Virgin and Child with six saints; this was finished in 1472 and is now in the Academy at Florence: next, a series of frescoes from the Old Testament which was to be completed according to contract within five years, but actually remained on hand for fully sixteen. In 1497 the finished series, which contained many portraits of leading Florentine citizens, was valued at a thousand gold florins by a committee consisting of Cosimo Rosselli, Benozzo Gozzoli, Perugino and Filippino Lippi; only some defaced fragments of it now remain. Meanwhile Alessio had been much occupied with other technical pursuits and researches apart from painting. He was regarded by his contemporaries as the one craftsman who had rediscovered and fully understood the long disused art of mosaic, and was employed accordingly between 1481 and 1483 to repair the mosaics over the door of the church of S. Miniato, as well as several of those both within and without the baptistery of the cathedral.
These are the recorded and datable works of the master; others attributed to him on good and sufficient internal evidences are as follows:—A small panel in the Florence Academy, with the three subjects of the Baptism, the Marriage of Cana and the Transfiguration; this was long attributed to Fra Angelico, but is to all appearance early work of Baldovinetti: an Annunciation in the Uffizi, formerly in the church of S. Giorgio; unmistakably by the master’s hand though given by Vasari to Peselino: several Madonnas of peculiarly fine and characteristic quality; one in the collection of Madame André at Paris acquired direct from the descendants of the painter, a second, formerly in the Duchâtel collection and now in the Louvre, a third in the possession of Mr Berenson at Florence. All these are executed with the determined patience and precision characteristic of Baldovinetti; two, those at the Louvre and in the André collection, are distinguished by beautiful landscape backgrounds; and all, but especially the example in the Louvre, add a peculiar and delicate charm to the quality of grave majesty which Alessio’s works share with those of Piero della Francesca and others of Domenico Veneziano’s following. They probably belong to the years 1460–1465. In the later of his preserved works, while there is no abatement of precise and laborious finish, we find beginning to prevail a certain harshness and commonness of type, and a lack of care for beauty in composition, the technical and scientific searcher seeming more and more to predominate over the artist.
See also Vasari, ed. Milanesi, vol. ii.; Crowe-Cavalcaselle, Hist. of Painting in Italy, vol. ii.; Bernhard Berenson, Study and Criticism of Italian Art, 2nd series. (S. C.)
BALDRIC (from O. Fr. baudrei, O. Ger. balderich, of doubtful origin; cognate with English “belt”), a belt worn over one shoulder, passing diagonally across the body and under the other arm, either as an ornament or a support for a sword, bugle, &c.
BALDUINUS, JACOBUS, Italian jurist of the 13th century, was by birth a Bolognese, and is reputed to have been of a noble family. He was a pupil of Azo, and the master of Odofredus, of Hostiensis, and of Jacobus de Ravanis, the last of whom has the reputation of having first applied dialectical forms to legal science. His great fame as a professor of civil law at the university of Bologna caused Balduinus to be elected podestà of the city of Genoa, where he was entrusted with the reforms of the law of the republic. He died at Bologna in 1225, and has left behind him some treatises on procedure, the earliest of their kind.
BALDUS DE UBALDIS, PETRUS (1327–1406), Italian jurist, a member of the noble family of the Ubaldi (Baldeschi), was born at Perugia in 1327, and studied civil law there under Bartolus, being admitted to the degree of doctor of civil law at the early age of seventeen. Federicus Petrucius of Siena is said to have been the master under whom he studied canon law. Upon his promotion to the doctorate he at once proceeded to Bologna, where he taught law for three years; after which he was advanced to a professorship at Perugia, where he remained for thirty-three years. He taught law subsequently at Pisa, at Florence, at Padua and at Pavia, at a time when the schools of law in those universities disputed the palm with the school of Bologna. He died at Pavia on the 28th of April 1406. The extant works of Baldus hardly bear out the great reputation which he acquired amongst his contemporaries, due partly to the active part he took in public affairs, and partly to the fame he acquired by his consultations, of which five volumes have been published (Frankfort, 1589). Baldus was the master of Pierre Roger de Beaufort, who became pope under the title of Gregory XI., and whose immediate successor, Urban VI., summoned Baldus to Rome to assist him by his consultations in 1380 against the anti-pope Clement VII. Cardinal de Zabarella and Paulus Castrensis were also amongst his pupils. His Commentary on the Liber Feudorum, is considered to be one of the best of his works, which were unfortunately left by him for the most part in an incomplete state. His brothers Angelus (1328–1407) and Petrus (1335–1400) were of almost equal eminence with himself as jurists.
BALDWIN I. (d. 1205), emperor of Romania, count of Flanders and Hainaut, was one of the most prominent leaders of the fourth crusade, which resulted in the capture of Constantinople, the conquest of the greater part of the East Roman empire, and the foundation of the Latin empire of Romania. The imperial crown was offered to, and refused by, Henry Dandolo, doge of Venice. The choice then lay between Baldwin and Boniface of Montferrat. Baldwin was elected (9th of May 1204), and crowned a week later. He was young, gallant, pious and virtuous, one of the few who interpreted and observed his crusading vows strictly; the most popular leader in the host. The empire of Romania was organized on feudal principles; the emperor was feudal superior of the princes who received portions of the conquered territory. His own special portion consisted of Constantinople, the adjacent regions both on the European and the Asiatic side, along with some outlying districts, and several islands including Lemnos, Lesbos, Chios and Tenos. The territories had still to be conquered; and first of all it was necessary to break the resistance of the Greeks in Thrace and secure Thessalonica. In this enterprise (summer of 1204) Baldwin came into collision with Boniface of Montferrat, the rival candidate for the empire, who was to receive a large territory in Macedonia with the title of king of Saloniki. He hoped to make himself quite independent of the empire, to do no homage for his kingdom, and he opposed Baldwin’s proposal to march to Thessalonica. The antagonism between Flemings and Lombards aggravated the quarrel. Baldwin insisted on going to Thessalonica; Boniface laid siege to Hadrianople, where Baldwin had established a governor; civil war seemed inevitable. An agreement was effected by the efforts of Dandolo and the count of Blois. Boniface received Thessalonica as a fief from the emperor, and was appointed commander of the forces which were to march to the conquest of Greece.
During the following winter (1204–1205) the Franks prosecuted conquests in Bithynia, in which Henry, Baldwin’s brother, took part. But in February the Greeks revolted in Thrace, relying on the assistance of John (Kaloyan), king of Bulgaria, whose overtures of alliance had been unwisely rejected by the emperor. The garrison of Hadrianople was expelled. Baldwin along with Dandolo, the count of Blois, and Marshal Villehardouin, the historian, marched to besiege that city. The Bulgarian king led to its relief an army which far outnumbered that of the crusaders. The Frank knights fought desperately, but were utterly defeated (14th of April 1205); the count of Blois was slain, and the emperor captured. For some time his fate was uncertain, and in the meanwhile Henry, his brother, assumed the regency. Not till the middle of July was it definitely ascertained that he was dead. It seems that he was at first treated well as a valuable hostage, but was sacrificed by the Bulgarian monarch in a sudden outburst of rage, perhaps in consequence of the revolt of Philippopolis, which passed into the hands of the Franks. One contemporary writer says that his hands and feet were cut off, and he was thrown into a valley where he died on the third day; but the manner of his death is obscure. King John himself wrote to Pope Innocent III. that he died in prison. His brother Henry was crowned emperor in August.
