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Vasino GamberiaGambara (Vasinus Gamberia), c.1467-1501
Humanist from Casale Monferrato, in the service of popes Innocent VIII (from 1488) and Alexander VI; subdeacon (1495); friend and patron of Pomponio and of members of the Roman Academy
Relations with Pomponio Leto—Testimonia1. Dedicatee, C. Plinius Secundus, Epistolae, ed. Pomponio Leto (Rome: Eucharius Silber, between 19 III and 3 IV 1490). HC 13114; IGI 7901; IERS 1173; ISTC ip00809000
"VASINO GAMBERIAE INNOCENTII PONT. MAX. MINISTRO A CVBICVLO POMPONIVS LAETVS. Commoditatis caussa ut certiores faceremus absentes epistolas inventas esse credimus. Cumque hic scribendi modus summopere placeret omne genus disciplinae quidam epistolis coegerunt. Ideo et apud Graecos et apud nostros magno usui fuerunt ex quibus sermo pressus purusque simplex et negligens petitur. Nihil etiam quod elaboratum est aut excogitatum diffusum aut ornatum iis narrare solemus. Plerique tentaverunt voluminibus includere, paucissimi aeternitatem sunt adsecuti. ... / ... Ex iis Caecili epistolas quam familiarissimas a stilo communi et usu non abhorrentis et a nobis, ut minime ignoras, revolutis et conlatis vetustis exemplaribus, emendatas, Ioanni Rhegiensi Bibliopolae efflagitanti ex tua presertim voluntate imprimendas dedimus legentibus (ut speramus) profuturas. Quare pro certo habeo te nostrae in primis lucubrationis adsertorem si quid succisivi temporis a caelestis cubiculi cura superest id tam frugiferae lectioni esse traditur. Bene Vale."
Note: The Vatican Library copy Inc. IV. 117 contains manuscript notes in a 'Pomponian' hand.
2. Dedicatee, De nominibus mensium, ms., in Modena, Biblioteca Estense, gamma B 6 25, Camp. App. 222 (C. Sallustius Crispus, Opera, ed. Pomponio Leto, Rome, Eucario Silber, 1490), ff. IIIr-Vv; cf. Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria, MS J. III. 13, ff. 122r-v.
"GAMBERIAE PONT. MAX. MINISTRO A CVBICVLO POMPONIVS LAETVS. Si pro consuetudine omnium nationum quae in orbe terrarum multiplures et variae sunt ratio mensium haberetur, non difficile solum sed diffusum et prope infinitum esset opus. . . / . . . Omnes Nationes quae relligionis [sic] nostrae sunt sive septentrionales sive ad occasum sive ad ortum ut greci annum observant et mensium nomina ut maiores nostri viri eruditi preceperunt. Servabant olim ceteri populi et fastos et leges Romanas et magna ex parte linguam. Sed postquam Imperium cecidit non omnia permisit interire fides, quae sub titulo nominis Romani Romanum nomen tuetur. ΤΕΛΟΣ. FINIS." (Modena, Bibl. Estense, gamma. B.6.25, Camp. App. 222, ff. IIIr-Vv)
LifeVasino Gamberia (or Gambara), c.1467-1501, from Casale Monferrato, entered the papal service as scriptor apostolicus in 1488; in the following year he composed the papal brief (9 March 1489) conferring the cardinalate upon Giovanni de' Medici, son of Lorenzo, and future Pope Leo X. A familiaris in the household of Innocent VIII (1484-92), Gamberia was serving as cubicularius at the time Pomponio dedicated to him his edition of Pliny's Epistolae (between 19 III and 3 IV 1490) and the manuscript De nominibus mensium (see above). Under Alexander VI (1492-1503) he held the office of sollecitator (1493-99) and in 1495 received the subdiaconate in a ceremony described by Burckard in the church of SS. Michele e Magno in Borgo (Liber notarum, 1.589). He died on 14 March 1501 and was buried in the church of S. Onofrio (ibid., 2.271-72 on the funeral procession and his tomb). He was the nephew of Bernardino Gamberaia (Gambara), bishop of Cavaillon and cubicularius secretus to Alexander VI. A certain Sulpitius (Sulpizio da Veroli?) is mentioned among the close friends present at his funeral.
The following epitaphs, recorded by Forcella, were composed, respectively, for Vasino's infant daughter Vasiniola (1487), buried in SS. Michele e Magno, and for his own tomb (1501) in S. Onofrio:
D. O. M. PARVVLVS (ET PROPERAS QQ) LAPIS ISTE VIATOR TE ROGAT ASPICAS VERBAQVE PAVCA LEGAS HOC SVNT EXIGVO VASINIDOS OSSA SEPVLCHRO TECTA DEDIT RAPVIT QVAM SIMVL VNA DIES VASINIOLAE QVAE VIXIT HORAS NOVEM ET DECEM VASINVS GAMBERIVS POSVIT Mccclxxxvii. Xi Kl'. APRIL'. Forcella 6, n. 969 (p. 268). Chiesa dei SS. Michele Archangelo e Magno (in Borgo), a. 1487 ("nella parete della piccola nave destra prima dell'altare della Concezione").
D. O. M. VASINO GAMBERIAE CASALEN. MONTISFER. INNOCN.[sic] VIII A SECRETO CVBICVL. CARISS. ALEX. VI. PONT. MAX. QVOQV. PRAESIDIO SVBDIAC. APLIC. ALISQ. RO. RO. CV. MV NERIB. FVNCTO QVEM CM. AI. PROBIT INGENIO LRISQ. MAGNAM DE SE SPEM CONCITASSET MORS INTEMPESTA SVBRIVPVIT BERNARDIN. ANTISTES CAVALLICEN. PATRVVS QVOD AB EO EXPECTASSET MOESTVS POSVIT OBIIT PRID. ID. MAR. MDI. VIX ANN. XXXIII. MEN. II. D. XIX. Forcella 5, n. 822 (p. 296). Chiesa di S. Onofrio, a. 1501 ("Nel pavimento avanti la 2a cappella sinistra. Sopra l'iscrizione è in bassorillievo[sic] la figura del defunto in lungo abito.").
WorksManuscripts
A collection of elegies on the death of Orsino Lanfredini (d. Nov. 1488), son of Giovanni, Florentine ambassador at the papal court, compiled by Gamberia and elegantly written in gold letters on black vellum (London, BL, ADD MS. 22805; Kristeller, Iter 4: 111a). The collection, introduced by a preface or "argumentum" in epigraphic style and a poem by Gamberia, contains verses of varying length celebrating the young Orsino by Sulpitius, Gaspar Manius, Bernardinus Capella, Thamyras, <Mathias> Canalis Ferrariensis, Aurelius Caecius Pomponianus, Flavius Andreas Sabinus, <Engelar>dus Funck Teutonicus, Angelus Politianus, Pindarus Sintesius Sublacensis, and Sigismundus Fulginas.
References and StudiesOn aspects of his career in the papal service, see Burckard, 1.589 and notes 1-2, and Frenz 1986, 452 (n. 2190). There is also a useful biography in M. Bosi and P. Becchetti, Ss. Michele e Magno, Chiese di Roma illustrate, 126 (Roma 1973), 122-24. Codices that Gamberia borrowed from the Vatican library in the years 1489-1491 (Lucan, Ammianus Marcellinus, Sidonius, Horace, Herodian, and Boethius) are recorded in Bertòla, 24, 114, with specimina of his hand in Ms. Vat. lat. 3966, f. 106r
On the collection of elegies (BL, ADD Ms. 22805) see: Weiss 1959, 353ff., and n.1; Bianchi 1999, 91-92; Campana 2005, 43-44; Wardrop 1963, 37-38 and pl. 41 (for the script).
On Pomponio's dedicatory letter to Gamberia in his edition of Pliny's Letters (1490) and relations with Pomponio, see: Farenga 1994, 81; 2001, 2: 419-20; 2003, 2 and n. 3; on the De nominibus mensium see: Zeno, Dissertazioni 2: 248 and Zabughin 2 (1912): 387, n. 171 (citing the Turin MS); Osmond 2009 ("Ludovico Tizzone"), Ead., "Testimonianze di ricerche antiquarie tra i fogli di Sallustio," forthcoming, RR Inedita. A comparative study of the Modena and Turin witnesses of this month-list, translated into Latin from the Arabic, is currently in progress by Simone Cristoforetti.
Links in preparation or on line (*)Authors & Texts: Plinius (the Younger); Sallustius. Persons & Subjects: Giovanni da Reggio; Eucario Silber*; Angelo Poliziano; Sulpizio da Veroli; Tamira*.
Patricia Osmond
24 April 2008. revised 5 September 2009 This entry can be cited as follows:
Patricia Osmond, "Vasino Gamberia," Repertorium Pomponianum (URL: www.repertoriumpomponianum.it/pomponiani/gamberia.htm,
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