Further reading: Franco and Stefano Borsi, Paolo Uc-
cello (London: Thames & Hudson, 1994).
Udall, John See MARPRELATE CONTROVERSY
Udall, Nicholas (Nicholas Uvedale) (1505–1556)
English schoolmaster and playwright
Born in Southampton, Udall was educated at Winchester
College and Oxford, but was forced to leave the latter
(1529), probably on account of his Lutheran tendencies.
He was headmaster of Eton College (1534–41) until dis-
missed on charges of dishonesty, but this did not prevent
his obtaining patronage from Queen Catherine PARRand
Princess Mary (later Mary I), and he helped the latter
translate part of ERASMUS’s Paraphrases (1548). He also
translated Erasmus’s Apophthegmata (1542) and PETER
MARTYR’s Tractatio de sacramento eucharistiae (c. 1550).
Edward VI favored Udall, and he became a canon of Wind-
sor in 1551. In 1555 he was appointed headmaster of
Westminster School. His most famous literary production
was Ralph Roister Doister, published in 1567, but probably
written in the early 1550s for a London school. The earli-
est surviving English comedy, it grafts native comic el-
ements onto a dramatic structure similar to the Latin plays
of PLAUTUSand TERENCE.
Uffizi A palace in Florence, now housing the world’s
finest collection of Italian Renaissance works of art. The
palace was commissioned in 1560 by COSIMO I DE’ MEDICI
and designed by VASARIin the mannerist style. Artistic
treasures in the Uffizi include works by such Italian mas-
ters as CIMABUE, GIOTTO, GENTILEda Fabriano, UCCELLO,
Fra ANGELICO, Fra Filippo LIPPI, BOTTICELLI, LEONARDO DA
VINCI, MICHELANGELO, RAPHAEL, PARMIGIANINO, TITIAN,
and VERONESE. Artists from other countries represented in
the Uffizi include DÜRERand ALTDORFERfrom Germany,
Rogier van der WEYDENand Hugo van der GOESfrom the
Netherlands, and various French artists. Many of these
works were passed to the Uffizi from collections assem-
bled by the Medici family. The palace also houses fine col-
lections of antique sculpture and tapestries, as well as
prints and drawings.
Ugo da Carpi (c. 1450–c. 1525) Italian artist
Born at Carpi, near Modena, Ugo was in Venice in 1516,
when he requested from the Venetian senate a patent for
his technique for making chiaroscuro WOODCUTS. As the
first Italian practitioner of the technique (his earliest
known print dates from 1518), Ugo da Carpi was success-
ful in achieving quite complex effects by the use of three
blocks. Among his best products are a Descent from the
Cross (after Raphael) and Diogenes (after Parmigianino).
Umbrian school The school of painting associated with
the towns of the hilly district of Umbria in central Italy,
particularly Perugia, Todi, and Orvieto. Umbrian art was
characterized by qualities described as “softness” and
“sweetness.” PERUGINOand PINTURICCHIOwere its most fa-
mous figures and the young RAPHAELwas trained in the
Umbrian style.universities The usual medieval term for a university,
studium generale, implied a teaching center open to all.
The word universitas, which gradually superseded studium
generale, applied to any corporate body and is a reminder
that the earliest universities were originally groups of
scholars and teachers, who formed themselves, like any
trade guild, into a body for reasons of self-protection and
self-interest. From the 13th century onward many of these
bodies put themselves on a more formal footing by ob-
taining from pope, king, or emperor a license enabling
them to confer degrees; degrees themselves were licenses
to teach. Later medieval universities were generally
founded by papal bull. By 1400 there were 65 of them
spread throughout Europe from Oxford to Prague.
In their earliest form universities were specialist insti-
tutions intended to enlarge the scope of EDUCATIONavail-
able through Church schools; thus Salerno was dedicated
to medicine, Bologna to law, and Seville to linguistic stud-
ies. Paris began as a school for logic but in 1231 gained the
right to establish several faculties, of which the theology
faculty (the Sorbonne) gained a preeminence that it re-
tained until the Reformation. By the 14th century many
universities possessed four faculties: the arts faculty,
which offered a preliminary course, and the three higher
faculties of theology, medicine, and law. In many places
this pattern of studies prevailed throughout the Renais-
sance period and beyond as universities became centers of
conservatism, dedicated to repressing the effects of hu-
manist studies and religious dissent. On the other hand,
with Latin as the universal medium of instruction, stu-
dents and teachers could and did migrate freely across
Europe. The cosmopolitan nature of the academic com-
munity was reflected in the frequent subdivision of uni-
versities into “nations,” for example French, Norman,
Picard, and English at Paris.
Over 30 new universities were founded during the
15th century, but the rise of HUMANISMin Italy was fueled
not so much by them as by individual patrons and by the
ACADEMIES. The university of Florence made the tempo-
rary appointment of Manuel CHRYSOLORASas professor of
Greek in 1395; a century later GREEK STUDIEShad found
their way into many academic institutions. HEBREW STUD-
IEStoo secured an academic footing in the 15th century,
principally because, like Greek, they were adjuncts to the-
ological scholarship. With the advent of printing the uni-
versities’ traditional role of supervising the production of
accurate manuscript texts for the use of their students be-
came obsolete; instead university presses began to be
founded, the Sorbonne leading the way in 1470, whenuunniivveerrssiittiieess 4 47799