Bernardo Bembo (1433-1519) was a Venetian patrician who worked as an ambassador for the Venetian court.  At his death, he had amassed a large collection of books that he left to his son, the famous humanist and cardinal, Pietro Bembo.  Although his collection is now scattered in many libraries across Italy, France, England, and North America, scholars have reconstructed the collection from inventories made in 1545 and 1583, identification of his handwriting, and the coat of arms inscribed in his books.1  Another Renaissance book collector, Cardinal Domenico Capranica (1400-1458), was an influential cardinal in the papal court in Rome.  His collection numbered 387 volumes, one of the largest private collections of his period.  In his last will and testament, he willed his book collection to the college he had founded--the Collegio Capranica in Rome. Although this collection today is scattered amongst the Vatican Library and private collectors, scholars have also reconstructed it from a college inventory made in 1486.2  A comparison of the provenance, genre, use, and location of Bembo's and Capranica's collections will reveal similarities in the impact of the Renaissance economy, intellectual culture, and their respective social systems on the development and use of their collections, as well as highlight the differences due to their daily duties, their particular intellectual milieu, and positions of authority.

    Bernardo Bembo accumulated his collection from varied sources: he copied them himself, paid scribes to copy them, purchased them, and received them as gifts.  Because manuscripts were expensive and many texts simply were not available for purchase, Bembo copied many of the books he wanted. Before the invention of the printing press, books required a great deal of specialized human labor, and therefore were expensive. Furthermore, many scholarly manuscripts housed in university, cathedral, or monastic libraries were not yet part of the developing market economy in Europe.  Bembo himself copied one of the earliest books known to his collection while he was at the University of Padua.3  Once Bembo became an ambassador to Venice and  travelled extensively, he had access to books in European libraries. He often made detours to ecclesiastical or private libraries to copy texts.  For example, when he was a Venetian envoy to Siena in 1455, he copied the entire text of a famous Tuscan juriconsult.4  Bembo also employed scribes to copy manuscripts, and was known to have developed a close friendship with a scribe who copied and illuminated many of Bembo’s most handsome manuscripts.
 
    Later in Bembo's life, as he rose in prominence in the Venetian court and accumulated more wealth, he also purchased books.  He wrote in the books how much each cost, as well as the date and place of purchase.  He obtained most of the books he purchased in Florence, a growing center for the book trade, when he had ambassadorial duties there.5  In this period, increasing numbers of classical texts were available in Florence for a rising class of Italian governmental officials, aristocrats, and merchants who not only desired texts but also participated in a commercial economy. Italian merchants searched Europe and the Mediterranean for books to sell to this growing market in Florence.  In contrast, in the same period in Venice, books were mostly available for purchase in auctions of the personal property of the deceased.  Venetian bookshops had a limited stock of books, and copied or made them primarily on commission.6  Therefore, Bembo acquired most of his collection in a non-market system of exchange.7

    Bembo received most of his books as gifts.  The exchange of gifts tangibly sealed a web of social networks that he developed with court patricians and intellectuals during his career.  Between 1475 and 1480 when Bembo was the Venetian envoy to the Medici court in Florence, he added copies of works that Florentine humanists, such as Ficino, Poliziano, Allessandro Braccessi, and Augurello, dedicated to him during his residence in the Florentine court.8  When he was ambassador to Pope Innocent VIII, he developed friendships with many prolific authors, such as the Carmelite Fra Battista Spagnoli.  Spagnoli gave Bembo a copy of his oration to the pope, as well as the early Christian authors on whom he relied.  Other famous humanists, such as Cristoforo Landino, gave Bembo copies of their works with personalized letters of dedication attached.9   Through books, Bembo documented the personal connections he established in the courts he visited.10   Thus, the provenance of his collection illustrated the social networks that his books symbolized and mediated.

    The content of Bembo's books, apart from their physical significance as tokens of exchange, also held meaning for defining the shared values and intellectual prestige of Bembo and his circle of court patricians.  These courtiers participated in an intellectual movement known as humanism.  Fifteenth-century humanism was distinguished by a preoccupation with civic duty and virtue, an emphasis on rhetoric, and a preoccupation with Latin and Greek philology and classical texts. Italians who had the leisure to study classical languages and literature created a culture in which seeking out, recovering, editing, translating, and analyzing classical texts were held in the highest esteem.11   Because powerful princes patronized humanists for their presence at court or as administrators, knowledge of classical texts was a prerequisite for participation in the social and political activities of Italian courts. Classical texts that epitomized the values of the Roman Republic and Greek city-states shaped the ideals of Italian aristocrats who were political participants and leaders.12  These Italian aristocrats modeled the ways they wrote and spoke to each other on classical rhetoricians and politicians, such as Cicero.

    Given Bembo's career as a Venetian ambassador, his main collecting interest comes as no surprise.  Bembo collected books of two related genres: classical texts and humanist works.  The central figures of Roman classical antiquity predominated in his collection, including Ovid, Horace, Sallust, Cicero, Virgil, and Julius Caesar.  He also obtained Latin translations of Greek authors such as Plato, Aristotle, and Homer.  Furthermore, Bembo collected the works of famous humanists who wrote commentaries on texts of classical antiquity or imitated their forms, including Petrarch, Boccaccio, and the bucolic poet Naldo Naldi.

    Bembo used his collection to become learned in the shared metaphors of a courtly culture that esteemed classical literature, as well as to display this knowledge publicly to advance his career and social standing.  As a participant in the civic duties and politics of the courts, Bembo's advancement depended on the public persona he projected in his speeches, letters, negotiations, and social interactions.   He used his library to write his orations and letters.  A notebook survives in which he wrote down his ideas and copied phrases from classical authorities to incorporate into his speeches and letters to other courtiers and patrons.13   Because familiarity with classical texts was a mark of intellectual achievement in the Renaissance, Bembo collected and used classical texts to speak the language of power.  Hence, promotion of one's political influence, reputation, and social networks proved a powerful incentive for Bembo's collection of classical texts and their humanist imitators.

    As Bembo's status rose in the Venetian court, his lifestyle changed as well.  He built a villa in the Italian countryside, following the example of Petrarch and other esteemed humanists of his day.  Here, Bembo practiced the life of a country gentleman, entertaining and spending his leisure time reading classical texts and humanist writings.  A library was the central feature of the humanist villa, and Bembo's use and display of his collection emulated his contemporaries, past humanists, and the ideal man espoused in his classical texts.  Bembo often had his coat of arms inscribed into most of his texts, and had them bound luxuriously with red velvet and gold.  Thus, the appearance of his books and their exhibition in this location revealed his aspirations for social status in a world of Tucsan humanist patricians.

    In contrast to the values and secular lifestyle of Bernardo Bembo, the library of Cardinal Domenico Capranica represented a different world.  The religious duties of Capranica, his authority in the church, and his earlier time period explain many differences in their collections.

    Whereas Bembo did purchase some of manuscripts from his humanist friends or from a book market, there is no evidence that Capranica purchased any of the books in his collection.  Whereas other cardinals and Italian aristocrats hired book agents to seek out valuable treasures, there is no evidence that Capranica employed their services either.  Because Capranica lived  before Bembo and well before the invention of the printing press, a market for manuscripts, especially for the specialized texts that a cardinal might need, had not yet developed.  Economy, Capranica's social position, the concentration of manuscripts, and the symbolic value of manuscripts influenced his collecting activities.

    Capranica received books as gifts from his diplomatic missions or from people seeking his intervention in the papal court.14  As discussed under Bembo's collection, books were a valued medium of material and symbolic exchange, and forged bonds between two powerful figures or between a patron and client.  Giving and accepting books shaped cooperative behavior within social networks. Capranica probably obtained most of his books due to high position in the church and his authority within the Franciscan order.  As a protector of the Franciscan order, he received books in commendam from the monasteries he visited.15  Franciscan orders benefited from association and proximity to a person with such connections in the papal court, and probably were not reluctant to part with their books. Whereas Bembo enmeshed himself into a series of social networks as a means of rising in power and influence, Capranica already sat at the top of the hierarchy.  By giving books, Franciscan monasteries enlisted Capranica’s protection, while Capranica extracted a form of payment for his influence on their behalf and obtained a tangible representation of his supporters.

     Because of the prominent role of Franciscans in medieval theology and law, Franciscan orders had created, copied, and preserved many manuscripts, and thus held copies of many works that Capranica would have wanted.  Even if Franciscan orders did not forthrightly give him their books, they were available for him to copy.   Duties that allowed him to travel and visit other European monasteries gave him access to and knowledge of many libraries' holdings. Copyists transcribed many of Capranica's books when he took up residence in various monasteries.  His collection built up gradually, but experienced growth spurts during his diplomatic missions in the 1440s and 1450s.16

    The genres of books in his library represented a typical cardinal’s working library, yet also highlighted his unique contribution to the fifteenth-century Catholic Church.   His books can be divided into four main collecting categories: patristic works, medieval and contemporary theological works, legal writings, and classical/humanist texts.  First, Capranica had a well-developed collection of the writings of the early Church fathers, including Gregory, Tertullian, Jerome, Ambrose, Lactantius, John Chrysostom, and many texts by St. Augustine.17   Second, Capranica collected biblical commentaries, sermons, psalters, conciliar commentaries, and other ecclesiastical books from medieval and contemporary authors.  He also collected works from Scholastics, such as Aquinas and Bonaventure, as well later tracts by Renaissance philosophers.18   Third, he had a large collection of treatises in canon law, legal tracts, collections of legal decisions, miscellaneous legal treatises, and material on the Schism and conciliar period.  Fourth, he had a modest collection of classical and humanist texts, including works of Seneca, Virgil, Ovid, Petrarch, and Boccaccio.

    A Renaissance cardinal had many duties: legal, administrative, ceremonial, and social.  In the legal and administrative sphere, a cardinal heard legal cases, functioned in the operation of papal business as a legate or administrator, and sat on councils that advised the pope, bishops, and other members of the court on legal, political, and spiritual matters.19   Capranica was well known for his background in canon law and in making sound legal decisions.  A contemporary explained that "every morning and every evening he would be obliged to hear numberless pontifical cases."  He no doubt used his large collection of legal books, formularies of the chancery, and collections of conciliar material to "administer justice with wonderful efficiency."20   Daily reference to his collection of legal materials, as well as to knowledge accumulated over the years from consultation of his collection, helped him perform his daily duties.   His familiarity with his collection allowed him to attain a respected position among the members of the papal court, just as knowledge of classical oratory, rhetoric, and literature allowed Bembo to behave in expected ways in Italian courts.

     In his capacity as counselor to the papal court, Capranica not only needed a legal background, but also knowledge of theological positions, biblical interpretations, and spiritual authorities to direct church affairs.  His collection of patristic, medieval, and contemporary religious writers informed his decisions.  The patristic collection is most significant for understanding his contributions in the papal court.  Early Christian writers experienced a revival in this period, as Renaissance theologians looked to them increasingly as religious authorities. Scholars, such as Ambrogio Traversi, Pope Nicholas V, and the debates of church councils promoted interest in these authors.  Capranica was a leading figure in this revival.  Capranica's patristic texts shaped his participation in Church reform and guided his position that church figures should return to the ideals of the pastoral and apostolic life.  Morevoer, Capranica also had liturgical obligations.  He participated in the ceremony of the Catholic Church during masses, holidays, and special papal appearances. The content of his collections provided instructions and meanings for performance of these public functions as well.

    Capranica's collection of classical and humanist texts did not compare to the collections of other cardinals in this period, yet the presence of so many secular classical texts in his library still requires comment.21  As a leading figure of the papal court, Capranica encountered leading humanists in the papal service.22   Remember that Bembo was an ambassador for Venice to the papal court.  Capranica had to correspond and negotiate with these secular, powerful men who modeled their language, values, and behavior on interpretations of classical texts and participation in the humanist culture of the courts. In order to interact with them effectively and perpetuate the ideal role of a cardinal as both a learned figure and a "promoter of learning," Capranica had to be familiar with the shared meanings and symbols of the intellectuals of his day.23   Thus, in his social and political functions, Capranica used the classical texts in his collection to relate to the secular intellectuals of the papal and Italian city-states' courts.
 
    Just as the location of Bembo's books illustrated their function in his life, the location of Capranica's collection in his study at his main residence showed that his collection was immediately accessible for practical and applied use in his daily duties as cardinal.  In the world of an Italian courtier, Bembo achieved social prestige because he learned from classical texts in his leisure time at his villa, then used his knowledge in his social and political interactions.  In contrast, Capranica’s learning took place in the course of his daily legal, administrative, and ceremonial duties.

    Despite differences in the provenance, genre, purpose and use, and location of Capranica’s and Bembo’s collections, they shared important similarities. At one level, Bembo's and Capranica's collections shared the economic restraints and intellectual trends of the Renaissance.   Both relied primarily on copying books and receiving books from personal networks, and both collected books in response to a growing interest in texts written before the fourth century AD.  Yet, there were also similarities in how their social systems and their aspirations within their social systems influenced and were influenced by their collections. The social systems in which Capranica and Bembo participated established the value and worth of the texts they sought. Each collection provided the core manuals for Bembo and Capranica to achieve social, cultural, and political legitimacy in their respective social systems.  To gain respect and participate in their social systems, they had to become knowledgeable in the shared symbols, values, and expectations that their social systems prescribed and the books encoded.  Whenever they used their collections in their daily interactions with others, they perpetuated the values and power structures of their social systems.  At the same time, the means by which they obtained their collections created and maintained the personal networks and power structures of their social systems.

Burke, Peter (1972).  Culture and Society in Renaissance Italy, 1420-1540. (London: B.T. Batsford).

Clough, Cecil H. (1984). "The Library of Bernardo and of Pietro Bembo."  The Book Collector.  33: 305-321.

Connell, Susan (1972).  "Books and Their Owners in Venice, 1345-1480."  Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. 35: 163-85.

Harris, Michael H. (1995).  History of the Libraries in the Western World.  4th ed.  (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press).

Lowe, K. J. P. (1993).  Church and Politics in Renaissance Italy: The Life and Career of  Cardinal Francesco Soderini (1453-1524).  (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).