Holiday reading with an ulterior motive
What does the content of a prize book tell us about young Melchior Moretus?
By Kristof Selleslach, archivist in the Museum Plantin-Moretus
Latin schools stimulated competition between their pupils by awarding prize books after the exams. At the beginning of the summer of 1674 young Melchior Moretus (1661–1693) also received a prize book. The unusual subject of the book comes somewhat as a surprise . Can its content reveal something about Melchior as a school boy?
Augustinians
Thirteen year old Melchior is the youngest child of Balthasar Moretus II and Anna Goos. He has four older brothers and two sisters. Melchior attended school at the gymnasium of the Augustinians in Antwerp. According to the inscription in the book, Melchior is an average student. He came 8th in his class for Latin morphology (declination and conjugation):
In minori figurà octavus. Probus ac ingenius adolescens Melchior Moretus Antverpiensis. Ex collegio magni P. augustini Antverpie a° 1674
(8th in lower morphology. Illustrious and talented adolescent Melchior Moretus from Antwerp. At the grand college of the Fathers Augustines in Antwerp in the year 1674)
Had Melchior attended the Jesuit college, he would most certainly have gone home without any prize book. The Jesuits only gave prize books to the first and second best pupil in the class. Luckily the Augustinians were more generous.
The Antwerp Augustinian high school has commissioned for the prize book to be bound in a special prize binding. On the front of the sheepskin binding the coat of arms of the college has been gold-tooled.
The burning heart is the insignia of the Augustinian order. It is the symbol for the burning heart of St. Augustine, for the love of God and fellow men. The castle and the hands refer to the coat of arms of the city of Antwerp. The heart is encircled by ‘S.P.Q.A. GYMNASY AVGVSTINIANEI MÆC: PERP:’ With this mark the gymnasium shows its gratitude to its patron, the Antwerp city council.
Pope Alexander VII
Prize books from Latin schools usually contain text editions of classic authors from Ancient Rome. Melchior’s prize book clearly is the odd one out, because it contains the hagiography of the beatific Giovanni Chigi. Hendrik Aertssens I published the vita in Antwerp in 1641 without any mention of the author. According to the Short Title Catalogue Flanders (STCV) Augustinian Michael Hoyer (1593–1650) wrote the biography of his colleague.
Giovanni Chigi (1300–1363) was a descendant from high Italian nobility. In his teens he lead a frivolous life of hunting and participating in tournaments. At the age of eighteen , he faced an acute crisis of faith. He made a radical switch and he took his vows in the Augustinian Order. From then on he spent his days praying, begging and working in the vegetable garden. Giovanni’s biography is dedicated to his remote family member Fabio Chigi (1599–1667), papal nuncio at the moment of the publication. His clerical career had not yet reached its summit however. From 1655 until his death in 1667 he was the head of the Roman Catholic Church under the name Pope Alexander VII. The centre of the engraved title page is adorned with the coat of arms of the Chigi family.
Norbertines
Why was young Melchior Moretus awarded a prize book containing the life story of a free spirit who comes to his senses by the Augustinian Fathers? Can we draw a parallel between the lives of Giovanni and Melchior? Both young men are descendants from wealthy families. The Chigi family belonged to the nobility, the Moretus family not yet. Melchior’s oldest brother Balthasar will be granted nobility in 1692, with the title of squire. Both young men were average students. Giovanni however made up for it through diligent meditating.
Did the good fathers find it necessary to set young Melchior a good example for bettering his ways? On 29 March 1674, a few months before the ceremony, Balthasar II Moretus (1615–1674) had died suddenly. Did Melchior find it difficult to process his father’s death? Melchior’s future had already been decided on, he was going to lead a religious life. Within the Moretus family, it was traditionally the eldest son who took over the family business. He bought his brother’s and sister’s shares, which meant that the shares of the Officia Plantinia stayed undivided.
The younger brothers and sisters all became members of the clergy. In 1674 Melchior’s brothers Joannes Jacobus and Christophorus Maria had already entered with respectively the Jesuits and the Friars Minor. Franciscus would become canon at the Cathedral of our Lady in Antwerp. Was the prize book a subtle move from the priests to gently push Melchior in the direction of his unavoidable destiny?
The fact is that Melchior entered a religious order, not the Augustines, but the Norbertines. Since the autumn of 1682 he was a novice at St. Michael’s Abbey near the banks of the river Scheldt. On 11 July 1684 he made his profession. In preparation of his profession, he drafted a short list: ‘leyst vant gene ick noch vandoen hebbe tegen mijn professie’ (list of things I still need for my profession).
Among other things, the list contained a pocket watch, linen underwear, knitted nightcaps, and of course fabric for the habit. Melchior took the religious name Hermannus Josephus. Melchior wasn’t allowed a long religious life. He died, only thirty two years old, on 22 August 1693.
