Hervetus, Gentian (Gentien Hervet) (1499–1584)
French scholar and humanist
He came from a poor family near Orleans and had to
earn a living as a tutor. In Paris he met Thomas Lupset
(c. 1498–1530) and published with him an edition of the
Greek physician Galen. Lupset invited him to England
where he became tutor to the younger brother of Cardinal
Reginald POLE; he accompanied his pupil to Rome where
he translated many of the Greek Fathers into Latin. He be-
came professor at Bordeaux but then returned to Rome, to
the service of Cardinal Cervini (who became briefly Pope
Marcellus II, 1555) and was a participant in the Council of
TRENT(1545). He died at Reims where he had been a
canon since 1562. Apart from his translations Hervetus
produced polemical works against the Calvinists. He also
worked on the edition of the Bible projected by the Coun-
cil of Trent, published a French translation of its decrees
(1564), and collated the Codex Bezae (see BEZA). His
French version of St. Augustine’s Civitas dei (City of God)
was published in 1572.
Hilliard, Nicholas (c. 1547–1619) English miniaturist
The son of an Exeter goldsmith, Hilliard was trained as a
jeweler and by 1560 was already painting miniatures. He
was appointed court miniaturist and goldsmith (c. 1570),
and in his official role he designed a Great Seal for Eliza-
beth I and was sent to France (1576–78) attached to the
queen’s suitor FRANCIS, Duke of Alençon. Until the 1600s
he remained the leading miniaturist in England, rivaled
only by his pupil Isaac OLIVER. His eminent sitters in-
cluded Sir Philip SIDNEY, the earl of Southampton, Sir Wal-
ter RALEIGH, Sir Francis DRAKE, Sir Christopher Hatton,
the earl of Cumberland, and the queen herself. In 1600 he
wrote a treatise, The Arte of Limning, in which he detailed
his approach to miniature painting and recorded among
other things the queen’s agreement with him that such
works were better done in a linear style without shadows.
He also makes it clear that, while he regarded himself as
following in HOLBEIN’s footsteps, he treated miniatures as
something more than small-scale oils and considered
them to have a subtlety of their own, exemplified in such
works as the Young Man Among Roses (c. 1590), which
combines the artist’s skills as a jeweler and a portraitist to
achieve an exquisite work of art. Other notable paintings,
most of which were painted on vellum mounted on card,
include Mrs Mole. He also occasionally worked on a larger
scale, for instance in his portrait of Elizabeth painted
around 1575. His son Laurence (1582–post-1640) was
also a limner.
Further reading: Mary Edmond, Hilliard and Oliver:
The Lives and Works of Two Great Miniaturists (London:
Hale, 1983).
historiography The study and writing of history during
the Renaisance differed considerably from that of the
Middle Ages. Medieval monks had written chronicles of
events or “universal histories” from the Creation to the
Last Judgment in an attempt to justify God’s ways in
human affairs. Starting in Italy, humanist historians broke
with tradition and initiated the “modern” and “scientific”
(because critical) study of history.
Renaissance historiography is limited by its excessive
concentration on military and political history and on
kings and queens. Sometimes, like BIOGRAPHY, it was
mainly a vehicle for royal propaganda with little claim to
be regarded as history. A notorious example in England is
Sir Thomas MORE’s The History of Richard III (first printed
in a corrupt text 1543), in which the events of Richard’s
reign are selected and interpreted to shed the best possible
light upon his Tudor successor. Yet these faults were far
outweighed by the positive contributions made by Renais-
sance historians. First, they pioneered the division of his-
tory into three parts; ancient history until the last days of
the Roman empire, the Dark or Middle Ages from the fall
of Rome to the beginning of their age, and their own mod-
ern era, which they considered one of optimism and light
after darkness. Second, they secularized history, looking
for natural explanations rather than explaining causality
in terms of the supernatural or God’s will. Third, they
were more selective and often focused their work on the
history of one state, as, for instance, Paolo PARUTAdid on
Venice. Fourth, believing men and women could learn
from history, they undertook comparative studies or se-
lected events which could help people to understand the
world they lived in. Finally, they generally approached
previous histories with a healthy skepticism and under-
stood the importance of using original sources where pos-
sible.
In the 15th century Florence was the nursery of a
thriving school of historians, among them Leonardo BRUNI
and Flavio BIONDO; MACHIAVELLIand Francesco GUICCIAR-
DINIwere later representatives of this tradition. Depending
on subject matter, historians looked to Julius Caesar, LIVY,
TACITUS, or Sallust as classical models for their style. BA-
RONIUSwas a pioneer in applying the new historiographi-
cal techniques to ecclesiastical history. His Annales
ecclesiastici (1588–1607) was a sophisticated riposte on
behalf of the Roman Catholic Church to the clumsy and
antiquated historiographical methods used by the
Lutheran CENTURIATORS OF MAGDEBURG.
Outside of Italy too the uses of history began to be ap-
preciated in the context of nascent national pride. In Por-
tugal João de BARROSused Livy as the model for his Asia,
which, with its continuation by Diogo de COUTO, provides
a near-contemporary view of the triumphs and disasters of
the Portuguese ventures in the East. Livy provided the
stylistic model too for Juan de MARIANAin his massive
Latin history of Spain down to 1516, although in the mat-
ter of his sources Mariana took an uncritical approach that
mars his work; he himself published a Spanish translationhhiissttoorriiooggrraapphhyy 2 23399