• 1  Here it is not the place to state what is the current state of research concerning the definition (...)
• 2  Regarding the messengers, cf. Antoine Destemberg, « Acteurs et espaces de la renomée universitaire (...)

1Humanism was an epoch of intellectual movements that spread over the whole of Europe, starting from Italy, from the 13^th century up at least the 16^th century1. The question as to by which routes it managed to establish itself in the individual countries has been a matter of research for a longer time now. It shows a complicated process in which the most varied phenomena interacted with one another. The following contribution can also be placed in this context. Exactly what role structural phenomena could have played in the reception of humanism is to be discussed on the basis of an example. It is about the intersection of two phenomena that are anything but unimportant for the adoption of humanism, namely, of book printing on the one hand and the university on the other hand, the latter being the University of Paris. Insofar as it concerns the university, our interest is directed not at the phenomena that are usually here examined, such as changes in the teaching material, but on a specific professional group that was responsible for the material transport of humanist content: It concerns a group of office holders of the four nations of the University of Paris, the so-called messengers of the nations2, who were at the same time active in the book trade in a private capacity.

• 3  Beat von Scarpatetti, « Johannes Heynlin de Lapide (ca. 1430-1496) “scolastique” et humaniste, bib (...)
• 4  Jeanne Veyrin-Forrer, « Aux origines de l’imprimerie française. L’atelier de la Sorbonne et ses mé (...)
• 5  Annie Charon-Parent, « Le monde de l’imprimerie humaniste : Paris », in Henri-Jean Martin, Roger C (...)
• 6  Cf. most recently Jean-Benoît Krumenacker, « Imprimer et traduire : Lyon au xv^e siècle », Mémoires (...)

2Regarding the printing of books, as is well known, the first book in Paris was printed at the Sorbonne. Here a major role was played by Guillaume Fichet († 1480?), who was also the librarian at the Sorbonne and in 1470 he associated himself with the prior of the Collège, Johannes Heynlin de Lapide3 (1430-1496), who had brought in trainees of Johann Gutenberg (1400-1468) so as to be able to set up a printing works in one of the rooms of the Sorbonne (in the monastery of Saint-Benoît). The first work that was printed here was that of a humanist, this being the Epistole of the Italian Garsparino Barzizza (Caspar of Bergamo) in 14704. From then on Paris developed into one of the most important book markets in France5, closely followed by Lyons6.

• 7  In full it is: « De studiorum humanitatis restitutione loquor, quibus (quantum ipse conjectura cap (...)
• 8  Henri-Jean Martin, « Le rôle de l’imprimerie lyonnaise dans le premier humanisme français », in L’ (...)

3It was already clear to the people at that time that book printing was of immense importance for the spreading of humanism. “I speak of the studia humanitatis, with which […] the type of new makers of books [novi librarii] brought forth an important light […]”, wrote Guillaume Fichet in his letter of dedication for his student Robert Gaguin (1433-1501) for his Rhetorica on January 1st, 14727. Here he meant the book makers whose printed works disseminated the light of the studia humanitatis. This high esteem was not only due to the fact that texts could be produced more quickly than before than through copying by hand thanks to the new technology, but was of course also based on the contents of the printed texts8.

• 9  Richard Hunter Rouse, Mary A. Rouse, « The book trade at the University of Paris, ca. 1250-ca. 135 (...)
• 10  Regarding the book dealers, see Janine Kouky Fianu, Histoire juridique et sociale des métiers du l (...)
• 11  Paul Delalain, Étude sur le libraire parisien du xiii^e au xv^e siècle d’après les documents publiés (...)
• 12  Emmanuel de Pastoret, Ordonnances des Rois de France de la Troisième Race, Recueillies par Ordre C (...)
• 13  François-André Isambert, Decrusy, Armet (eds.), Recueil général des anciennes lois françaises, 11, (...)

4Because book printing in Paris was done by persons of the university and on premises of the university, this event is regarded as a new approach for humanism in Paris and at the university. Now books in themselves were nothing new there, as there had been hand-written texts from the beginning and later libraries, and there were active contacts with the book trade9. The university had set up offices of its own for its employees who made books and texts available to members of the university. There had been stationarii, copyists, since the 13^th century, and later there was the office of university librarian (libraire juré)10. In 1368 there had been 14 librarians11, but just two decades after the introduction of book printing in 1489 there were already 2412. Of these, 20 were the so-called “small” and 4 were “large”, who received an important privilege from Louis XII (1498-1515) in 151313. These book dealers produced and organized books from the book market and sold them to members of the university.

• 14  Cf. Janine Kouky Fianu, « Le serment, acte d’incorporation : l’entrée en métier des libraires pari (...)

7The messengers of the nations can be found for the first time shortly after the middle of the 14^th century. From then on, the institution of university messengers developed continuously. From the second half of the 15^th century the four nations had around 160 officially approved, sworn-in messengers at any one time. They were officeholders of one of the four nations, namely the French, Norman, Picard and English-German nations, which together formed the Arts faculty. Within these nations the members of the Faculty of Arts organized themselves on the basis of geographical origin. Due to the fact that the members of a nation were split up mainly on the basis of their home dioceses, a messenger was responsible for members from the relevant diocese. As officeholders of a nation they had to swear an oath, as did the university book dealers as well14.

• 15  Liber Procuratorum Nationis Anglicanae (Alemanniae) in Universitate Parisiensi, 1-2, eds. Henricus (...)

8In addition to official deeds such as royal privileges, municipal records and the files of the law courts, the leading sources from the university of Paris are the Libri procuratorum15, the books of the procurators, who were the heads of the nations. They contain the minutes of university gatherings and sometimes lists of messengers as well. These sources reveal a great deal about their role in the university, but only very little about their actual practical work. In any case these messengers maintained the connection between the students and above all, their family members back home. In addition to letters and packages they frequently carried money. Many students were young and needed funds to live and to study, and at that time the banking system was not as prominent in Paris as it was in Italy. They also transported packages with clothes, towels, books, parchment, and medicine, and also news.

• 16  Philippe Renouard, Imprimeurs parisiens, Paris, Claudin, 1898, p. 26 nota 1: « Beaucoup de message (...)

9From 1489 onwards there was a group among the messengers of the nations who are of importance regarding the question of the spreading of humanism. This is because they were also involved in the book trade at the same time. Pierre Renouard referred to this phenomenon in his works, especially in his Imprimeurs parisiens (1898)16. But this double function existed already in the 15^th century, although it is very difficult to prove this. As a rule, there is a lack of intersecting evidence available. That means that people appear as messengers in the university sources but usually not with their other business in the book trade. Vice versa, people in the book industry appear in the relevant sources without any reference to their work as university messengers. In the worst cases, it is only possible to make an assumption that it could concern the same person, and in the best cases there is proof of their identity.

• 17  « Supplicuit quidam nuntius, habitans in Pellicano, qui resignavit fratri suo officium nuntii, qua (...)
• 18  « Johannes de Confluentia pro dioc. Curensi » (Liber Procuratorum Nationis Anglicanae, 3, col. 710 (...)
• 19  « Supplicuit eciam magister Steffanus Martini pro nuntio sue diocesis Pragensis scilicet et presen (...)
• 20  Cf. e. g. « Ioannis Scabelerij vulgo dicti wettenschire » (Sybille von Gültlingen, René Badagos (e (...)
• 21  « Johannes Schabeller pro dioc. Ratisponensi » (Liber Procuratorum Nationis Anglicanae, 3, col. 71 (...)

10It was possible to identify nine people with this double function through an investigation of the institution of university messengers, covering the period up to 1500. This concerns Gaufridus de Marnef and one of his brothers, Engelbertus or Johannes17, Johannes of Coblenz18, Johannes Higman19, Johannes Wattenschnee (Schabeller, Cabiller20), Johannes Trechsel, Mang Steiner, Mathias Huss, and Wolfgang Lachner21. These nine persons were for most part simultaneously printers, who printed books, publishers, who organized the printing, or book dealers, who bought them – the separate professions only differentiated themselves later. Some of them were certainly well-known figures in the book trade of that time, and it is possible to make a more or less limited picture of them. Generally the sources concerning their work as university messengers are very sparse. Mostly, little more is known of them than that they took over the office of a messenger of a nation from a certain point in time.

• 22  « Honneste Jacques Huguetan, libraire de Lyon, prétend, en qualité de messager de l’Université de (...)
• 23  Cf. regarding his activities in the book trade also Sybille von Gültlingen, Bibliographie, op. cit (...)

11However, there are also messengers of the University of Paris who worked simultaneously in the book trade for the period after 1500 as well. Among those, six can be named at the present time. Taking their demonstrably verified work as a university messenger in chronological order, the first one to be listed is the book dealer Jacques Huguetan. He was a messenger of the University of Paris at least in 150722 and financed the printing of 68 editions according to the Universal Short Title Catalogue and the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue23.

• 24  The evidence for this can be found in an Arret des Parlement of 14^th August 1517, concerning « Hen (...)
• 25  Cf. Jean-Dominique Mellot, Élisabeth Queval, Antoine Monaque, Répertoire d’imprimeurs-libraires, o (...)
• 26  Universal Short Title Catalogue (URL: http://www.ustc.ac.uk/) (all details from this catalogue wer (...)

12The second is Henri Estienne the elder (around 1460-1520), who was the most important one among these persons. He got his printing works from his wife Guyonne Viart, who had previously been married to the above-mentioned messenger and printer Johann Higman. While Higman was a messenger for the German nation in 1489, Henri Estienne did the same from 1517 for the French nation, namely for the Parisian teachers and scholars from the diocese of Soissons24. Estienne first of all had his printing works on the Rue Jean-de-Beauvais and later on the Clos Bruneau25. The Universal Short Title Catalogue lists under his name a total of 444 editions26, he was extremely productive.

• 27  « Cy finent (sic) les coustumes Dauxerre nouuellement imprimees a Paris pour Guillaume le Bret, ma (...)
• 28  Universal Short Title Catalogue, n° 79327.
• 29  Concerning him as printer cf. Jean-Dominique Mellot et al., Répertoire d’imprimeurs-libraires…, op (...)
• 30  S.v. « Guillaume le Bret ».

13The third is Guillaume Le Bret († 1550), who turns up in 1539 as a messenger of the University27, as stated in conjunction with his book Coustumes du pays et bailliage d’Auxerre28 that was printed in Paris. In his capacity as a printer he had his printing works in the Rue Saint-Jean-de-Latran and then in the Clos Bruneau in Saint-Hilaire29, the Universal Short Title Catalogue only lists three editions from him30.

• 31  The minutes in the archives of the Parisian notaries state: « Jacques Bogard, espérant être bientô (...)
• 32  Service des Travaux historiques de la Ville de Paris avec le concours de la Bibliothèque nationale (...)

14The fourth is Jacques Bogard, insofar as he was at least a candidate for the office of university messenger in 154331. Printer and book dealer Bogard († 1548) set up his book trading establishment in the Rue Saint-Jean-de-Latran at the Collège de Cambrai, hence in the Saint-Jacques quarter. According to the Universal Short Title Catalogue he produced a total of 171 editions in the period 1542-1548, to a large extent for his own bookselling operations32.

• 33  « Pierre Galland, lecteur ordinaire du Roi en l’Université de Paris, maître et principal du collèg (...)
• 34  « Constitution par Pierre Galland, lecteur ordinaire du roi, maître et principal du collège de Bon (...)
• 35  Philippe Renouard, Imprimeurs parisiens, op. cit., p. 26; Philippe Renouard, Jeanne Veyrin-Forrer, (...)
• 36  Service des Travaux historiques de la Ville de Paris avec le concours de la Bibliothèque nationale (...)

15The fifth is Thibault Bessault († 1565), a messenger of the University of Paris at least between 155133 and 155234. The same source from 1552 that lists him as a messenger also calls him a marchand. Book dealer Thibault Bessault († 1567) is verified for around a decade later and for the period from 1563 to 1565. He had his business on the Rue Saint-Jacques At the sign of the elephant35. According to the Universal Short Title Catalogue von 1563-1565 Thibault Bessault only commissioned the printing of six works36.

• 37  Philippe Renouard, Documents sur les imprimeurs…, op. cit., p. 237 [1552].
• 38  « Pierre Ricouart, maître-libraire, bourgeois de Paris et messager-juré de l’Université […] » (AN, (...)
• 39  Philippe Renouard, Jeanne Veyrin-Forrer, Brigitte Moreau (eds.), Répertoire, op. cit., p. 372; Phi (...)
• 40  S.v. « Pierre Ricouard ».

16Finally there is Pierre Ricouart37 who is listed as a book dealer and who was demonstrably a university messenger, and in 1552 at that38. His sales premises were on the Notre Dame bridge in the house At the Dolphin at the priory of Saint-Denis-de-la-Chartre39. The Universal Short Title Catalogue lists 27 editions from him40.

• 41  Cf. the quotation in note 33.
• 42  Cf. the quotation in note 31.

18The university messengers were granted ecclesiastical privileges, even if they had a secular status such as that of a book dealer. Only the most important of those privileges are listed here, namely being freed from the obligation to pay the taille (a sort of income tax), the aides (a transaction tax on transport and the sale of goods, such as wine) and from customs tolls and duties. Above all, those messengers who plied a trade benefitted by making use of these privileges. This gave them a considerable competitive advantage compared to their competitors and therefore there was a whole series of people who were interested in taking on this office as a messenger. Thus some of the messengers in Paris, and not only there, were counted as the richest citizens of the city at the beginning of the 16^th century. The above-mentioned Thibault Bessault must have been affluent, because he made available a large loan for the restoration of the Collège of Boncourt41. Other privileges were freedom from the obligation to perform watch duty and there was also the protection of the king and the church. The case of the above-mentioned Jacques Bogard shows just how important these privileges were seen as. Although he had not even been appointed as a university messenger yet, he already delegated this work as a messenger to the dealer Jacques Rousseau – but with the condition “that the exemptions remain in the possession of the aforementioned Bogard42”.

• 43  Anatole Claudin, Liste chronologique des imprimeurs parisiens du xv^e siècle (1470-1500), Paris, Cl (...)
• 44  Dominique Coq, Les incunables : textes anciens, textes nouveaux, in Henri-Jean Martin, Rogier Char (...)

20So far it has only been possible to find messengers with an additional line of work in the printing business from 1489 up to at least 1552. The phenomenon thus exists around two decades after the printing of the first book in Paris in 1470. Johann Higman, who took on the office of messenger in 1489, was the 16^th printer who ran his own business in Paris, according to Claudin43. According to Coq, the book dealers of 1475-1480 belonged to a newer generation twenty years before, people such as Josse Bade, Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and Henri Estienne, who would have brought the humanist spirit back into the ateliers44.

• 45  Jacques Verger, « The University of Paris at the end of the Hundred Years’ War », in John W. Baldw (...)
• 46  Thierry Kouamé, « Au miroir de la scolastique. Le modèle universitaire parisien au xv^e siècle », i (...)
• 47  James K. Farge, Le parti conservateur au xvi^e siècle : Université et Parlement à Paris à l´époque (...)
• 48  Victor Carrière, « Lefèvre d’Étaples à l’université de Paris (1475-1520) », in Commission départem (...)

23Regarding the constitution of the university of Paris, secondly, there was a major change between 1489 and 1550. At the end of the 15^th century it lost its exceptional political and semiautonomous legal status in the kingdom45 – although from an institutional point of view it still continued to represent the most important basic model for a university in Europe for a long time46. At the beginning of the 16^th century the university attempted to compensate for its reduced importance by exerting its claim to have the power to decide in matters of religious dogma47. It did it at the expense of a number of brilliant humanists. A prominent example of this is Lefèvre d’Étaples († 1536), professor of theology at Paris, one of the first Greek scholars commentator on Aristoteles and Bible translators in France, who was declared to be a heretic by the theological faculty in 152348. Fearing the “German heresy”, the influential professors aligned themselves against a number of humanists, even if the latter were only rumoured to be close to Lutheranism.

• 49  Regarding that, only a few newer titles will be listed here, namely Jean-Marie Flamand, « Lefèvre (...)
• 50  André Tuilier, « L’entrée en fonction des premiers lecteurs royaux », in id. (éd.), Histoire du Co (...)
• 51  Jean Irigoin, « L’enseignement du grec à Paris (1476-1530). Manuels et textes », in Les origines d (...)
• 52  David Ogden McNeil, Guillaume Budé and Humanism in the Reign of Francis I, Genève, Droz, 1975; Gil (...)

24Regarding the reception of humanism, thirdly, between 1489 and 1550 there was a big difference, in France, in Paris and at its university. Even if it is not possible to go into further into this development here for lack of space49, here it is necessary at the very least to refer to a phenomenon of the time: The founding of the Collège de lecteurs royaux50, later the Collège de France, in 1530 by Francis I. (1515-1547), where classical Latin, ancient Greek and Hebrew were taught51, was an event that can be regarded as a milestone in the history of independent French humanism. It arose because even progressively minded persons such as the philologist and royal librarian Guillaume Budé52 (1468-1540) were lacking insufficient humanist material and methods at the University of Paris.

• 53  Incunabula Short Title Catalogue s.v. « Paris ». Der Katalog der Wiegendrucke lists 87 works.

26A look at the quantitative dimension with regard to the researched 15^th century shows that of the 160 messengers who were active in parallel in the last decade of the 15^th century (1489), at least nine of them were active at the same time in the printing business, or less than 6 per cent of these messengers. The Incunabula Short Title Catalogue lists 92 works53 for the printing location of Paris in 1489, whereby the Parisian book printers and dealers listed here are not all of those who existed at that time, because not all of them produced books that year. Nonetheless, given a purely hypothetical number of simultaneously 50 Parisian book printers and dealers at the end of the 15^th century, then if there are nine persons were messengers, then this is a fifth of all of them – not so few at all!

• 54  A distinction between a « humanist printer » and a « humanist who is a printer » has been made by (...)
• 55  Cf. Matteo Roccati, « La formation des humanistes dans le dernier quart du xiv^e siècle », in Moniq (...)
• 56  Cf. as an example of such research Laura-Maï Dourdy, « Le travail des imprimeurs, entre copie et r (...)
• 57  Cf. Diane E. Booton, Publishing Networks in France in the Early Era of Print, London, Routledge, 2 (...)

30The one group includes the question as to whether or not these persons were humanists themselves54. Here being a humanist would mean that they had had an education as a humanist, even if not as an orator in the traditional sense, but were familiar with the litterae humane, did they know Latin, Greek or even Hebrew?55 Had they personally supervised philologically the books produced by them?56 The second thing to ask whether they were in contact with humanists or were integrated into a humanist network, whether with persons in the printing business57 or with humanists themselves. What were these contacts like? The third point to determine is which books they produced: Do these reflect a humanist program? Were their books printed in Antiqua, the printing typeface of the humanist book culture, or in Gotica? Did they publish authors of antiquity?

• 58  Alfred Edward Tylor, Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and Henry Estienne the Elder, 1502-1520, in Will Mo (...)
• 59  Cf. also Verdun-Louis Saulnier, L'humanisme français aux premiers temps du livre, in L'humanisme f (...)

32This double set of questions is to be applied in the following to an example, whereby it is necessary to be clear from the beginning that it is hardly possible to answer all these questions, and above all in view of the generally bad situation of sources concerning these persons as messengers, or else because the research that is required would be too extensive for the scope demanded here, even when searching through local libraries. Admittedly there is an example from the 16^th century due to the situation regarding the sources and the developing humanism of that time, this being Henri Estienne himself. He was a close friend of Lefèvre d’Étaples58 and also his son, the lexicographer Robert (1499/1503-1559), and of Guillaume Budé; his grandson Henri Estienne II (1531-1598) was even given the education of a humanist. But since the situation for the 16^th century is so underdeveloped concerning the determination of the sources and research for this specific question, it therefore makes sense to bring in a person from the 15^th century for an investigation into the role of these persons in the process of the reception of humanism. However, on the other hand it would also be interesting to choose a person who, according to Coq, belonged to that newer generation of book dealers from 1475-148059.

• 60  Anatole Claudin, Histoire de l’imprimerie en France au xv^e et au xvi^e siècle, 3, Nendeln/Liechtens (...)
• 61  Manfred E. Welti, s.v. « Johann Amerbach », in Contemporaries of Erasmus, op. cit., 1, p. 47; Chri (...)
• 62  According to the details in Johannes Amerbach (1430-25.12.1513), in Index typographorum editorumqu (...)
• 63  Martina Hacke, « Zur Kommunikation zwischen Basel und Paris zu Beginn des 16. Jahrhunderts : Ein B (...)
• 64  Liber Procuratorum Nationis Anglicanae (Alemanniae), 3, col. 710,38.
• 65  Cf. most recently « Amerbachkorrespondenz », in Sulamith Gehr, Fritz Nagel, Barbara von Reibnitz ( (...)

33Johann Wattenschnee60 (Jean Cabiller) was chosen as an example for research for several reasons: On the one hand there are already previous works available and on the other the situation regarding sources is better than that for the other messengers in this century who exercised this double function. This is because Wattenschnee, together with Wolfgang Lachner, also acted as a messenger for the Amerbach family in the first decade of the 16^th century. Johann Amerbach61 (143062-1513) was a well-known Basle-based printer of that time, who frequently cooperated with Wattenschnee. Wattenschnee obtained business funds for him in Paris and acted as messenger between Basle and Paris63 for his sons Basilus and Bruno, who were studying in Paris in the first decade of the 16th century. It is not possible to tell if Wattenschnee still exercised the office of a messenger at this point in time , which he had took over in 1489 for the diocese of Regensburg in south-eastern Bavaria, for the German nation64. As of that time he had already established himself in the book market and had produced seven books between 1482 and 1486. In any case Wattenschnee appears in the preserved extensive exchange of letters with Johann Amerbach65, and therefore there are also non-university sources attesting to his work as a messenger.

• 66  Hans Georg Wackernagel (ed.), Die Matrikel der Universität Basel, 1, Basel, Verlag der Universität (...)
• 67  Karl Stehlin (ed.), « Regesten zur Geschichte des Buchdrucks bis zum Jahre 1500. Aus den Büchern d (...)
• 68  Ibid., n° 1307, p. 39.
• 69  Martin Steinmann, « Der Basler Buchdruck im 16. Jahrhundert. Ein Versuch », Librarium, 53, 2010, 2 (...)
• 70  Ilaria Andreoli, Ex officinia Erasmiania. Vincenzo Valgrisi e l’illustrazione del libro tra Venezi (...)

34Wattenschnee was born before 1463 in Bottwar, in Württemberg in south-western Germany. His first place of profession was Basle, where he matriculated at the university in 147366 and where he became a member of the guild (of merchants) of Safran67 at the end of December 1494 after having acquired the rights of a citizen of the city68. At that time Basle was an important location for printing69. Wattenschnee installed himself not only in Paris but also in Lyons. In both cities he had a bookstore At the sign of Basle (ad scutum basiliense)70.

• 71  Universal Short Title Catalogue, n° 70279, 70770, 70902, 71008, 202719; Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendr (...)
• 72  Liber Procuratorum Nationis Anglicanae, 3, col. 710,33.
• 73  Universal Short Title Catalogue, n° 183301. Cf. Rémi Jimenes, Passeurs d'atelier. La transmission (...)
• 74  Universal Short Title Catalogue, n° 112515, 182997, 187182. Cf. Paul White, Jodocus Badius Ascensi (...)
• 75  Sybille von Gültlingen, René Badagos (eds.), Bibliographie, op. cit., 1, n° 1, p. 9 (Universal Sho (...)
• 76  Universal Short Title Catalogue, n° 112500, 112529, 112534, 112535, 112540, 112542, 112544, 112561 (...)
• 77  Ibid., n° 675154, 682060, 696186, Les choses contenues en ceste partie du nouveau testament, 1525 (...)
• 78  Universal Short Title Catalogue, n° 696179, 696187, 696188. Cf. F. G. Maier, s.v. « Platter, Thoma (...)
• 79  Universal Short Title Catalogue, n° 664204. Cf. H. Neß, s.v. « Wolff, Thomas », in Lexikon des ges (...)
• 80  Universal Short Title Catalogue, n° 112500, 112515, 112529, 112534, 112535, 112561, 130213, 142918 (...)
• 81  « Venundatur ibidem ab Iohanne paruo sub Leone argenteo in via ad divinum Iacobum […] », Sybille v (...)
• 82  [Henri-Louis] Baudrier, Julien Baudrier (eds.), Bibliographie lyonnaise, op. cit., 10, reprint Par (...)

35He had his books printed in Lyons from 1482 until 1498, in Paris from 1505 to 1522, and in Basle from 1523 to 1524 (1544). He engaged Mathias Huss as a printer71 between 1482 and 1498 for the first books he produced in Lyons; Mathias Huss was also a messenger of the German nation at the University of Paris, for the diocese of Würzburg72. The books that were edited later after 1505 were printed in Paris by Berthold Rembolt73, Josse Badius74, but mostly in the printing workshop named ad signum cratis ferre75 of Thielmann Kerver76, who was at the same time a librarian of the University of Paris. The printers for the last books produced by Wattenschnee were Johannes Bebel77, Thomas Platter78 and Thomas Wolff79 in Basle. Jean Petit participated in financing the productions80 and he also sold them in his own bookshop on the same Rue Saint-Jacques81, where Wattenschnee himself had a bookshop between 1504 and 1521, according to Baudrier82.

• 83  The number of books by Wattenschnee that is given here is certainly not a definitive one. New book (...)
• 84  Cf. URL: http://www.ustc.ac.uk/.
• 85  Andrew Pettegree, Malcolm Walsby, Alexander Wilkinson (eds.), French Vernacular Books. Books publi (...)
• 86  Cf. URL: http://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke.de/.
• 87  URL: https://baselbern.swissbib.ch.

36As a “Buchführer”, a travelling bookseller, he sold the books at the great fairs and the book markets. Up until now there are around 7083 books that can be ascribed to him, which he either produced or had produced for him. His works can be compiled with the aid of various catalogues, insofar as his books have been listed. The catalogue containing the most books from Wattenschnee is the Universal Short Title Catalogue84, which takes up the references of French Books85. Further books can be found in the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke86, and also in the Swissbib-catalogue87^.

• 88  Martina Hacke, « Messagers de l’université de Paris et circulation des livres juridiques imprimés (...)

37Around three-quarters of all the books (hence 52 books) consisted of legal works, of parts of the body of canon law88. This is connected with his second location of Lyons, where apparently at this time it had already begun to place a special emphasis on printing legal literature. This was also connected with the fact that it was still only permitted to teach canon law in Paris. However, what is the situation with the other books?

• 89  Véronique Ferrer, Jean-René Valette (eds.), « La Langue de la Bible. Les traductions en français » (...)
• 90  Willem Jan van Eys, Bibliographie des Bibles et des Nouveaux Testaments en langue française des xv(...)
• 91  1524: Universal Short Title Catalogue, n° 696186; 1531: Universitätsbibliothek Basel FG IX 63, URL (...)
• 92  Universal Short Title Catalogue, n° 675154. Vgl. Griechischer Geist aus Baseler Pressen n° 381, UR (...)
• 93  Natasha Constantinidou, « Printers of the Greek Classics and Market Distribution in the Sixteenth (...)
• 94  Antoine Torrens, Les imprimeurs d'hébreu et l'hébraïsme en France au premier xvi^e siècle, in: Gilb (...)

39Books such as Les Évangiles des quenouilles (The Distaff Gospels), a collection of popular beliefs, the prayer book Hortulus animae (Little Garden of the Soul) and a spiritual exercise by Jan Mombaer were more in the vein of traditional literature. In the case of a printing of the Bible, its relationship to humanism is to be decided according to the text that it had been based on, or else the translation or the translator89. That was the case with Les choses contenues en ceste partie du nouveau testament. Une Epistre exhortatoire, because the translation was done by Lefèvre d’Étaples – however, that was a book that was only printed after Wattenschnee’s final return to Basle in 152590. Likewise he only printed the New Testament in Greek once he was back in Basle, Tēs Kainēs Diathēkēs hapanta, and this was in 1524, 1531, 1538, 1543 and 154491, this having a preface from the famous humanist reformer Johannes Oecolampadius (1482-1531). We do not know exactly when Wattenschnee died, but it is not impossible that he supervised only the first of the five editions by himself. Also the above-mentioned Cicero edition includes Greek translations in addition to the Latin text92, these being of the humanist scholar of Greek Theodorus Gaza (1410-1475) for De senectute und Somnium Scipionis. But this did not appear in Basle until 1524. This edition was commented by another famous humanist, this being Erasmus of Rotterdam, who lived in Basle from 1514 to 1529. Publications in Greek93 and Hebrew are an indication of the adoption of humanism. The first complete book in Greek had only appeared in Paris a few years before, that being in 1507 by Gilles de Gourment (1499-1533), who also brought out there the first Hebrew grammar in 150894. Of all the books that Wattenschnee produced, more than a tenth were in French and one book was in German, around four-fifths were in Latin and six per cent were in Greek, and none at all in Hebrew. He published four authors of antiquity: Aesop, Cato the elder, Cicero and Virgil.

• 95  Cf. Uwe Neddermeyer, Juristische Werke auf dem spätmittelalterlichen Büchermarkt, in Vincenzo Col (...)
• 96  Cf. Dominique Coq, « Les “politiques éditoriales” des premiers imprimeurs parisiens et lyonnais (1 (...)
• 97  Cf. note 26.

40Seen overall, Wattenschnee produced what were clearly humanist works, but not all. A first glance gives the impression that he produced what he could sell, that he kept an eye on the demands of the market when printing books of a conservative nature such as in canon law95 that were already in demand for study in Paris. But does it look as if he went on an ambitious campaign to promote humanism? If anything, it seems to have been a mixture of both, as if he sold that which interested him and what brought in money for him96. A comparison with the range of publications from Henri Estienne shows that even though he produced nine times as many books, he still had a considerably more comprehensive range of humanist publications97.

• 98  Cf. Martina Hacke, Die Boten der Nationen, op. cit., Table: Reisen von Johann und Conrad Schabelle (...)

41How is Wattenschnee’s work as a university messenger to be seen in connection with the dissemination of humanism? Concerning his journeys between Basle and Paris98, the Amerbach correspondence shows that he travelled between the two cities at least twice a year and also took letters and packages with him for the Amerbach family. There is a chronological connection with the trade fairs in Paris.

• 99  Cf. Oscar von Hase, Die Koberger, Wiesbaden, Breitkopf und Härtel, 1967 [1885], p. 361-365.
• 100  Alfred Hartmann (ed.), Die Amerbachkorrespondenz, 1, 1481-1513, Verlag der Universitätsbibliothek, (...)
• 101  Die Amerbachkorrespondenz, n° 321, p. 300 (around 1506 Oct. 2).
• 102  « Mitto ad te libros fratris mei Basilii (qui in vasis Ioannis Wattenschne inclusi sunt) et eos ta (...)

42Normally the merchants transported books in barrels99, but sometimes Johann Wattenschnee organized a transport cart to bring larger deliveries from Paris to Basle. The shipment that he made in this way to Basle in 1507 consisted of clothing, and business and private letters, and at least six books. Originally Johannes Wattenschnee wanted to handle the transportation himself, but then he was replaced by his uncle Conrad. Among these books were the volumes from Basilius, who had concluded his course of study in Paris, and among them the Politicorum libri octo of Aristoteles that had been edited by Henri Estienne, with a commentary from Lefèvre d’Étaples. It was to be sent on to Basilius to Freiburg100, where he was studying law at the time, and the same applied to the Theologia of the father of the church John of Damascus (approx. 670-approx. 750) that had been published by Henri Estienne, plus a gown. There were also things for other people in the cases: Two books went to Konrad Kürsner (Conrad Pellican) (1478-1553), a friend of the Amerbach family, who went to Zürich in 1526 as an adherent of Zwingli to become a professor for the Old Testament. At the beginning of October 1506 he had requested to have sent to him the Introductiones in logicam in suppositions from Lefèvre d’Étaples101, and also obtained a copy of the Theologia of John of Damascus. In addition, in the shipment there were two missals from Ludwig Ber of Basle. Johann Amerbach was to hand them over to Ludwig’s brother Franz, and he was to pass them on to his sister, who lived as a Poor Claire in the Spalenvorstadt in Basle102.

• 103  Ibid., n° 166, p. 154 [1502 Aug. 30].
• 104  Nicholas Mann, « Petrarch’s role as moralist in Fifteenth-Century France », in A. H. T. Levi (ed.) (...)

44Wattenschnee also transported books for other people, in 1502 the well-known Nuremberg publisher Anton Koberger (1440-1530) gave him some for transport to Johann Amerbach103. On the one hand, this concerned the works of Dionysius [Areopagita], a father of the Church of the early 6^th century, and on the other hand also those of one of the most popular humanist writers as a whole, this being Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), who had primarily brought humanism to France104. Wattenschnee transported his Opera, which serves as a yardstick for the reception of humanism.

• 105  URL: https://baselbern.swissbib.ch/Search/Results?lookfor=Wattenschnee&type=AllFields (viewed on 3 (...)
• 106  Max Burckhardt, « Die Inkunabeln aus der Bibliothek des Johannes de Lapide », in Für Christoph Vis (...)
• 107  Cf. Alexandre Vanautgaerden, « Pourquoi Bâle ? Imprimerie et humanisme à Bâle avant l’arrivée d’Ér (...)

45There is no record of what books Wattenschnee transported for himself. A look at the Swissbib shows 34 editions of his works105, which are in Basle, Lugano, Solothurn and elsewhere today. However, for the most part they were printed in Basle rather than in Lyons or Paris. They mostly came from the private holdings of important collectors before they were transferred to public libraries. Thus one of his books, the Breviarium totius iuris canonici by Paulus Florentinus from 1484, came from Johannes Heynlin de Lapide106. He brought in his books after entering the Carthusian monastery in Basle in 1487, and these were later transferred to the Basle university library. Johannes Heynlin could well have brought it with him from his time in Paris, where he stayed untill 1474. It is therefore no simple matter to demonstrably show, to what extent Wattenschnee functioned as a facilitator of the dissemination of humanism on the basis of the inventories in the libraries today, as can be seen from the nonetheless relevant Swissbib. Of course, it should not be forgotten that Basle itself was also a hotspot for humanism107.

• 108  Incunabula Short Title Catalogue s.v. “place of printing”: “Paris” and “printed between 1470-1500” (...)
• 109  Cf. in general Malcolm Walsby, « Printer mobility in Sixteenth-Century France », in Benito Rial Co (...)

48The book production of the university messengers who were active in the book trade is to be seen within the framework of the printing of around 2,773 Parisian incunables for the 30 years between 1470 and 1500108. But this purely quantitative examination misses the main point. The most important aspect of their work, and this also in regard to the question of the reception of humanism, lay on their mobility, which they had in common with other “Buchführer”, but in which they differed from the stationary booksellers109. Those among them who assumed the office of a messenger of the German nation in 1498 were responsible for connecting the teachers and students of the dioceses of Augsburg and Lausanne (Mang Steiner), Bamberg (Johannes Trechsel), Brandenburg (Wolfgang Lachner), Wrocław and Chur (Johannes of Coblenz), Prague (Johannes Higman), Regensburg (Johannes Wattenschnee), Turku (Gaufridus de Marnef) and Würzburg (Mathias Huss).

• 110  Lucas Burkart, « Gelehrte und Buchdrucker. Oder: Wie der italienische Humanismus in Basel ins gedr (...)

49When Wattenschnee visited Anton Koberger in Nuremberg, why should he not then also undertake as well the 55 miles (as the crow flies) to his designated messenger diocese of Regensburg, or bring from Nuremberg the university packages and letters to Regensburg? Wattenschnee verifiably travelled back and forth between Basle, Paris and Lyons and linked the places that played an important role in the book markets of that time. In this way French books came to Germany and German books came to France. Here this continued a line of communication that, as far as Paris and Basle were concerned, existed from the time that the first humanist books were printed in those cities, the above-mentioned Epistolae Gasparini. It was the first book to be printed in Paris 1470, by Johannes Heynlin de Lapide, who had learnt printing in Basle a few years before. The same book was then printed two years later by Michael Wenssler in Basle, probably at the instigation of Johannes Heynlin de Lapide110. This humanist connection that had already existed for a quarter of a century was continued by a book dealer and messenger such as Wattenschnee.

• 111  Cf. Philippe Nieto, « Cartographie de l’imprimerie au xv^e siècle. Un exemple d’application de la b (...)

50It was the possibility of linking places that were far apart as a result of their profession that makes the journeys of these messengers of importance for the dissemination of humanism in the form of the transporting of books across long distances. This not only concerns the stretches from France to Germany and vice versa, but also other parts of Europe, such as from Lyons to the Iberian Peninsula and from Basle (and also from Lyons) to Italy111. Even if their importance in this process should not be overestimated, these persons nonetheless belong to those personages who laid a material foundation for the reception of humanism in Europe.