Nanni di Banco (Giovanni di Antonio di Banco)
(c. 1384–1421) Italian sculptor
A native of Florence, Nanni trained under his father, the
sculptor Antonio di Banco, with whom he worked on
pieces for Florence cathedral. His first major work was the
life-sized marble figure Isaiah (c. 1408), a companion
piece to Donatello’s marble David that was executed in a
notably Gothic manner. A more classical influence is evi-
dent in his masterpiece, the Quattro Santi Coronati (Four
crowned saints; c. 1411–13), a group of marble figures de-
picting early Christian martyrs for Orsanmichele, Flo-
rence. His last major work was the Assumption of the Virgin
Mary (begun c. 1414) over the Portale della Mandorla of
Florence cathedral; it was probably finished by Luca
DELLA ROBBIA, who may have been Nanni’s pupil.
Nantes, Edict of (April 1598) The proclamation by
HENRY IVof France that ended the Wars of RELIGION. By it
the HUGUENOTSwere granted some religious toleration, in-
cluding complete freedom of conscience and the right to
worship freely in parts of France. Their pastors were paid
by the state. They enjoyed full civic rights and were as-
signed certain towns as strongholds. A special Catholic
and Huguenot court was to judge disputes arising from
the settlement. The Catholic Church resented the edict;
Cardinal Richelieu revoked the poli-tical clauses (1629)
and Louis XIV revoked the entire edict in 1685. The revo-
cation was followed by the emi-gration of hundreds of
thousands of Huguenots, depriving France of many in-
dustrious and enterprising citizens.
Naogeorgus, Thomas (Thomas Kirchmaier) (1511–
1563) German polemical dramatist
Naogeorgus was born near Regensburg and became a
Protestant pastor. He used the Latin drama, revived by the
humanists, as a vehicle for his Reformation polemic
against the pope and higher echelons of the Catholic
Church. His Pammachius (1538), representing the pope as
Antichrist, is one of the best examples of this drama and
was acted in Cambridge in 1545. Mercator (1540) is an
Everyman play in which, in line with Lutheran doctrine,
faith is privileged over good works. The many plays that
followed were less successful. Naogeorgus also wrote a
verse epic attacking the papacy (Regnum papisticum, 1555;
English translation by Barnabe Googe, 1570) and trans-
lated Sophocles’ tragedies into Latin.
Napier, John (1550–1617) Scottish mathematician
The son of a wealthy laird, Napier was born at Merchiston
Castle near Edinburgh. After attending St. Andrews Uni-
versity and a period of foreign travel, he returned to Scot-
land to manage the family estates. A fanatical Protestant,
Napier sought to demonstrate the identity of the pope and
antichrist in his Plaine discovery of the Whole Revelation of
St. John (1593), a work that also predicted that the world
would end between 1688 and 1700. Today Napier is re-
membered for his Mirifici logarithmorum canonis descriptio
(1614; translated by Edward WRIGHTas A Description of
the Admirable Table of Logarithmes, 1618), the work that
introduced logarithms to the world. Other methods of
computing, of which the best known is “Napier’s bones”
(a set of 10 wooden or ivory rods), are described in his
Rabdologiae (1617).
See also: BÜRGI, JOST
Naples (Italian Napoli) A city and port in Campania,
333344
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