THE FIRST ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF ALL ROMAN CATHOLIC POPES FROM SAINT PETER TO SISTUS IV
CONTAININGTHE LEGEND OF THE EXCOMMUNICATION OF HALLEY’S COMET BY POPE CALLIXTUS III

SACCHI, BARTOLOMEO, CALLED PLATINA. De vita & moribus summorum pontificum historia, cui aliorum omnium, qui post Platinam vixerunt ad haec usque tempora, pontificum res gestae sunt additae, numquam antehac in vulgus datae. Cum indice rerum ac pontificum. Eiusdem Defalso & vero bono dialogi tres. Contra amores .I. De vera nobilitate .I. De optimo cive .II. Panegyricus in Bessarionem […] Oratio ad Paulum II. Pont. Max. […]. Ex officina Eucharij Cervicorni, 1529 [at colophon:] Impensa & aere M. Godefridi Hittorpij civis Colonien(si) mense Ianuario. [Köln: Cervicornus at the expense of Hittorp, January 1529].

Small folio, later stiff vellum with handwritten title at spine, pp. (12, Dedicace, Index and errata leaf), 284 («Lives of the Popes»), (100, with the other Platina’s works). Illustrated xylographic title-page (a little short in the outer margin) with Saints and Popes, very fine xylographic headlettes.

EARLY GERMAN EDITION OF PLATINA’S “DE VITIS AC GESTIS SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM” («ABOUT LIFE AND DEEDS OF SUPREME PONTIFFS»), THE FIRST BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF ROMAN POPES, COVERING A PERIOD OF ALMOST ONE THOUSAND AND FIVE HUNDRED YEARS, FROM SAINT PETER TO SISTUS IV, PROFUSELY ANNOTATED BY A CONTEMPORARY HAND.

THIS EDITION ALSO CONTAINS the brief moral work Contra amores («Against love affairs»), another moral treatise De falso & vero bono («About false and true Good»), two civil treatises De vera nobilitate («About true nobility») and De optimo cive («The perfect citizen»), the Panegyricus in Bessarionem, a praise of cardinal Bessarion and a speech devoted to Paulus II, who was beginning the crusade against Turks.

BARTOLOMEO SACCHI called PLATINA (1421–1481) was an Italian Renaissance writer, born at Piadena (Platina in Latin), a small village near Cremona. He first enlisted as a soldier, and was then appointed tutor to the sons of the Marquis Ludovico II Gonzaga. In 1457, he went to study in Florence. In 1462 he proceeded to Rome where was elected a member of the College of Abbreviators by Pius II.
Probably in the summer of 1465 Platina composed “De honesta voluptate et valetudine” («On honourable pleasure and health»), THE FIRST PRINTED COOKBOOK, A MONUMENT OF MEDIEVAL CUISINE IN RENAISSANCE INTELLECTUAL TRAPPINGS, that left the press in 1474 and ran into dozens of editions, disseminating Roman ideas about fine dining throughout Western Europe. In a high moralizing display of humanist learning Platina embedded recipes cribbed from a professional chef, Maestro Martino de’ Rossi of Como, whom he had encountered in the summer of 1463 at Albano, where Platina was the guest of Martino’s employer, a cardinal.
When Paul II abolished the ordinances of Pius, Platina was deprived of his office. Angered by this, he wrote a pamphlet insolently demanding from the pope the recall of his restrictions. When called upon to justify himself he answered with insolence and was imprisoned in the Castle of Sant’Angelo, being released after four months on condition that he remain at Rome. In February 1468, with about twenty other humanists, HE WAS AGAIN IMPRISONED ON SUSPICION OF HERESY AND OF CONSPIRING AGAINST THE LIFE OF THE POPE. The latter charge was dropped for lack of evidence, while they were acquitted on the former. But not even Platina denies that the members of the Roman Academy, imbued with half-pagan and materialistic doctrines, were found guilty of immorality. The story about his constancy under trial and torture is unfounded.
After his release on July 7, 1469, he expected to be again in the employ of Paul II, who, however, declined his services. Platina threatened vengeance and executed his threat, when at the suggestion of Sixtus IV he wrote his “Vitæ Pontificum” (first published in 1479). IN IT HE PAINTS HIS ENEMY AS CRUEL, AND AN ARCHENEMY OF SCIENCE. For centuries it influenced historical opinions until critical research proved otherwise. In other places party spirit is evident, especially when he treats of the condition of the Church.
Notwithstanding, his «LIVES OF THE POPES» IS A WORK OF GREAT MERIT, FOR IT IS THE FIRST SYSTEMATIC HANDBOOK OF PAPAL HISTORY. Platina felt the need of critical research, but shirked the examination of details. By the end of 1474 or the beginning of 1475 Platina offered his manuscript to Pope Sixtus IV; it is still preserved in the Vatican Library. The pope’s acceptance may cause surprise, but it is probable he was ignorant of its contents except insofar as it concerned his own pontificate up to November, 1474. After the death of Giovanni Andrea Bussi, THE POPE APPOINTED PLATINA LIBRARIAN OF VATICAN LIBRARY WITH A YEARLY SALARY OF 120 DUCATS AND AN OFFICIAL RESIDENCE IN THE VATICAN. He also instructed him to make a collection of the chief privileges of the Roman Church. This collection, whose value is acknowledged by all the annalists, is still preserved in the Vatican archives. In the preface Platina not only avoids any antagonism towards the Church but even refers with approbation to the punishing of heretics and schismatics by the popes, which is the best proof that Sixtus IV, by his marks of favour, had won Platina for the interests of the Church.
As a paragraph from Platina’s Vitæ Pontificum first gave rise to THE LEGEND OF THE EXCOMMUNICATION OF HALLEY’S COMET BY POPE CALLIXTUS III, we here give the legend briefly, after recalling some historical facts. After the fall of Constantinople (1453), Nicolas V appealed in vain to the Christian princes for a crusade. Callixtus III (1455–1458), immediately after his succession, sent legates to the various courts for the same purpose; and, meeting with no response, promulgated a bull June 29, 1456, prescribing the following rules:
1.all priests were to say during Mass the oratio contra paganos;
2.daily, between noon and vespers, at the ringing of a bell, everybody had to say three Our Fathers and Hail Marys;
3.processions were to be held by the clergy and the faithful on the first Sunday of each month, and the priests were to preach on faith, patience, and penance; to expose the cruelty of the Turks, and urge all to pray for their deliverance.

The first Sunday of July (July 4), the first processions were held in Rome. On the same day the Turks began to besiege Belgrade. On July 14 the Christians gained a small advantage, and on the twenty-first and twenty-second the Turks were put to flight.

IN THE SAME YEAR 1456 HALLEY’S COMET APPEARED. In Italy it was first seen in June.
Towards the end of the month it was still visible for three hours after sunset, CAUSING GREAT EXCITEMENT EVERYWHERE BY ITS EXTRAORDINARY SPLENDOUR. It naturally attracted the attention of astrologers, and was seen till July 8. It is evident, from all the documents of that time, that it had disappeared from sight several days before the battle of Belgrade. THESE TWO SIMULTANEOUS FACTS–THE PUBLICATION OF THE BULL AND THE APPEARANCE OF THE COMET–WERE CONNECTED BY PLATINA IN THE FOLLOWING MANNER:
br>Apparente deinde per aliquot dies cometa crinito et rubeo: cum mathematici ingentem pestem: charitatem annonæ: magnam aliquam cladem futuram dicerent: ad avertendam iram Dei Calistus aliquot dierum supplicationes decrevit: ut si quid hominibus immineret, totum id in Thurcos christiani nominis hostes converteret. Mandavit præterea ut assiduo rogatu Deus flecteretur in meridie campanis signum dari fidelibus omnibus: ut orationibus eos juvarent: qui contra Thurcos continuo dimicabant.

(«A maned and fiery comet appearing for several days, while scientists were predicting a great plague, dearness of food, or some great disaster, Callistus decreed that supplicatory prayers be held for some days to avert the anger of God, so that, if any calamity threatened mankind, it might be entirely diverted against the Turks, the foes of the Christian name. He likewise ordered that the bells be rung at midday as a signal to all the faithful to move God with assiduous petitions and to assist with their prayers those engaged in constant warfare with the Turks»).

Platina has, generally speaking, recorded the facts truly; but is wrong at one point, where he says that the astrologers’ predictions of great calamities induced the pope to prescribe public prayers. The bull does not contain a word on the comet, as can be verified in the original, authenticated document.
A careful investigation of the authenticated Regesta of Callixtus (about one hundred folios), in the Vatican archives, shows that the comet is not mentioned in any other papal document. Nor do other writers of the time refer to any such prayers against the comet, though many speak both of the comet and of the prayers against the Turks. Aeneas Sylvius and St. John Capistrano, who preached the crusade in Hungary, considered the comet rather as A FAVOURABLE OMEN IN THE WAR AGAINST THE TURKS.
The Pinacoteca Vaticana contains a famous fresco by Melozzo da Forlì representing Sixtus IV appointing Platina prefect of the Vatican Library.

PROVENANCE: Some annotations in a contemporary hand (not identified).

REFERENCES: Wohlgemuth 40, 02. Merlo, 1067, 492. C. G. HERBERMANN, Platina, in «Catholic Encyclopedia», 1913.

A wormhole in the inner blank margin of the first leaves (neatly repaired) usual brownings, due to the kind of paper.