Fonti letterarie e figurative tra XVIII e XIX secolo nella Biblioteca dell'Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte (Rome 1985)Google Scholar; Barocchi, P. and Gallo, D. (eds.), L'Accademia Etrusca (Milan 1985)Google Scholar passim; Gallo, D. (ed.), Filippo Buonarroti e la cultura antiquaria sotto gli ultimi Medici (Florence 1986) 18, 92–3Google Scholar. Further references to Dempster's work appear in various articles contained in the exhibition volume: Borsi, F. (ed.), Fortuna degli Etruschi (Milan 1985)Google Scholar. Another scholar from Aberdeenshire engaged in antiquarian activities and Etruscan studies in the eighteenth century was recently the subject of attention: Ridgway, D., “An Eighteenth Century Aberdonian in Italy: James Byres of Tonley and the Etruscans,” The Deeside Field 19 (1987) 124–30Google Scholar; idem, “James Byres and the Ancient State of Italy: Unpublished Documents in Edinburgh,” Atti del Secondo Congresso Internazionale Etrusco, Firenze 1985, Vol. 1 (Rome 1989) 213–29.

3 Niceron, J. P., Mémoires pour servir a l'historie des hommes illustres XXVII (Paris 1729–1745) 301Google Scholar; Bayle, P., Dictionnaire Historique et Critique (Paris 1820) 477Google Scholar; Irving, D., Lives of the Scottish writers (Edinburgh 1850) 347–70Google Scholar; Chambers, R., A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen (Glasgow-Edinburgh-London 1854) 67–9Google Scholar; Bradley, H., Dictionary of National Biography V (London 1908) 785–90Google Scholar; Goodrick, A. T. S., “A Scottish Johnson,” Blackwood's Magazine CLXXXVI (1909) 755–68Google Scholar.

4 Dempster's works are listed in D. Irving (supra n. 3) 363–70. There is also an unpublished manuscript by Dempster in the Vatican library (Vaticano Lat. 7805), entitled Tituli Memoriales libri VII, dated 1624, which contains a supplement to De Etruria Regali dealing with the history of some Italian towns: Bologna, Florence, Fiesole, Lucca, Mantua, Modena and Ravenna. Book II, De Gentilium Superstitione, is a discussion of religions. Book III, Antiquarius, contains notes on Antiquitatum Romanarum and his works on Claudius, Corippus and others. Books IV, V and VII are entitled Criticus, Codicis and Scotus, while book VI, Poeticus, contains a number of poems dedicated to friends, benefactors and teachers.

5 Momigliano, A., Studies in Historiography (London 1969) 18Google Scholar. Many negative comments on Dempster's work were expressed by Irish historians reacting to the anti-Irish stance taken in his works on the Scots writers and saints: see, for example, Archbishop James Ussher, Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates (London 1687)Google Scholar.

6 Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum (Bologna 1627) 672–90Google Scholar; completed posthumously by Matteao Pellegrino.

7 See, for example: Cochrane, E., Tradition and Enlightenment in the Tuscan Academies 1690–1800 (Chicago 1961)Google Scholar; idem, Historians and Historiography in the Italian Renaissance (Chicago 1981); Wilcox, D. J., The Development of Florentine Humanist Historiography in the 15th century (Cambridge, U.S.A., 1969)Google Scholar; Spini, G., “Historiography: The Art of History in the Italian Counter Reformation”, in Cochrane, E. (ed.), The Late Italian Renaissance 1525–1630 (London 1970) 91–133CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 This tendency was criticized in the 18th century and later: Giornale de'Letterati d'Italia XL (Venice 1740) 407–11Google Scholar; Tiraboschi, G., Storia della letteratura italiana I (Florence 1805) 27Google Scholar; Cochrane, E., Florence in the Forgotten Centuries 1527–1800; A History of Florence and Florentines in the Age of the Grand Dukes (Chicago 1973) 220Google Scholar; Sandys, J. E., A History of Classical Scholarship (Cambridge 1908) 340Google Scholar.

9 See, for example, A. Hus (supra n. 2) 297–309.

10 Piggott has drawn a parallel between the move away from the emphasis on the ancient Romans to the Etruscans in Italy, and the shift in interest on the part of some British scholars to medieval and ‘Druidical’ antiquities; Piggott, S., William Stukeley: An Eighteenth-Century Antiquary (London 1985) 25Google Scholar.

11 DER 419.

12 Cristofani (supra n. 2, 1983) notes that the library of Raffaele Roncioni in Pisa, frequented by Dempster, contained some spurious works.

13 M. Cristofani (supra n. 2, 1978) 597.

14 Thomson, J. M. (ed.), The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland (Edinburgh 1888, 1892) 714, entry 2094, June 6, 1592Google Scholar; 305–6, entry 822, February 16, 1613; Douglas, R., Baronage of Scotland (Edinburgh 1798) 531Google Scholar; MacFarlane, W., Genealogical Collections II (Edinburgh 1900) 12Google Scholar; Leslie, C., Historical Records of the Family of Leslie from 1067–1869 III (1869)Google Scholar.

15 Masson, D. (ed.), Register of the Privy Council of Scotland (Edinburgh 1881–1895) passimGoogle Scholar.

16 Pitcairn, R., Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland III (Edinburgh 1833), 486–7Google Scholar.

17 Venn, J. and , J. A., Alumni Cantabrigien Part 1, Vol. 2 (Cambridge 1922) 30Google Scholar.

18 Cf. Ducati, P., Voci di Etruria (Bologna 1939) 315Google Scholar; idem, “Tomaso Dempster e i primi studi etruschi,” Atti del 1 Congresso Internazionale Etrusco. Firenze–Bologna 17 aprile – 15 maggio (Florence 1929); M. Cristofani (supra n. 2, 1978, 592) doubts that Dempster was taught by Lipsius, assuming his stay in Louvain to have been too brief. Yet contemporary documents show that he was there for a few years at the same time as Lipsius. Contrary to the entry on W. Crichton by Cooper, T., Dictionary of National Biography V (London 1908) 92–4Google Scholar, it seems to have been Cheyne who founded the Scots college in Paris in 1580, which moved to Pont a Mousson (Lorraine) in 1581, to Douai in 1592, where Crichton became the principal, and to Louvain in 1595: see Chadwick, H., “The Scots College Douai, 1580–1613,” The English Historical Review LVI (1941) 571–85CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19 Carmina omnis genere, in his Satyre in Elizabetham Anglam, sanctorum occisorem et de omnibus totius mundi Principibus Acrosticha, Duaci affixa et partem edita.

20 Leith, W. Forbes (ed.), Records of the Scots Colleges at Douai, Rome, Madrid, Valladolid and Ratisbon. Registers of Students I (Aberdeen 1906) 4 (no. 58), 5 (no. 63), 6 (nos. 64, 68)Google Scholar.

21 Leask, W. K. (ed.), Musa Latina Aberdonensis. Poetae Minores III (Aberdeen 1910) 40Google Scholar.

22 Cowper, William (1568–1619) Bishop of Galloway, author of A Seven Dayes Conference betweene a Catholicke Christian and a Catholicke Romane Concerning the Controversies of Religion (London 1613)Google Scholar.

23 Durkan, J., “The French Connection in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries,” in Smout, T. C. (ed.), Scotland and Europe 1200–1850 (Edinburgh 1986) 43Google Scholar.

24 This document and subsequent events at Nîmes are recounted by J. Durkan (supra n. 23) 31; idem, “The Cultural Background in 16th century Scotland,” The Innes Review X (1959) 423, note 238.

25 W. K. Leask (supra n. 21) 40–4, 56–69.

26 Cf. J. Durkan (supra n. 23) 42–3.

27 The full title is: Antiquitatum Romanarum corpus absolutissimum in quo praeter ea quae J. Rosinus delineaverat, infinita supplentur, mutantur, adduntur, T. Dempster autore (Lutetiae Parisorum, 1613)Google Scholar.

28 Giovanni Rossi, known as Janus Nicius Erythraeus, Pinacotheca imaginum, illustrium doctrinae vel ingenii laude, virorum qui, auctorem superstite, diem suum obierunt (Colon. Agrippinae 1645) 25.

29 According to Hay, D., “The Historiographers Royal in England and Scotland,” Scottish Historical Review XXIX (1950) 15–29Google Scholar, the first historiographer royal was appointed in 1661 by Charles II, although it is noted that Dempster (incorrectly cited as George Dempster) had earlier received recognition from James I and VI. Note of payment to Dempster as historiographer is found in Pells Michelmas and Enrolments, 1612–19, Public Records Office (London) E403/1720/2602. The sum granted on February 19, 1615–16 by James is confirmed in the Issues of the Exchequer being payments made out of His Majesty's Revenue during the reign of James I (London 1836) 180.

30 Cf. Fabroni, A., Historiae Academiae Pisanae II (Pisa 1792) 234–9Google Scholar. Fabroni also relates that Dempster's wife eloped while at Pisa, doubtless relying on the account by Rossi, who further suggests that Dempster publicly accused the Englishman of abducting her. The truth of the matter must remain doubtful since Dempster makes no mention of it, although his wife does seem to have been the subject of considerable gossip.

31 Archivio di Stato, Firenze. Mediceo del Principato 3510; cf. M. Cristofani (supra n. 2, 1978) 593.

32 Cf. Burton, J. H., The Scot Abroad (Edinburgh 1900) 260Google Scholar.

33 G. Rossi (supra n. 28) 24–6; cf. M. Cristofani (supra n. 2, 1978) 594.

34 Cipriani, G., Il Mito Etrusco net Rinascimento Fiorentino (Florence 1980)Google Scholar.

35 Postel's work has recently been reprinted: Postel, G., De Etruria Regionis, originibus institutis, religione et moribus (Cipriani, G. (ed.), Rome 1986)Google Scholar.

36 On the dealings between Quaratesi, Cosimo and Dempster, with reference to Dallington, see Crinò, A. M., Fattie Figure del Seicento Anglo-Toscano (Florence 1957) 44–7Google Scholar.

37 Cf. A. M. Crinò, (supra n. 36) 46. It seems that a few words have gone awry in transcription.

38 M. Cristofani (supra n. 2, 1978) 600.

39 Vatican library, Barberini Lateran Archive no. 2177, 1–4.

40 Vatican library, Barberini Lateran Archive no. 2177, 5.

41 Archivio di Stato, Firenze, Mediceo del Principato 993, 324–5, 581–2; from M. Cristofani (supra n. 2, 1978) 595–6, note 74.

42 Vatican library, Barberini Lateran Archive no. 2177, 8.

43 Vatican library, Barberini Lateran Archive no. 2177, 9–10.

44 See, for example, Leader, J. Temple, Vita di Roberto Dudley (Florence 1896) 86–7Google Scholar; Lee, A. G., The Son of Leicester (London 1964)Google Scholar; Hamilton, O., Paradise of Exiles. Tuscany and the British (London 1974)Google Scholar.

45 The negotiations for the sale of Dempster's books are referred to in letters from Girolamo di Sommaia to Picchena of 15 April and 3 May 1619: Archivio di Stato, Firenze, Mediceo del Principato 995–6; cf. M. Cristofani (supra n. 2, 1978) 597, note 76. Dempster refers to the sale in a letter to Barberini of August 1619: “Creditoribus bibliothecam reliqui, Hetruriam Regalem, pro ducentis nummis tradere coactus …” Vatican library, Barberini Lateran Archive no. 2177, 11.

46 Vatican library, Barberini Lateran Archive no. 2177, 17, 22–3.

47 P. Ducati (supra n. 18, 1939) 184, probably following Costa, E., “La prima cattedra d'umanità nello studio bolognese durante il secolo XVI,” Studie memorie per la storia dell'università di Bologna I (1907) 62Google Scholar; idem, “Contributi alla storia dello studio bolognese durante il secolo XVII,” Studi e memorie per la storia dell'Università di Bologna III (1912) 36; Calcaterra, C., Alma Mater Studiorum (Bologna 1948) 217–18Google Scholar; Simeoni, L., Storia dell'Università di Bologna II, 1500–1888 (Bologna 1940) 133Google Scholar.

48 Cf. Durkan, J., “Some Scots in Rome,” The Innes Review XXVIII (1976) 44–5Google Scholar; among the latter was George Leslie (d. 1637) of Peterstone, Aberdeenshire, who provided the inspiration for a successful novel: Rinuccini, G. B., Il Cappucino Scozzese (Macerata 1644)Google Scholar with many subsequent editions and translations throughout Europe: cf. Cappucci, M., “Caratteri e fortune di un cappucino scozzese,” Studi Secenteschi XX (1979) 47Google Scholar.

49 A. T. S. Goodrick (supra n. 3) 766.

50 See, for example, the references to the sack of Rome by Fergus, second king of Scotland, the conversion of St Donatus, and the Scottish and Florentine use of the lion emblem: DER 30–2.

51 The Rev. Ross, A., “Some Scottish Catholic Historians,” The Innes Review I (1950) 9Google Scholar.

52 Montalbani, O., Ragionamento funebre nella morte dell'eccell.mo Tomaso Dempstero Scozzese, Accademia della Notte di Bologna (Bologna 1626)Google Scholar.