A 16th-Century Maecenas and his Client. Three Previously Unedited Letters from the Louvain Professor Petrus Nannius (1496–1557) to his Patron Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517–1586)

Abstract

The present contribution focuses on three previously unedited letters from the Louvain professor of Latin, Petrus Nannius (Nanninck; 1496–1557), to his patron Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517–1586). The letters, now kept in Madrid at the Biblioteca Nacional de España and Real Biblioteca del Palacio Real, date from November 1545, April 1546, and January 1551. They reveal novel insights with regard to the professor’s biography, most notably that by 1551, through his patron’s mediation, he enjoyed a prebend from the Dendermonde Chapter and was most likely appointed canon there. By means of these new snippets of information, I reassess and further define the patronus-cliens relationship between Nannius and Granvelle, after which I edit the letters critically for the first time.