Balbuena, Berx.U!do de, a Spanish poet, b. in
Val de Penas, 1568; d. in Porto Rico, 1627. At a
very early age he was taken by his parents to Mexico,
where he received his education. Later he spent
twelve years in Jamaica, and then passed the re-
mainder of his days as Bishop of Porto Rico, to which
see he was appointed in 1620. He published "La
Grandeza Mejicana" in 1604, and in 160S, in Madrid,
"Siglo de Oro en las Selvas de Eriphile", a very
learned pastoral romance abounding in beautiful
poetic passages. The book, howe\'er, contained no
description of the scenerj' or manners of the Xew
World and nothing connected ^ith the historj' of the
times. Possibly for tliis reason it was not in great
demand among Balbviena's contemporaries. But in
1821 it had the honour of being republished by
the Spanish Academy. Another work "El Bernardo
6 Victoria de Roncesvalles" was publLshed in Madrid
in 1624 (new edition, 1808). It is an epic poem on
the subject of Spain's resistance to the invasion of
Charlemagne.
Vextura Fuextes.
Balbns, Hierontmus (Accellixi), humanist,
poet, diplomatist, and Bishop of Gurk in Carinthia,
b. about 1450 at Venice; d. there, probably 1535. He
was a pupil of Pomponius Ljetus, the founder of the
Roman Academy. As a young man, by his manner
and bearing alike, Balbus gave great offence; he was
of a quarrelsome disposition, and, for a time, led a
very loose life. But in later years he was highly
respected and came to be regarded as one of the most
accomplished men of his day. In 1485 he was pro-
fessor at the L'niversity of Paris. His overbearing
manner here soon brought him into conflict with
various scholars, and in consequence of the attack
which these men made on his character, he was
obliged to leave Paris in 1491. A few years later
(1494), at the invitation of Emperor Maximilian I,
he went to the LTniversity of Vienna, where he lec-
tured on poetry, the Roman classics, and jurispru-
dence. He was again in Paris, for a short period, in
1495, and visited London in 1496, but resumed his
professorship at Vienna in 1497. Here he became
a member of the Danube Society, and lived on terms
of intimate friendship with its learned founder,
Conrad Celtes the Hmnanist, at that time professor
and librarian at the University of Vienna. In little
less than a year, renewed contentions with his col-
leagues forced him to quit Vienna. Balbus next
went to Prague (1498), where he accepted a pro-
fessorship which had been obtained for him by his
Viennese friends. But his irregular conduct, scandal-
ous writings, and disputatious temper soon drove
him from the city. On leaving Prague he withdrew
to Hungary (FUnfkirchen), and remained in retire-
ment for a period of fifteen years, during which time
he changed his manner of life completely, and even
took orders. His subsequent career as an eccle-
siastic was one of considerable distinction. He
became provost of the Cathedral Chapter at Waizen,
1515, later also of that at Pressburg, and, for some
years, held an important position at the Court of
Hungary, where he was tutor of the royal princes,
and private secretary to the king, Ladislaus VI.
In 1521 Balbus appeared at the Diet of Worms as the ambassador of Louis II of Hungary, and at- tracted considerable attention by an eloquent dis- course in which he protested against the innovations of Luther, and urged upon the assembled princes the necessity of a joint undertaking again.st the Turks. Shortly afterwards he was in the service of Arch-
duke Ferdinand of Austria, who, in 1522, designated
him Bishop of Gurk, and sent him to Rome on a
congratulatory embassy to the newly elected pontiff,
Adrian VI. It was a part of his mission also to in-
duce the pope to proclaim a crusade against the
Turk. The address which he made on being received
by the pope in a public audience, 9 Februarj', 1523,
abounded in extravagant rhetoric, but in humanistic
circles it was considered a marvel of elot|uence.
Balbus remained in Rome for some time, and was
there consecrated Bishop of Gurk, 25 March, 1523.
As a bishop, he enacted many wholesome and timely
ordinances, and had the preservation of church
discipline sincerely at heart, but he was frequently
absent from his diocese. From one of his letters we
learn that in the time of Clement VII he lived at
Rome for some years in the papal palace and was
much in the confidence of that pontiff. In 1530,
though quite an old man, he accompanied Charles V
to Bologna to attend the emperor's coronation. At
Bologna he wrote his best known work, "De corona-
tione principum", which, on account of the views it
contains on the relation of Church and State, was
placed on the Index, 23 July, 1611. Balbus was the
author of many other works. Of these, the poetical,
oratorical, and politico-moral ^\Titings were edited
by Jo-seph von Retzer (Vienna, 1791-92, 2 vols.).
His poems, in part coarse and indelicate, are of no
particular merit.
Vox Retzer. Xachrichten von dem Leben und den Schriften des ehemaligen Bi^chofs von Gurk Hieroni/nius Balbi (Vienna, 1790); .A^LLEN in English Hist. lieriew. XVII. 417; Pastor. Kirchenlex.. s. v.; Idem. Gesch. der Papste (1907), IV, 730, 732; AscHBACH, Gesch. der Vnir. Wien (1877). II, 161 sqq.; HoFLER. Papst Adrian VI (Vienna. 1880>. 370 sqq.; Bacch, Die Rezeption des Humanismus in Wicn (1903), 40 sqq.
Thomas Oe.streich.
Baldachinum of the Altar, a dome-like canopy
in wood, stone, or metal, erected over the high altar
of larger churches, generally supported on four
columns, though sometimes suspended by chains
from the roof. Other forms will be noted in tracing
the cause of its history. The name is late medieval,
baldacchino, from Baldocco, Italian form of Bagdad
whence came the precious cloths of which in their
later development these canopies were made. It
was called earlier ciborium, from the Greek (ci/Siipioy
(the globular seed-pod of the lotus, used as a drinking-
cup) because of the similarity of its dome top to an
inverted cup. The early history of the baldachinum
is obscure, but it probably originated in the de-
sire to give to the primitive altar table a more dig-
nified and beautiful architectural setting. The
arcosoUum altars of the catacombs perhaps fore-
shadow this tendency. With the construction or
adaptation of the larger church edifices of the fourth
century, the baldachinum became their architec-
tural centre, emphasizing the importance of the
sacrificial table as the centre of Christian worship.
Thus, while the altar retained its primitive simplicity
of form and proportions, the baldachinum gave it
the architectural importance which its surroundings
demanded. By its dais-like effect, it designated the
altar as a throne of honour. It served also the prac-
tical purpose of supporting, between its columns,
the altar-curtains, while from its roof were sus-
pended lamps, vases, riclily ornamented crowns,
and other altar decorations. The summit was sur-
mounted by the altar-cross. The earliest reference
to the baldachinum is foimd in the "Liber Pon-
tificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 172, 191, 233, 235) which
described the Fa.stidiuni argenteuvi given by Con-
stantine to the Lateran basilica during the pontifi-
cate of Sylvester I (314-335) and replaced, after the
ravages of Alaric's Gothic hordes, by another erected
during the pontificate of Sixtus III (432-440). The
oldest representation in art is the early sixtn-century
mosaic in the church of St. George in Thessalo-
