Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/440

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382

OARCILASSO


382


GARDELLINI


fidence he enjoyed. For a brief space (1531-2), he lost the imperial favour in consequence of his con- nivance at the marriage of his nephew with a royal ward contrary to the emperor's wishes, and was im- prisoned on an island in the Danube. When liber- ated, he entered the service of the Spanish viceroy at Naples, shared in the expedition which, in 1535, Charles directed against Tunis, and in the following year met his death while leading an attack upon a castle in Southern France at the command of his master. In the historj' of Spanish literature Garci- lasso occupies a prominent place because of the part which he played, along with Boscan, in naturalizing the Italian verse-forms in Spanish. To him is due no little credit for the skill with which he transplanted, even excelling his older comrade Boscan, the Italian sonnet with its hendecasyllable, the canzone, the terza rima, and other forms. The bulk of his poetry as preserved is not great. In the first edition, which was printed by Boscan's widow at the end of the volume containing the first edition of her husband's composi- tions, it embraces, besides some early villancicos in the older and native Spanish manner, three eglogas, two elegias, an epistola in blank verse, five canciones, which are rather complicated in their structure, and thirty-seven or thirty-eight sonnets. Although he passed his life in the camp, he hardly reflects at all in his poetry the martial spirit that actuated him; the pastoral note with its gentle melancholy is most per- sistent in his strains. As he was well acquainted with the Italian poets of the Renaissance, he does not fail to echo here and there some of their best passages, and reminiscences of TansUlo, Sannazzaro, and Bernardo Tasso are easily found in his work. Of the ancients, Horace had much to do with the development of his graceful poetic manner.

Works (1544 — with Boscan's poetry; Lisbon, 1626 — reprint- ed, New York, 1903; Madrid, 1765, 1788, 1796); Biblioleca de autores espanoles; XXXII and XI, II; tr,, Wiffen (London, 1826); partial translation in Walpole, Garland of Flowers (London, 1806). See Fernandez de Navarette, Vida de G. de la V. in Documentos ineditoSy XVI; Fitzmaurice-Kellt, History of Spanish Literature.

J. D. M. Ford.

Garcilasso de la Vega (the Inca), historian of Peru; b. at Cuzco, Peru, 12 April, 1539; d. at Cordoba, Spain, c. 1(317. The name Garcilasso is a corruption of Garcia Laso, his real name. The historian's father was the Spanish conqueror, Sebastian Garcilasso de la Vega y Vargas, who was bom at Badajoz, Spain, and died at Cuzco, 1559. The elder Garcilasso had served in Mexico imder Hernan Cortez, in Guatemala under Diego de Alvarado, and in Peru under Francisco Pizarro. In 1548, he had been named Governor of Cuzco, where, unlike others of the conquerors, he had done much to better the condition of the natives. Earlier in life, he had married an Inca princess, the historian's mother. He died in 1559 while still Gov- ernor of Cuzco, being one of the very few Spanish conquerors of Peru who did not die a violent death. The Inca mother taught her son the language of the ancient inhabitants of Peru, and suggested to him the idea of writing a history of these people. For this purpose, Garcilasso travelled over the entire empire of the Incas, got as much information suitable for his purpose as he could gather from both the natives and the new colonists, and consulted the few remaining monuments of that race. Beingfearful of Garcilasso's growing influence with the natives of Peru, Philip II ordered him to proceed to Spain, whither he went in 1559, shortly after the death of his father. He served there for some time under John of Austria in the lat- ter's campaign against the Moors of Granada. About 1584, he wrote his " Historia de la Florida", describing the exploits of Hernando de Soto in that count rj', and published it at Lisbon. In 1600, he began the first

gart of his "Comentarios Reales", which is a general istory of Peru. This first part, dealing with the


earljr history of the Incas, he finished in 1604, and published at Lisbon in 1609. In 1612, he finished the second part, dealing with the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards, and published it at Cordova in 1616. As a historian of Peru and its people, Garcilasso enjoyed singular advantages, for his mother, an Inca princess, and her relations told him everj^hing concerning their ancestors, omitting nothing, as they considered him one of their race. On the other hand, his father, who was the Governor of Cuzco, was on intimate terms with many of the conquerors, so that from them the historian heard the accounts of their deeds. Garci- lasso, therefore, was in a position to get information at first hand from both the natives and their conquerors. His work is of great historic value, as it constitutes practically the only document we possess of the an- cient civilization of Peru. The first part was trans- lated into French by Pradelle-Baudoin (Paris, 1633, and Amsterdam, 1737, 2 vols.), and again by Dalibard (Paris, 1744, 2 vols.) ; into German by Bottgeer (Nord- hausen, 1786). The second part was translated into French by Pradelle-Baudom (Paris, 1646, 1658, and 1707), and into English by Rigault (London, 1688).

Prescott, Conquest of Pent (New York, ISS.*)); Mahkham, Garcilaso's Royal Commentaries (tr., London, 1869).

Ventura Fuentes.

Gardar. See America, PRE-CoLtrxiBiAN; Green- land.

Gardellini, Aloisio, b. at Rome, 4 Aug., 1759; d. there, 8 Oct., 1829. He is famous chiefly for his col- lection of the decrees of the Congregation of Rites. Until 1587, the celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass and the administration of the sacraments had been subject to regulations made by various popes. Neces- sarily, in the course of time, these regulations became somewhat confused by reason of overlapping, amplifi- cation, and abolition. In the year mentioned above, Sixtus V, in the Constitution " Immense aeterni Dei", called into being a body of cardinals, bishops, and clerics, whose work was to guard and guide the de- corous celebration of the church offices. A collection of papal regulations and congregational decrees was published in 1730 by John Baptist Pithonius, a Vene- tian priest, the title of his book being "Constitutiones pontjficae et Romanorum Congregationum decisiones ad sacros Ritus spectantes". This work was some- what imperfect, and it was not until 1807 that Gardel- lini published the first two volumes of his well-known collection of the decrees of the Congregation of Rites, to which was prefixed " Sacrorum rituum studiosis monitum". Gardellini was a very profound student, especially of the liturgy and kindred subjects, and in diligence, piety, and learning was unexcelled. His collection of decrees gives evidence of most pains- taking labour, and comprises all the decrees from 1602. Three further volumes were published in 1816, and a sixth volume was brought out in 1819. This volume contained more recent decrees down to the date of publication, and also the Commentary on the Clementine Instruction regarding the devotion of the Forty Hours. There were a few slight errors in the complete work, and the exacting love of perfection, so characteristic of Gardellini, would not allow him to leave these errors uncorrected. Accordingly, a new and corrected edition was published in 1827, and in this edition he included certain answers given between the years 1558 and 1599. In recognition of his great services, Gardellini was appointed assessor of the Con- gregation of Rites. Other editions of the decrees have been issued subsequently, but the collection of Gardel- lini is the foundation of them all ; the latest is that of Mtihibauer with the decrees in alphabetical order (1863-65; with five supplementary volumes, 1876-87). ■The latest edition of the " Decreta Authentica" of the Congregation of Rites was published in 1898. David Dunford.