But he is recorded as presenting to South Brent as patron on 13 Jan. 1557. His successor at Nonnington was admitted on 21 May 1558. According to Peter a Sancto Romualdo in the continuation of Ademar's ‘Chronicle,’ he died in 1562. Andrew Thevet in his ‘Virorum Illustrium Historia’ gives the same date. The balance of evidence seems in favour of 1555. He was buried in the Duomo.
In addition to the works already mentioned, Polydore Vergil published:
- ‘De Prodigiis,’ the preface to which is addressed to the Duke of Urbino and dated 1526. Ferguson thinks that the British Museum copy (Basel, 1531) is the first edition; another edition appeared in 1533. It was reprinted with the ‘De Inventoribus Rerum,’ Basel 1544 (Fabricius says 1545), Leyden 1644, Amsterdam 1671. An Italian translation by Baldelli, with Polydore Vergil's other dialogues, appeared, Venice 1550. With the works of Julius Obsequeus and Camerarius it was printed in Latin at Basel 1552, and Lyons 1553. An Italian translation of the three writers by Damiano Maraffi (Lyons, 1554) is perhaps the most interesting edition on account of the woodcuts; an illustrated French translation of the three appeared at Lyons in 1555, and a Latin one, poorer but also illustrated, Lyons, 1589.
- ‘Divi Joannis Chrysostomi de perfecto Monacho Principe Libellus.’ The dedication to Erasmus is dated 1528; it was at Erasmus's request that the translation of the fragment from Greek was undertaken. It was first published at Basel in 1533 (Ferguson), 8vo. Later it was reprinted with the ‘Proverbs,’ Basel, 1550, 8vo.
- ‘De Patientia et ejus fructu libri duo,’ ‘De Vita Perfecta,’ and ‘De Veritate et Mendacio.’ These three dialogues were written apparently in 1543; the epistle to the Duke of Urbino prefixed to that on patience is so dated. The edition (mentioned by Bale) of Basel, 8vo, 1545, in which they were printed together with the ‘De Prodigiis,’ is probably the first. They appeared in Italian by Baldelli, Venice, 1550 (see above).
Polydore Vergil contributed a preface to the treatise on ‘Matrimony’ by William Harrington [q. v.] which appeared without date before 1528. He also wrote notes on Horace which were included in Höniger's edition, Basel, 1580.
Bale vaguely mentions one or two other works which cannot be identified. There seem to have been one or two manuscripts which have perished; one, the ‘Cronica Polydori,’ was in the Royal Library in the days of Henry VIII (cf. Fabricius, vi. 308). A most interesting letter from Richard Mulcaster to Abraham Ortelius contains a reference to Polydore Vergil's works, which, like a similar reference in a letter from Janus Jacobus Boissardus to Ortelius, suggests that he published other volumes than those that are now extant.
[The most important sources of information are Professor Ferguson's pamphlets and article in Archæologia, LI. i. 107, on the bibliography of the De Inventoribus Rerum; Ellis's prefaces to the 2 vols. of the History of Engl. published by the Camden Society; Nichols's Leicestershire, III. i. 538; Tiraboschi's Storia della Letteratura Italiana, VII. iii. 1014; the Calendared Letters and Papers Henry VIII, first five vols.; Bale's Scriptores, fol. 223, and the prefaces to Polydore Vergil's own works. See also Dennistoun's Lives of the Dukes of Urbino, ii. 110–12, 446; Sanuto's Diarii, ed. Stefani, v. 233, 238, 240; Beckmann's Beyträge zur Geschichte der Erfindungen, iii. 571–8; Reusch's Der Index, i. 154–5, 469; Gairdner's Early Chroniclers; Jortin's Erasmus, i. 11, 54, &c., ii. 344, 345, 717; Knight's Erasmus, pp. 169–70; Erasmus's Epistolæ (ed. Lond. 1642), pp. 669, &c.; Rawdon Brown's Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII, i. 88, ii. 66, 320; Le Neve's Fasti Eccles. Angl. i. 161, 518, ii. 204; Brewer's Henry VIII, i. 28, 31, &c.; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 13, 24, 190, iii. 435, Fasti Oxon. i. 8, 31, 117; Stevenson's ed. of Gildas, pref. pp. xvii, &c; Foxe's Acts and Mon. i. 322, ii. 69, &c. v. 279, 742; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. iv. 67, 3rd ser. i. 55, iv. 487, 5th ser. i. 308, 338; Leland's Itin., ed. Hearne, iii. 107; Proc. of Somerset Arch. and Nat. Hist. Soc. xxxiii. 108; Reynolds's Wells Cathedral, p. 224; Wells Cath. MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), p. 223; Weaver's Somerset Incumbents, pp. 25, 35, 107; Cal. of State Papers, Venetian, (1202–1509) p. 936, (1509–19) p. 129, (1527–33) p. 794; Hessels's Eccl. Lond. Bat. Ex. Arch. i. 250, 469; Cassan's Bishops of Bath and Wells, p. 332. For a detailed criticism of his history during the reign of Henry VII, see Busch in England under the Tudors, vol. i.; several references to its importance for the reign of Henry VIII will be found in Brewer's Henry VIII, e.g. i. 21. There are many references, mostly expressing disapproval, in Strype's Works, and in the publications of the Parker Society; see the general indexes. Notes very kindly furnished by Professor Busch and Professor Ferguson. Information most kindly obtained at Wells by Mr. Walter Hobhouse, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Hobhouse, Mr. T. S. Holmes, and Canon Church.]
VERMIGLI, PIETRO MARTIRE (1500–1562), reformer, known as Peter Martyr, son of Stefano Vermigli, by his first wife, Maria Fumantina, was born at Florence on 8 May 1500. His father, who had been a follower of Savonarola, lost several children in infancy, and vowed to
