680 paul f. grendler
create works of originality or significance on themes such as the nature
of man. in contrast, Vittore branca assesses the impact of barzizza and
Guarini, and humanism generally, as significant, positive, and coming into
full bloom in the late 15th century with such a figure as Ermolao bar-
baro the Younger (1453/54–92). Margaret l. King sees its impact to have
been strong, although subordinate to Venetian ideology. Young patricians
absorbed the classical tradition through their educations early in the 15th
century, then developed a humanism consonant with Venetian values.
unlike humanists elsewhere, Venetian humanists had a pronounced aris-
totelian philosophical bent. above all, they put a premium on unanimi-
tas, meaning concord, with the corollaries that individual views should be
subordinated to the group, and traditional intellectual values upheld.14
the Senate expanded the number of state latin schools teaching the
humanistic curriculum in the 16th century. in 1551 the Senate passed a
law mandating the appointment of an additional four humanists (upper
school teachers) and six grammarians (lower school teachers) whose
salaries would be paid by the state. these were sestieri schools, named
for the six civil administrative districts of the city. the law was not fully
implemented until 1567, at which time the Senate modified it to four
schools, two on each side of the Grand canal, with each school employ-
ing a humanist and a grammarian. approximately 188 boys attended the
state sestieri schools in the academic year 1587–88.15
the Venetian church had a single known school in the 15th century.
attached to the church of San Marco, it had one or two teachers who edu-
cated about 50 boys intended for the clerical life. it was an ecclesiastical
school, possibly founded during the pontificate of Eugenius iV (1431–47),
because it was attached to a church and it educated future clerics. but
it was not a cathedral school, because San Marco was the doge’s private
chapel, not the patriarchal church. hence, the procurators of St. Mark,
state officials, oversaw the affairs of the school and appointed teachers.
14 Manlio pastore Stocchi, “Scuola e cultura umanistica fra due secoli,” in Storia della
cultura veneta, vol. 3 (1980): Dal primo Quattrocento al Concilio di Trento, part 1, esp. pp.
118–21; Vittore branca, “Ermolao barbaro and late Quattrocento Venetian humanism,”
in J. R. hale, ed., Renaissance Venice (london, 1973), pp. 218–43; and Vittore branca,
“l’umanesimo veneziano alla fine del Quattrocento. Ermolao barbaro e il suo circolo,”
in Storia della cultura veneta, vol. 3 (1980): Dal primo Quattrocento al Concilio di Trento,
part 1, pp. 123–75; Margaret l. King, Venetian Humanism in an Age of Patrician Dominance
(princeton, n.J., 1986); King, The Death of the Child Valerio (chicago/london, 1994).
15 Grendler, Schooling, pp. 43, 63–70; and Vittorio baldo, Alunni, maestri scuole in
Venezia alla fine del XVI secolo (como, 1977), pp. 37–42.