Verantius, Faustus [Vrancic, Faust]

1. Dates

Born: Sibenik (Coatia), 1551

Died: Venice, 20 Jan. 1617

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan: 66

2. Father

Occupation: Aristocrat

He came from a noble Croatian family. His father was a diplomat and poet. His uncle, Archbishop of Esztergom, Primate of Hungary, Cardinal, and an influential stateman, took charge of his education.

This certainly sounds affluent at the very least.

3. Nationality

Birth: Yugoslav Area (or more exactly Croatian)

Career: Yugoslav Area, Italian

Death: Italian

4. Education

Schooling: Vienna, Padua, Sapienza (Rome)

He studied philosophy and law in Padua from 1568 to 1570. Studies apparently at the university level in Vienna and Rome are also mentioned. There was no mention of a degree, which would have been irrelevant for one of his status. Later in his leisure time he studied mechnics and mathematics.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Engineering, Hydraulics

Subordinate: Mathematics

His Machinae novae (1616) is a book of mechanical and technological inventions. Some of his inventions are applicable to the solutions of hydrological problems, and others concern the construction of clepsydras, sundials, mills, presses, and bridges and boats for widely different uses. Althogh some of his 'machines' were not wholly original or independent inventions, many of them were explained for the first time in print in Machinae novae.

In 1595 he published a five language dictionary (Latin- Italian-German-Croatian-Hungarian). He was also the author of Logica nova and Ethica christiana (1616).

7. Means of Support

Primary: Government, Church Life

Commander of the citadel at Veszprim, 1579-81.

Secretary of the royal chancellory of Hungary, 1581-94.

Bishop of Csanad, 1594.

Imperial counselor for Hungarian and Transylvanian affairs, 1598-1605.

Member of the Congregation of St. Paul in Rome, 1605-15.

8. Patronage

Type: Court Official

Emperor Rudolf II offered him the post of secretary of the royal chancellory of Hungary in 1681, and granted him the title of Bishop of Csanad, an honorary office since the bishopric was then occupied by the Turks, in 1594.

At his request, Louis XIII in 1614 granted him a privilege for printing a "book of machines". In 1615 Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscary, granted him a analogous privilege for the book "that the latter wishes to publish."

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Hydraulics, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Devices

Some of his inventions are applicable to the solution of hydrological problems, for example, the project to keep the Tiber from overflowing its banks at Rome and that of providing Venice with fresh water. Others concern the construction of clepsydras, sundials, mills, presses, and bridges and boats destined for widely different uses.

His designs for a wind turbine, a funicular railway, and a bridge suspended by iron chains represent an advance over contemporary techniques.

He did build bridges and mills in Vienna.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Sources

1. G. Gyurikovits, "Biographia Verantii" in Verantius' Dictionarium pentaglottum, Bratislava, 1834. (Zagreb edition, 1971).
2. Dizionario biografico degli uomini illustri della Dalmazia, ed. Simeone Gliubich, (Vienna, 1856).
3. Opca enciklopedija.

Not Available and Not Consulted

1. J.T. Marnavich, Oratio habita in funere ill. ac rev. viri Fausti Verantij, Venice, 1617.
2. H.T. Horwitz,"Ueber Fausto Veranzio und sein Werk Machinae novae" Archeion, 8 (1927), 169-75. CD1740.A66.

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.