He worked with his teacher, the Kapellmeister Heinrich
ISAAC, in copying a large amount of music which was later
published as part of Isaac’s Choralis constantinus
(1550–55), a task Senfl completed in around 1520 after
Isaac’s death. He took over Isaac’s position at the
Hofkapelle in 1517. After Maximilian’s death (1519) Senfl
traveled extensively. In 1523 he became court composer in
the Hofkapelle of Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria in Munich,
where he remained until he died. Senfl did compose some
sacred music, but his numerous German lieder are his
main achievement; traditional German melodies are
treated in imaginative ways, ranging from chordal harmo-
nization to canons.
Serlio, Sebastiano (1475–1554) Italian architect, painter,
and architectural theorist
Born in Bologna, Serlio trained as a painter under his fa-
ther before moving to Rome, where he studied architec-
ture and antiquarianism under Baldassare PERUZZI. After
the Sack of Rome (1527) Serlio traveled to Venice; there
he remained until 1540, when he was invited to France by
Francis I to help in the building of the palace at
FONTAINEBLEAU. By this time Serlio was already famous for
the first installment of his great treatise Tutte l’opere d’ar-
chitettura e prospettiva (1537–75), in which he set out the
principles of classical architecture with accompanying il-
lustrations by BRAMANTE, Peruzzi, and his own hand. This
influential work helped to spread Renaissance ideas in
northern Europe, appearing in Dutch in 1606 and English
in 1611, and was the first such work to manifest a practi-
cal rather than a theoretical approach to architecture. Ser-
lio also produced a short book on portals, the Libro
extraordinario (1551), and introduced innovations in stage
design based upon the classical theories of VITRUVIUS. The
only two surviving architectural works by Serlio are a
doorway at Fontainebleau and the château at Ancy-le-
Franc (begun in 1546).
Sermisy, Claudin de (c. 1490–1562) French composer
Known as Claudin in his day, Sermisy sang at the Ste.-
Chapelle and in the king’s private chapel. He may have ac-
companied Francis I to Bologna in 1515 and to the FIELD
OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD(1520). In 1532 he was sous-maître
at the royal chapel and in 1533 was nominated canon at
the Ste.-Chappelle. Sermisy must have lived in Paris for
much of this period and eventually died there. He wrote
about 110 sacred works, including motets, Masses, and a
Passion, but is chiefly remembered for his 175 or so chan-
sons. These are in a simpler, more homophonic and syl-
labic style than those of his contemporaries, with
attractive melodies. Many were so popular that other com-
posers arranged them for all kinds of vocal and instru-
mental forces.
sermons See PREACHING
Servetus, Michael (1511–1553) Spanish theologian and
physician
The son of a notary, Servetus traveled and studied in
Spain, France, Italy, and Germany before settling (1532)
in Lyons, where he worked, under the pseudonym Michel
de Villeneuve, as a publisher. This cover was adopted to
protect him from the notoriety gained by his earlier an-
titrinitarian work, De trinitatis erroribus (1531). Servetus’s
interests then turned to medicine and, after graduating
from the university of Paris, he worked in France as a
physician to the archbishop of Vienne (1541–53). He then
produced a further antitrinitarian work, Christianismi
restitutio (1553), in which he described the circulation of
the blood from the heart’s left side via the lungs to the
right side. Charged with heresy, he fled, but, most un-
wisely, went to Geneva where, under the direction of
CALVIN, he was burnt at the stake as a heretic.Seusenhofer family One of the most important German
families of armorers in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Konrad Seusenhofer (1460–1517) moved from Augsburg
to Innsbruck in 1504 to set up a court armory for Emperor
Maximilian I, and was later succeeded as court armorer
by his brother Hans (1470–1555) and Hans’s son Jörg
(c. 1505–80). During the 16th century, when plate ARMOR
had become ceremonial rather than practical, the family
made richly elaborate armor, often decorated by inlaying,
gilding, etching, or carving, for the European monarchies.
Konrad was instrumental in evolving the type of fluted
armor, known as “Maximilian,” popular in the first three
decades of the 16th century (a fusion of the German and
Italian styles of armor). A fashion in armor during the
1520s was to simulate the puffing and slashing of the
dress of the period, an early example being the armor
made by Konrad for Archduke Charles in 1514. Other
clients of Konrad’s included Henry VIII of England and
James IV of Scotland.
Another fashion of the mid-16th century was for gar-
nitures—complete “wardrobes” of matching pieces of
armor for different occasions. A famous example of this is
the “Eagle” garniture made by Jörg Seusenhofer for Ferdi-
nand, Archduke of Tyrol, in 1547, which comprised over
60 separate pieces.Seville A city and river port on the Guadalquivir in An-
dalusia, southern Spain, 54 miles (86 km) from the At-
lantic. Seville was in turn Roman, Visigothic, and Moorish
before its Christian reconquest (1248). By the early Re-
naissance period Seville’s silk and woolen textile in-
dustries had brought it prosperity, but it was the
establishment in 1503 of the city’s Casa de Contratación
(house of trade), with a monopoly of trade with the Amer-
icas, that made Seville very rich. Foreign merchants
flocked in, and Seville’s population increased from 25,000
in 1517 to 90,000 in 1594, making it Spain’s largest city.SSeevviillllee 4 43377