Further reading: Norman Cohn, The Pursuit of the
Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anar-
chists of the Middle Ages (New York: Random House, 1961;
repr. 1993).
mineralogy In ancient, medieval, and Renaissance times
no distinction was made between minerals, rocks, and fos-
sils. All were described as “fossils,” a word that meant no
more than that they had been dug out of the ground. A
number of medieval lapidaries survive and, like the best
known of these, the De mineralibus (1260) of Albertus
Magnus, they derive mainly from the writings of Pliny
(23–79 CE) and are predominantly concerned with sup-
posedly magical and medicinal properties of selected
stones. Early texts, consequently, were full of such won-
ders as the bezoar, found in a toad’s head and considered
an antidote against all poisons. Much of this tradition sur-
vived through the Renaissance intact.
A more modern approach is first seen clearly in
Georgius AGRICOLA’s De natura fossilium (1546). While his
predecessors had argued that minerals had originated ei-
ther through the action of stars, or from a “petrific seed,”
Agricola proposed instead that they had condensed from a
subterranean lapidifying juice (succus lapidifactus). He
also replaced the traditional alphabetical listing of “fos-
sils” with a classification based on their physical proper-
ties. In this way he distinguished between earths, rocks,
metals, and stones. A more elaborate classification into 15
classes was proposed by Conrad GESNERin his De omni
rerum fossilium genere (1565). Based on crude morpholog-
ical considerations, it grouped minerals according to their
resemblance to plants, geometrical shapes, animals, and
other natural forms. The approach based upon a mineral’s
chemical composition began to emerge only in the 18th
century.
Minerva The Roman goddess of wisdom and the arts,
often identified with the Greek goddess Athene (or Pallas
Athene). Like her Greek counterpart, Minerva was also as-
sociated with the arts of war, and she is generally depicted
as armed with a helmet, shield, spear, and coat of mail.
She was shown in Renaissance allegorical scenes as the
embodiment of rational, intellectual power; in a picture
now in the Louvre, Paris, but originally carried out for Is-
abella d’Este by MANTEGNA, the armed Minerva is shown
driving a motley and grotesque crowd of personified vices
from an arcaded garden pool. Perhaps the most haunting
of Renaissance images of Minerva is BOTTICELLI’s painting
(Uffizi, Florence) of her taming a centaur, symbol of brute
physical strength and passion; in this picture she does not
carry the accoutrements of the classical goddess but sub-
dues the centaur by the twist of its hair in her right hand,
rather than by the huge halberd which she also carries.
Further reading: Marina Warner, Maidens and Monu-
ments: The Allegory of the Female Form (London: Weiden-
feld & Nicolson, 1985; repr. 1996).Miranda, Francisco de Sá de (1481–1558) Portuguese
poet and dramatist
The illegitimate son of a canon at Coimbra, Miranda read
law, obtained a degree, and taught in Lisbon. His first
works as a poet at the court of Manuel I were in the tradi-
tional forms and meters of medieval Portugal and Spain.
Some of these were published in Garcia de Resende’s Can-
cioneiro geral (1516). He inherited property after his fa-
ther’s death (1520), which allowed him to make a long
visit to Italy (1521–26). Through his distant relative, Vit-
toria COLONNA, he met SANNAZARO, ARIOSTO, and others.
He returned to Portugal through Spain, where he may
have met GARCILASO DE LA VEGAand BOSCÁN. He married
in 1530.
With the patronage of King John III and his inheri-
tance, Miranda was able to devote himself to his poetry
and live in rural seclusion. He introduced to Portugal the
11-syllable line and the main Italian verse forms: the Pe-
trarchan sonnet, the canzone, terza rima, and ottava rima.
His two plays, Comédia dos estrangeiros (1559) and Comé-
dia dos Vilhapandos (1560), are written in prose, carefully
plotted, and thoroughly classical in style. A tragedy,
Cleopatra, is lost.Mirandola, Giovanni Pico della See PICO DELLA MI-
RANDOLA, GIOVANNIMissaglia family Italian makers of weapons and ARMOR.
In the 15th century their workshop in Milan was a
European leader in this field. Tommaso (died c. 1454),
who retired in about 1451, handed over to his son
Antonio (died c. 1495), who fulfilled commissions for a
number of important clients. Some of his work is
preserved in the Wallace Collection, London. After
Antonio’s death the family’s place as leading armor
manufacturers in Milan was taken by the NEGROLI FAMILY.Mohács, battle of (1526) A Turkish victory over Christ-
ian forces in southern Hungary. Led by Suleiman (I) the
Magnificent, the OTTOMAN TURKSdestroyed the army of
Louis II of Hungary before sweeping north to take Buda
and Pesth and to occupy most of Hungary; from here
Suleiman could threaten the very heart of Europe. Since
King Louis, who drowned while fleeing from Mohács, left
no male heir, the elective crowns of Bohemia and Hungary
passed to his Hapsburg brother-in-law, Ferdinand (later
FERDINAND I, Holy Roman Emperor). In 1687 at a second
battle of Mohács the imperial Christian forces defeated the
Turks.MMoohhaaíí ccss,, bbaattttllee ooff 3 31199