Encyclopedia of the Renaissance and the Reformation

(Bozica Vekic) #1

state affairs. After her downfall, in which Buchanan played
a role by identifying her handwriting in the casket letters,
incriminating her in Darnley’s murder, he was tutor
(1570–78) to young James VI, later JAMES Iof England.
Buchanan’s major prose works were De jure regni (1579),
which influenced 17th-century writers on the theory of
kingship, and a Scottish history, Rerum Scoticarum historia
(1582).


bucintoro The state barge of the doge of Venice. The
name derives from Italian buzino d’oro (golden barque). It
headed the procession of boats in the Ascension Day cer-
emony of the sposalizio del mar (marriage of the sea), in
which the doge sailed to the Porto del Lido and threw a
consecrated ring into the Adriatic. The custom commem-
orated Venice’s conquest of Dalmatia in 1000 CE. Remains
of the last bucintoro, destroyed by the French in 1798 for
the sake of its gold ornamentation, survive in the Museo
Correr, Venice.


Budé, Guillaume (Budaeus) (1468–1540) French
scholar and humanist
He was born in Paris and studied law at Orleans, before
learning Greek with John Lascaris and Jerome of Sparta.
He was employed as secretary and ambassador by LOUIS XII
and as court librarian by FRANCIS I, and helped the latter
develop his idea of a university (the Collège Royal, later
the Collège de France) to provide an alternative to the
scholasticism of the Sorbonne. By his influence on Francis
I he shaped the curriculum of the new institution to in-
clude the new learning that he had met on his diplomatic
missions to Rome in 1503 and 1515, although he rejected
the secular emphasis of the Italian scholars. Budé wrote on
Roman law (Annotationes ad Pandectas, 1508), Roman
coinage (De asse eiusque partibus, 1514), and the Greek
language (Commentarii linguae Graecae, 1529). In 1532 he
published De philologia, a general account of classical
scholarship. J. C. SCALIGERcalled him the greatest Grecian
in Europe. Budé brought the critical approach of human-
ism to the study of Christian texts and set an early exam-
ple of that personal interpretation of the Scriptures that
led to the Reformation.


Bugenhagen, Johannes (1485–1558) German Lutheran
theologian
After a career as a Premonstratensian canon at Treptow in
his native Pomerania, Bugenhagen became, through a
reading of LUTHER’s De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae, an
early convert to the Reformation. In 1521 he abandoned
his post as rector of the city school in Treptow and en-
rolled as a theology student in Wittenberg, where he was
appointed minister of the town church in 1523 and pro-
fessor in 1535. He became one of Luther’s closest friends
and associates, serving as his confessor and assisting him
in his New Testament translations. Although Bugenhagen


remained in Wittenberg until his death, his most impor-
tant work was undertaken in missions away from the city,
particularly in northern Germany and Denmark. As the
architect of numerous church orders (for Hamburg in
1529, Lübeck in 1531, and Denmark in 1537) Bugen-
hagen played an essential role in the establishment of the
Reformation in these northern lands. His contribution to
the Danish Reformation, during an extended stay of two
years (1537–39), was particularly important. He trans-
lated several of Luther’s works and was responsible for the
production of a Lower German edition of Luther’s Bible.
He was one of the signatories of the SAXON CONFESSION.

Bull, John (c. 1562/63–1628) English composer, organist,
and virginalist
As a boy chorister Bull sang at Hereford cathedral and the
Chapel Royal. In 1583 he was appointed organist and
master of the choristers at Hereford; on his dismissal from
Hereford, he became a gentleman of the Chapel Royal
(1586). Bull gained doctorates in music at both Oxford
and Cambridge and in March 1597 was elected first pub-
lic reader in music at Gresham College, London, on Eliz-
abeth I’s recommendation; this post he was obliged to
resign in 1607 on account of his marriage. Throughout
this period he continued his duties at the Chapel Royal. By
1610 he had probably entered the service of James I’s heir,
Prince Henry, to whose sister, Princess Elizabeth, he dedi-
cated the first printed volume of virginal music: Parthenia
(1613). In 1613 Bull was charged with adultery and fled
to the Netherlands, never to return. Archduke Albert em-
ployed him at Brussels but he was dismissed the following
year at the request of James I, displeased at the flight of his
organist. In 1617 Bull was appointed cathedral organist at
Antwerp, where he died.
Bull was a keyboard virtuoso and is chiefly remem-
bered for his keyboard music, which makes unprece-
dented technical demands on the player. Among his most
astounding works are the hexachord fantasias, most suit-
able for organ. Bull’s virginal music mainly comprises set-
tings of pavans, galliards, and other dance tunes,
employing brilliant technical and rhythmical devices. His
canons, of which 200 survive, are extraordinary in their
complexity and ingenuity.

Bullant, Jean (1520/25–1578) French architect
Born at Amiens, Bullant studied in Italy where he was in-
fluenced by the classical style. He returned to France in
1540 to enter the service of Constable Anne de MONT-
MORENCY, for whom he worked on the Château d’Écouen
(c. 1555), and became the first French architect to make
use of the colossal order by modelling his work on the
Pantheon in Rome. Subsequent works included the Petit
Château (Capitainerie) at Chantilly (c. 1561) and a bridge
and gallery combining ancient Roman and mannerist
ideals at Fére-en-Tardenois (1552–62). In 1570 Bullant

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