CHAPTER VI

FIRST STAY IN PARIS
There was relative peace in France. The seventh of a series of monstrous wars had been ended by a patched-up agreement. Wrecked cities and unpeopled villages, burnt farms and fields laid waste bore witness everywhere to the fury of faction and the malevolent rancour of opponents who disguised personal hatred under the convenient mask of religion. From the disappearance of tolerant classic paganism, the unformulated aspirations or discontent of races and classes found in this or that religious creed a suitable rallying cry; and now the opposed forces which made for Hberty on the one hand and for the compact state on the other set up their separate religious banners. All the scoundrels in France gathered round the one or the other of these; they dubbed themselves Catholic or Huguenot; all that was atavistic in human nature was aroused, and all the vilest and most primitive passions were set loose. " Pick me out," wrote Montaigne, " pick me out from the Catholic army all the men who are actuated either by a pure zeal for religion or by loyalty to their country and you will not find enough to form one single company." Everywhere poverty, hunger, suffering and disease were the result of these wars. Bruno journeyed to Paris through provinces marked by scath and bale. All the way, to use the words of Castelnau, was " one long bleeding wound." Bruno crystallizes his experience in three significant phrases : " the French uproar," " the French fury " and " the bloody
S4
FIRST STAY IN PARIS 55
Seine." ^ The best of the sons of France, men of broad mind and dignified character, brilliant scholars and original thinkers had, for the most part, been slaughtered or exiled. Montaigne retired to the remote home of his ancestors ; he speaks of it as the only chateau in France " which had no guard or sentinel but the stars."
The Gallic fury, which had been let loose on Italy and brought ruin there, was now expending itself at home. Yet the invaders brought back a novel appreciation of letters and refinement, coupled with a far greater apprecia- tion of luxury. When the descendant of Florentine pawn- brokers became the mother of French kings, fashion aped the superior civilization of Italy ; and in this way Italy came to exercise an enduring influence on the quick aptitude of France. The slaughter of St Bartholomew's day had not wholly extinguished the torch of the Renaissance which French hands had snatched up : it still burned brightly in literature and art; and Frenchmen shewed their innate genius for history, memoirs and the essay. Montaigne had just published the first two books of his immortal work. A group of French humanists, although unpossessed by passion and unendowed with originality, had aimed at a rich vocabulary and a splendid style. They took the later Italian literature as their example, and although stricken in years, most of them were still living. French artists and architects still imitated Italian models, breathing into their copies a grace and refinement which is peculiarly Gallic. At Court, the Queen Mother and her Italian followers were copied with such absurd detail as changed permanently the very pronunciation of the language ; the French o was flattened by fashion into a. In spite of the terrible and protracted strife throughout the land, all manner of Italians from each little State came pouring over ^ Lamp. Comb., Dedic; Spaccio, Dial. II, iij ; Causa, Dial. I.
56 GIORDANO BRUNO
the mountains to find their El Dorado at the French Court or in French cities; and, for the most part, they were cordially welcomed.
Paris was chiefly a mass of miserable hovels. The luxury of the Court contrasted strangely with the squalor of the streets; the ignorant noble, caring for nothing but warfare, horsemanship and sport,^ was a figure which implied the famished beggar. Even the priests besought alms as they paraded the streets with open missal.^ Yet Italian traders did well. Italian astrologers and actors, teachers of horsemanship and fencing-masters, doctors and scholars found a temporary or permanent home in France. The pulpits were filled by Italian preachers and eager ears drank in draughts of eloquence in Italianised French. Italian professors were appointed to vacant chairs at the seats of learning. Small wonder that Bruno cast his eyes on Paris !
Moreover, the University, although she was no longer mistress of theologic thought and arbitress in Philosophy, and her schools were now badly attended, maintained some measure of her ancient prestige.
Furnished with his degree, Bruno, whom we find calling himself by his monkish name Giordano again, arrived in Paris towards the end of 1581. It was a common thing for scholars to wander from place to place and fight their way into office by securing popularity or influence. He says : " When I went to Paris, in order to get me known and my measure taken, I gave thirty expositions of the Thirty Divine Attributes, taken from the first part of [the Summa Theologia of] St Thomas [Aquinas]." * "I have al- ways admired Catholic theologians, particularly St Thomas, whose works I have always kept at hand, perused and
' Castiglione, B ; // Cortigiano; Tasso, T ; Lettere. » Doc. xij. » Doc. ix.
FIRST STAY IN PARIS 57
praised. I have them still and hold them dear.'"^ The Angelic Doctor, as the accepted exponent of Catholic philosophy, was no less highly rated by the professors and students of Paris. Humanism had never taken deep root in the University, and, after the massacre of 1572, true scholarship languished and Catholic studies triumphed. What choice of subject could have been a happier one? Bruno's disquisitions were so successful that he remained in Paris, lecturing on mnemonics and the art of Lully as improved by himself, throwing into it the germs of his own philosophic views. He was a stimulating teacher, full of fire and originality. He would dictate with great rapidity, standing on one leg as he did so. He could be persuasive and convincing : often he became provocative and tactless. His pupils say that he was marvellously ready of thought and speech ; he could deal with any subject that turned up; he often employed a barbarous Latin jargon, but became truly eloquent at times ; he would carry his hearers away with him and his lecture room was packed.^
His desire " to get known and his measure taken " was achieved ; he was offered a chair at the University.' Un- able to accept an ordinary professoriate, since, unlike the University of Toulouse, that of Paris made attendance at Mass obligatory, " which," says Bruno, " I always avoided doing, having left my order and cast off my habit. ... I continued my teaching." His reputation reached the Court. " I got me such a name that King Henry III summoned me one day to discover from me if the memory which I possessed was natural or acquired by magic art. I satisfied him that it did not come from sorcery but from organised
' Doc. xij.
2 Nostitz, J ; Artificium Aristotelico — Lullio — Rameum, BregcB, 161 5. — Eglin, R; J. B. Summa terminorum, prafatio.
^ Doc. ix. — Toland, J ; Schoppiu^ letter to Ritiershaus, in Miscell. Works, 1747, vol. i.
58 GIORDANO BRUNO
knowledge ; and, following this, I got a book on memory printed, entitled ' The Shadows of Ideas,' which I dedicated to His Majesty. Forthwith he gave me an Extraordinary Lectureship with a salary." 1 Bruno invented an enigma and paradigm whereby the King might remember the Book of Genesis, and " a fruitful figure of letters, signs and num- bers." ^ Among other subjects he probably lectured on the Physics of Aristotle.*
Giordano's royal patron was of a singular and difficult disposition. He had received the fatal inheritance of a neurotic and unstable temperament; he was quick to imitate and quick to change. His susceptible mind had received some cultivation ; but his nurture was even more unfortunate for one of such unbalanced disposition than is usual with the ordinary prince : he was brought up in a sty of luxury and encouraged to let himself go to each momentary impulse. Tasso believed that Henry's character was injured in critical years by the dissipations which were forced on him during his sojourn in Italy.* His contem- poraries maintained that he was sound at heart, but vacilla- ting, a man of whims, subject to the allurements of the moment and the seductions of his companions. One day he would parade in the street as a penitent ; another day he would don female garb and enact the painted harlot at a banquet, graced by the sanctioning presence of the Queen- Mother. He filled his Court with loose women and scan- dalous youths. Often well-intentioned, his favour could not be depended on, for he frequently became irresolute, incapable and indolent. He left affairs of state to others in order to fondle lap-dogs. So nervous that a thunder- storm would frighten him into the cellars of his palace, he
' Doc. ix. " De Umbris : Ars Memories, near the end.
' Tocco, F ; Op. inedite de G. B. Nap., 1891,/. loo.
* Tasso, Torquato ; Prose Diverse, Firenze, 1875, vol. ij.,p. 286.
FIRST STAY IN PARIS 59
could be rash and bold at times, welcoming adventure and playing the man. He was skilful among statesmen in setting traps for his foes. A seeker after forbidden things, he was nevertheless devout, ordering prayers for the success of a projected murder and attending mass during its accom- plishment. A fribble, he preserved some interest in things of the mind, and he had learned in Italy that to patronize learning and art adds to the prestige of a prince. While, as Tasso tells us, the nobility of France abandoned letters to the vulgar, Henry III favoured Itahan scholars, founded some professorial chairs and augmented the endowment of others.^ De Thou thought that, with all his vices he would have made a good prince in a better age, and D'Aubigny admitted that he was a man of good parts who, as Tacitus said of Galba, would have been judged worthy of the royal power if he had never reigned.
Henry was but little in Paris ; he spent most of his time at Blois ; when Bruno saw him he saw his better side. In consequence of this and of the favour shown him — favour of which he got so little in life — Bruno thought more highly of Henry than he deserved. He calls him the " admirable light of nations " and speaks of his " first-rate mind, most like a mirror." ^ Such praise sounds extravagant to modern ears, and, as addressed to a reigning monarch, is suggestive of insincerity. But the adulation of great folk was a formal necessity then. The age was one of hyperbole " triple- piled," and it was Bruno's nature to bespangle his friends and bespatter his foes with reckless superlative. And we should not forget that, in the i6th century, the throne was
* Archives curieuses, 1834-40, vols, x, xi.—De Thou, J. A ; Historia sui temp., 1620. — Duplex, Scipion ; Histoire de Henri III, 1633.— D'Aubigny, T, Agrippa ; Les Tragiques, 1616.— L'Estoile, P de ;
Journal de Henri III, 1620 (?).— Bartholmfess, C ; Op. cit., vol. i, p. 8l.
* De Umbris.
6o GIORDANO BRUNO
regarded as a sacred temple of protection and liberality, a sanctuary for learning and a source of honour and power ; the Court, too, was the school of manners, the patron of scholarship, science and the arts ; all hope of the advance- ment of letters rested on princes and nobles ; the very means of livehhood might depend on their favour; the Court was the avenue to success. And, even in our own simple-minded and undesigning days, it is not every one who shall be so downright as was the Ettrick shepherd and address an antagonist as " damned sir " or subscribe himself " yours disgusted."
But Bruno, although he fell in with the courtly fashion of the time, felt real gratitude to Henry, and there is nothing servile in his tone ; he lauds the King, but he is also con- scious of his own worth and asserts it. In the sentence wherein Henry is addressed as " famous and magnanimous " he is informed that the work presented to him is " among the greatest ; noble as to its subject and remarkable in its concoction." And Bruno's gratitude was exceptional in being no mere passing flush of feeling. When away in England, he extolled Henry,i and later, in Southern Ger- many, when Henry had incurred the reproach of all Europe, Bruno had a work printed in which he allowed a laudatory preface, written in Paris, to stand.^
It has been considered uncertain whether the " Extra- ordinary Lectureship with a salary," which the King gave Bruno, was at the Sorbonne or at the College de Cambrai, an institution which bore several names and is generally known as the College de France? I have, however, little doubt that he was appointed to the latter college, and think
^ Cena, Proemiale episiola ; Spaccio, Dial. Ill, iij.
* Acrotismus, Viteberga, apud Zachariam Cratonem, anno 1588. Compare Centum et viginti articuli. Impressum Parisiis 1586.
' Cr^vier, J. B. L ; Hist, de PUniv. de Paris, 1761, //, 407-8. It was also known as the College of the Three Bishops.
FIRST STAY IN PARIS 6 1
SO because, first, although founded in 1 348, it was remodelled and endowed by Francis II and remained fostered and pro- tected by the Throne. Secondly, it was a modern school, opposed to the teaching of the " ignorant Sorbonne," which had pronounced " Greek, Hebrew and elegant Latin to be the language of heretics " and directed its attention to more Catholic studies. As more Hberal than the Sorbonne, the College of Cambrai was less unsuited to the highly uncon- ventional teaching of Bruno, and, although both establish- ments now slavishly followed Aristotle, not long before, it was at the Cambrai that the would be subverter of his logic, Pierre de la Ram^e (Ramus) delivered his lectures.^ Thirdly, Besler, who acted as one of Bruno's copyists, wrote after the title of one of his works : " a treatise by Giordano Bruno, verily the living sap of the Cambrai," ^ and Bruno himself calls a work, published in 1588, the " Acrotismus of Jordanus Brunus of the Cambrai."* Fourthly, two of his works, that dedicated to the King and one dedicated to the Venetian Ambassador at Paris, were printed in the immediate neighbourhood of the College of Cambrai, as is set forth on their title-pages.* Again, on his second visit to Paris (1585) Bruno was partly supported by friends and dwelt with them,^ and the diarist already quoted notes that
^ Lefranc, A; Hist, du College de France, 1893,//. 240 sqq. — Crdvier ; op. cit, t. vj, pp. 384-86.
' Tractatus sicccus immo G. B. Nolani camoeracensis, Erlangen Codex 1279. Vide Tocco, F ; Opere inedite di G. B., Nap., 1891, pp. 98 sqq.
^ J. B. Nolani Camoeracensis Acrotismus. "Camoera" is bad Latin for "camgra" or "camara," an arched roof or chamber = French "chambre," taken as = Cambrai.
* De Umbris Idearum Parisiis apud ^gid. Gorbinum, sub
insigne Spei, e regione gymnasii Cameracensis, 1582, cum privilegio
regis. — De compendiosa Architectura Parisiis apud jSgidium
Gorbinum, sub insigne Speiprope collegium Cameracense, 1582.
' Doc, ix.
62 GIORDANO BRUNO
" he lodges near the College of Cambrai." * It is unlikely that he then held any chair, or he would not have required such aid, and the fact that his friends lived close to the College points to that as the one where he had held a post. More- over, the famous disputation, to which we shall come in due course, was held at the College and not at the Sorbonne.^ It is true that the College of Cambrai was opposed to the Jesuits, and Bruno consulted a Jesuit. But Prof. Mclntyre is mistaken in supposing that he did so during his first visit to Paris.* He did so during his second stay, at the instiga- tion of the Spanish Ambassador.*
Bruno was kindly received by his fellow-professors. At first, at least, his lectures were popular,^ and he speaks of the attendance of learned persons both at his public and private teaching.® He made the acquaintance of Regnault, secretary to Henry of Angouleme, Grand Prior of France. Angouleme was the bastard son of Henry II by a Scots lady named Leviston, and, therefore, was half-brother to the King. Manuscript copies of Bruno's second book " The Chant of Circe " ' were in circulation, and Regnault wished his friend to get the work printed. Since Bruno was " occupied by weightier matters," i.e. the instruction of the King, Regnault undertook its production, dedicating it to D'Angouleme. It appeared, bound up with the " Shadow of Ideas," (1582). Among other influential persons whom he got to know was Giovanni Moro, the accomplished am- bassador of Venice. Moro had just replaced Lorenzo Priuli, who was destined to preside over Bruno's trial at Venice ; so Priuli may have known Bruno at Paris or heard of his reputation for heresy, which, as we shall see, was afloat.
' Auvray, L ; op. cit., sub bth Dec. 1585.
^ Ibid., sub 2?>ik and 2ijih May. " Mclntyre ; op. cit.,fi. 20.
* Docs, xij, xvij. ' Nostitz ; loc. cit.
° Centum et viginti articuli; Acrotismus Camoeracensis {Epist. ad Filesac). ' Cantus Circaus.
FIRST STAY IN PARIS 63
He inscribed to Moro his " SubstanCe And Completion Of The Art Of LuUy," ^ (i 582). Lecturing and correcting proofs make heavy work in themselves ; but Bruno's energy was unbounded and expended itself in close and continuous application. The same year which witnessed the publica- tion of three Latin books saw that of a fourth, this time a comedy in Italian called " The Chandler." ^
He was in the royal favour, held a royal appointment and was not unfriended at Court. Yet all was not so well with him as it seemed. • How could it be with a man who might say with his English contemporary, " My thoughts are stitched to the stars " ? *
He sat apart, a solitary thinker, a somewhat disappointed man. Excommunication debarred him from his due. We learn how he was regarded, or regarded himself, from the title-page of his play: he is " il fastidito," "the man with his stomach turned." But he has learned to accept life as it comes, with serene outlook and even temper ; he declares that he is " cheery when sad and sad in cheer ; " * yet surely there is a sub-acid flavour in the announcement that he is " an academician of no academy " — he is that strong, sad man who thinks for himself, and, therefore, stands alone.
It behoved him to walk warily ; and Bruno was not a wary person. The Catholic Reaction was triumphant in Paris, and his printed books contained dubious doctrine. It
^ De Compendiosa ArcMiectura et Complimento Artis Lulli. Ad illustrissimuin D. D. Joannem Morum pro serenissima Veneiorum Rep. apud christianiss. Gall, et Poloii. regem Henricum III legatum.
" // Candelajo.
' John Lyly ; Endimioti, Act I, sc. i. The phrase seems to have been Americanized by Emerson who talks about hitching one's waggon to the stars.
' " In tristitia hilaris, in hilaritate tristis," Title-page of // Candelajo.
64 GIORDANO BRUNO
is hardly likely that his lectures were free from all offence. There had been a time when Ramus and Postel attacked Aristotle before crowded benches ; and it was still possible to introduce new ideas under cover of the Stagirite's mantle ; but former attacks had not been made on the Aristotelian Cosmology. Bruno had once held with Aristotle, but Copernicus had obliged him to change his mind.^ Aristotle, as accepted and expounded by the schoolmen, was held to be a pillar of Christian philosophy ; the new science over- threw more than one foundation-stone in the teaching of the Church, and Bruno never missed an opportunity of assailing Aristotle on a side which was generally unquestioned. Pundits, too, like poets, are an irritable folk. Scholars, in the sixteenth century, were not invariably endowed with breadth of vision, and they were apt to grow waspish. Students at the universities were undisciplined in manners, and the natural genius of the student calls on him to seize every opportunity of converting the lecture-room into a bear-garden. Moreover, in social intercourse, Bruno was far from cautious ; ^ what fermented in his brain must out on his tongue. In a somewhat confused manuscript record wherein he runs, or was reported as running, two separate stays in Paris together, he told the Inquisitors that he left France for England on account of tumults which were brewing.* But, from the peace of Fleix in 1580 to the outbreak of the "war of the three Henrys " in 1585, there was an almost complete lull in religious and political strife. Bruno must have been conscious that personal trouble loomed ahead. His scandalous doctrines got talked about. Opinions so unhallowed shocked every kind of Christian. Sir H. Cobham, the EngUsh Ambassador in Paris, was in
' Infinito, Dial. I.
2 Cfr. Cena; Eroict furori, Argomento del Nolano.
' Doc. ix.
FIRST STAY IN PARIS 65
correspondence with Sir Henry Walsingham, the Queen's Secretary. Walsingham was a master-organizer of espial, and it was Cobham's business" to find out everything that was going on and send the news home. The Ambassador told the Secretary, in a letter dated March 28th 1583: "II S'' Doctor Jordano Bruno Nolano, a professor in philosophy, intendeth to pass into England; whose religion I cannot commend."^ Whatever may have happened, Bruno de- parted from France bearing a letter of recommendation from the King to Michel de Castelnau, Lord of Mauvissiere, who was his Ambassador at the Court of Elizabeth. It is evident that Henry could be broad-minded on occasion, and had some respect for intellectual pluck and power : it softens one's judgement of that egregious monarch.
1 Elton, O ; Modern Studies, Arnold, London, 1907,/. 334) adden- dum to note 9.