ADRIAN (DE CASTELLO), bishop of Bath and Wells in the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII, was descended of an obscure family at Cornetto, a small town in Tuscany; but soon distinguished himself by his learning and abilities, and procured several employments at the court of Rome. In 1448 he was appointed nuncio extraordinary to Scotland, by pope Innocent VIII. to quiet the troubles in that kingdom; but, upon his arrival in England, being informed that his presence was not necessary in Scotland, the contests there having been ended by a battle, he applied himself to execute some other commissions with which he was charged, particularly to collect the pope's tribute, or Peter-pence, his holiness having appointed him his trea-, surer for that purpose. He continued some months in England, during which time he got so far into the good, graces of Morton, archbishop of Canterbury, that he recommended him to the king; who appointed him his agent for English affairs at Rome; and, as a recompense for his faithful sérvices, promoted him first to the bishoprick of Hereford, and afterwards to that of Bath and Wells. He was enthroned at Wells by his proxy Polydore Vergil, at that time the pope's sub-collector in England, and afterwards appointed by Adrian archdeacon of Wells. Adrian let out his bishoprick to farmers, and afterwards to cardinal Wolsey, himself residing at Rome, where he built a magnificent palace, on the front of which he had the name of his benefactor Henry VII. inscribed : he left it after his decease to that prince and his successors. Alexander VI, who succeeded Innocent VIII, appointed Adrian his principal secretary, and vicar-general in spirituals and temporals; and the same pope created him a cardinal-priest, with the title of St. Chrysogonus, the 31st of May, 1503. Soon after his creation, he narrowly escaped being poisoned at a feast, to which he was invited with some other cardinals, by the pope and his son Cæsar Borgia. In the pontificate of Julius II. who succeeded Alexander, Adrian retired from Rome, having taken some disgust, or perhaps distrusting this pope, who was a declared enemy of his predecessor: nor did he return till there was a conclave held for the election of a new pope, where he probably gave his voice for Leo X. Soon after he was unfortunately privy to a conspiracy against Leo. His em-. barking in the plot is said to have been chiefly owing to his crediting and applying to himself the prediction of a for tune-teller, who had assured him, "that Leo would be cut off by an unnatural death, and be succeeded by an elderly man named Adrian, of obscure birth, but fa, mous for his learning, and whose virtue and merit alone. had raised him to the highest honours of the church." The conspiracy being discovered, Adrian was condemned to pay 12,500 ducats, and to give a solemn promise that he would not stir out of Rome. But being either unable to pay this fine, or apprehending still farther severities, he privately withdrew from Rome; and in a consistory held the 6th of July 1518, he was declared excommunicated, and deprived of all his benefices, as well as his ecclesiastical orders. About four years before, he had been removed from his office of the pope's collector in England, at the request of king Henry VIII, and through the instigation of cardinal Wolsey. The heads of his accusation, drawn up at Rome, were, "That he had absented himself from that city in the time of Julius II. without the pope's leave; that he had never resided, as he ought to have done, at the church of St. Chrysogonus, from which he had his title; that he had again withdrawn himself from Rome, and had not appeared to a legal citation; and that he had engaged in the conspiracy of cardinal Petrucci, and had signed the league of Francis Maria, duke of Urbino, against the pope." He was at Venice when he received the news of his condemnation: what became of him afterwards is uncertain. Aubery says, he took refuge among the Turks in Asia; but the most common opinion is, that he was murdered by one of his servants for the sake of his wealth. Polydore Vergil tells us, there is to be seen at Riva, a village in the diocese of Trent, a Latin inscription on one Polydorus Casamicus, the pope's janitor, written by cardinal Adrian; in which he laments his own wretched condition, extolling the happiness of his friend, whose death had put an end to his miseries. Polydore Vergil gives Adrian a high character for his uncommon learning, his exquisite judgment in the choice of the properest words, and the truly classical style of his writings; in which he was the first, says that author, since the age of Cicero, who revived the purity of the Latin language, and taught men to draw their knowlege from the sources of the best and most learned authors. The only works of his that are published are, 1, "De Vera Philosophia;" 2. " De Sermone Latino et de Modis Latine loquendi," 1515, Rome, fol. 1 ADRIANI (ADRIANUS AB ADRIANO), a Flemish jesuit, and a native of Antwerp, entered into the society of the Jesuits at Louvain, in 1544, and was principal for many years before they had a college. In 1551, he made solemn profession of the four vows. After the death of St. Ignatius, he was called to Rome to assist in a general congregation for the election of a second general of the society. But, finding himself here involved in disputes and intrigues not suited to his disposition, he retired to Flanders, where he appears to have led a studious and useful life. He died at Louvain, October 18, 1580, after having published, in German, several works of the ascetic kind, one of which, " De Divinis Inspirationibus et de Confessione," was translated into Latin by Gerard Brunelius, and printed at Cologn, 1601, 12mo.* ADRIANI (MARCEL VIRGIL), professor of the belles lettres, and chancellor of the republic of Florence, was born in 1464. He was a very accomplished scholar in the Greek and Latin languages. Varchi, in one of his lectures, pronounces him the most eloquent man of his time. He died in 1521, in consequence of a fall from his horse. In 1518, he published a Latin translation of Dioscorides " De Materia Medica," with a commentary. About the end of it he mentions a treatise, " De mensuris, ponderibus, et co loribus," which he had prepared for publication, but which has not yet appeared. Mazzuchelli speaks largely of him in his " Italian Writers;" and more copious notice is taken of him by the canon Baudini, in his "Collectio Veterum Monumentorum." The translation of Dioscorides, which he dedicated to pope Leo X. procured him so much reputation, that he was called the Dioscorides of Florence. 3 ADRIANI (JOHN BAPTIST), the son of the preceding, was born in 1513, or, as some say, 1511, and died at Florence in 1579. In his youth, he carried arms in defence of the liberties of his country, and afterwards devoted his time to study. For thirty years he taught rhetoric in the university of Florence, and enjoyed the friendship of the most celebrated of his contemporaries, Annibal Biog. Brit. Saxii Onomasticon, art. Hadrian-Biographie Universelle, Moreri. Foppen Bibl. Belgic.; where is a list of his works. • Biographie-Universelle. Caro, Varchi, Flaminio, and the cardinals Bembo and Contarini. His chief work, which forms a continuation of Guicciardini, is the history of his own time, entitled " Dell' Istoria de' suoi tempi," from 1536 to 1574. Florence, 1583, fol. This is a most scarce edition, and more valued than that of Venice, 1587, 3 vols. 4to. The abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy, Bayle, and particularly Thuanus, who has derived much assistance from this work, speak highly of his correctness as a historian. He had the best materials, and among others, some memoirs furnished by the grand duke of Tuscany, Cosmo I. who advised him to the_undertaking. He is said to have written funeral orations on the grand duke, on Charles V. and the emperor Ferdinand; but we know only of his oration on the grand duchess, Jane of Austria, which was translated from Latin into Italian, and published at Florence in 1579, 4to. In 1567 hę published "Lettera a Giorgio Vasari sopra gli antichi Pittori nominati da Plinio," 4to. This letter, on the ancient painters mentioned by Pliny, which is rather a treatise on painting, is inserted by Vasari in the second volume of his lives of the painters. Vasari speaks of him as an enlightened amateur of the fine arts, and one whose advice was of much importance to him when he was employed at Florence in the palace of the grand duke. 1 ADRIANI (MARCEL), son of the preceding, born in 1533, was so distinguished for his studies, as to obtain, when very young, the professorship of rhetoric which his father held in the university of Florence. So our authority; but there seems to be some mistake in this date, as he could not be very young when he succeeded his father as professor of rhetoric, if his father filled that chair for the space of thirty years.-He was, however, a member of the academy of Florence, and published his father's history. His own works are, 1. An Italian translation of "Demetrius Phalereus" on eloquence, which he left in manuscript, and which was not published until 1738, by Antony Francis Gori, who prefixed a long account of the life and writings of the translator; 2. Two Lectures on the "Education of the Florentine Nobility," printed in the "Prose Fiorentine," vol. IV. He also translated Plutarch's Morals, not yet published, but much commended by Ammirato and others. There are two copies in the Laurentian library. Adrian died in 1604. 1 Moreri. Biographie Universelle.-Gen. Dict. ADRIANO, a Spanish painter, born at Cordova, was a lay friar of the order of the bare-footed Carmelites. Of his works, which are not numerous, and are to be seen only at the place of his birth, the most remarkable is a Crucifixion, in the manner of Sadeler, whose style was much admired by him. He was so diffident of his own talents that he frequently destroyed his pictures as soon as he had executed them, and some were preserved by his friends, who begged them from him in the name of the souls in purgatory, for whom he constantly put up his prayers. He died at Cordova in 1650.2 ADRICHOMIUS (CHRISTIAN), a geographer of considerable note, was born at Delft in Holland, February 14, 1533. After applying to his studies with much assiduity, he was ordained priest in 1561, and was director of the nuns of St. Barbara until the civil wars obliged him to take refuge first at Mecklin, then at Maestricht, and lastly at Cologne, where he died, June 20, 1585. He published " Vita Jesu Christi, ex quatuor evangelistis breviter contexta," Antwerp, 1578, 12mo; but the work for which he is best known is his "Theatrum Terræ Sanctæ," or, history of the Holy Land, illustrated with maps, and printed in 1590, 1595, 1600, 1628, and 1682, fol.; a proof of the esteem in which it was long held, although his authorities are thought to be sometimes exceptionable. The second part, which contains a description of Jerusalem, was printed by the author in 1584, and was reprinted after his death in 1588, and 1592, 8vo. He sometimes took the name of Christianus Crucius, in allusion to his banishment and sufferings. ADSO (HERMERIUS OF HENRY) was born in the beginning of the tenth century, in the environs of Condat, now St. Claude. He studied at the abbey of Luxeuil, which had then a very famous school, under the direction of the Benedictines. Being charmed with their mode of life and doctrines, he entered into the order, and became abbot. His principal writings are the lives of some saints, which are not free from the superstitions of the times. Calmet has printed his life of St. Mansuetus; and Mabillon, his 1 Gen. Dict.-Biographie Universelle. • Biographie Universella. Fopper Bibl. Belg.-Gen. Dict.-Moreri. Saxii Onomasticon. |