Vlad III the Impaler 731Kathryn L. Lynch, The High Medieval Dream Vision:
Poetry, Philosophy, and Literary Form(Stanford, Calif.:
Stanford University Press, 1988).
viticulture SeeVINES AND VINEYARDS.
Vitry, Jacques SeeJAMES OFVITRY.
Vittorino da Feltre (1378–1446)teacher, educational
theorist
Born at Feltre near VENICEabout 1378 Vittorino studied
at the University of Padua with GUARINO DA VERONAand
Pietro Paolo Vergerio (1370–1444), absorbing their ideas
about the moral qualities of Greek and Roman literature
in combination with polite customs. In 1423 he moved to
Mantua at the invitation of the Gonzaga family to estab-
lish a school for the children of the family. Vittorino
opened this school to the sons of the poor. He taught
grammar and classical authors such as Cicero and Virgil
to Lorenzo VALLAand the translator of Greek texts Anto-
nio Beccaria (ca. 1400–74). He thought the rote study of
RHETORICand dialectic would produce eloquent and vir-
tuous people. He also insisted his students practice physi-
cal activity and learn languages, mathematics, and
PHILOSOPHYto give them a broad foundation for further
study. He also made his students read a great deal of
Christian devotional literature. He died in 1446, and with
him his school.
See alsoUNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS.
Further reading: Paul F. Grendler, Schooling in
Renaissance Italy: Literacy and Learning, 1300–1600(Bal-
timore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989); William
Harrison Woodward, Vittorino da Feltre and Other Human-
ist Educators(1921; reprint, New York: Bureau of Publica-
tions, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1963);
William Harrison Woodward, Studies in Education during
the Age of the Renaissance, 1400–1600(1906; reprint, New
York: Teachers College Press, 1967).
Vivarium Vivarium was a monastery founded in about
555 by CASSIODORUSon his lands in Calabria. Its monas-
tic buildings were probably located at San Martino de
Copanello in the center of the Gulf of Squillace. This
foundation was not regulated by any particular rule. Cas-
siodorus was not a cleric and entrusted its rule to abbots.
Its main objectives were to copy, correct, and translate
ancient texts as promoted by the manual of Institutions
drawn up by Cassiodorus for the monks of Vivarium. He
equipped the monastery with a large library and a SCRIP-
TORIUM. Although the number of manuscripts actually
copied there that survive to this day is minimal, this
monastery probably did preserve the manuscripts that
were used for the later copying of many important works.
Vivarium showed the way that monastic culture could
preserve classical culture for the study of Scripture and
Christian literature throughout the rest of the Middle
Ages and RENAISSANCE. After the sixth century, however,
such activities there ceased and the monastery soon
passed into ruin.
Further reading: Cassiodorus, An Introduction to
Divine and Human Readings,trans. Leslie Webber Jones
(1946; reprint, New York: W. W. Norton, 1969); L. D.
Reynolds and N. G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars: A Guide
to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature,3d ed.
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991).Vlachs This was the name usually given by the Byzan-
tines and SLAVSto the Romanians. They have been the
subject of heated nationalistic controversies. Romanian
historians thought that they were descendants of the
Roman colonists who had settled in the second century
in ILLYRICUM. Some Hungarian historians said they were
nomadic shepherds from south of the Danube River.
Whatever their origin, the Vlachs played important roles
in a number of transitory states from the 12th century.
There was a Bulgarian and Vlach empire north of the
Danube between 1185 and 1257. They were also part of
Great Vlachin in the mountains of Thessaly from the sec-
ond half of the 11th century to 1393 and of the principal-
ity of WALLACHIAbetween the southern Carpathians and
MOLDAVIAin the 15th century.
See alsoHUNGARY; TRANSYLVANIA.
Further reading:André Du Nay, The Origins of the
Rumanians: The Early History of the Rumanian Language
(Toronto: Matthias Corvinus Publishing, 1996); John V.
A. Fine Jr., The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey
from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994); Robert
W. Seton-Watson, A History of the Roumanians: From
Roman Times to the Completion of Unity (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1934); Tom J. Winnifrith,
The Vlachs: The History of a Balkan People(New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1987).Vlad III the Impaler(Vlad Tepes ̧, Dracul [the
Dragon])(ca. 1431–76)legendary ferocious prince of
Wallachia
Born about 1431 and educated in WALLACHIA, he inher-
ited his nickname “Dracul” from his father, who had been
a member the imperial Order of the Dragon. In 1448 he
returned from exile to claim the throne after his father,
Vlad II Dracul (r. 1443–47/8), the prince of Wallachia,
had been overthrown and executed by John HUNYADI.
The younger Vlad failed in this first attempt to take the
throne, fled to MOLDAVIA, and had to wait until 1456 to
become prince with the help of the king of HUNGARY,
Ladislas V Posthumous (r. 1444/45–57), but he remained
permanently caught between the ambitions of the
Ottomans and the Hungarians to control Wallachia. He