An impressive collection of humanistic letters
14 march 1521 - Letter from Cranevelt to John de Fevyn
The Cranevelt correspondence is a collection of approximately 385 letters that were written between 1520 and 1528. All of these letters were addressed to or written by the jurist and humanist Francis Cranevelt (1485-1564). Cranevelt corresponded with the brightest minds of his time, such as Erasmus (1466-1536), Juan Luis Vives (1493-1940), and Thomas More (1478-1535).
The first bundle of 269 letters was discovered in 1914, at the beginning of the First World War, and kept safe by professor Henry De Vocht (1878-1962) for the duration of the war. On the night of 25 August 1914, professor De Vocht escaped with the bundle of letters from an enemy attack. He wrote about his experience of that night in the preface of Literae ad Craneveldium:'...when the approaching blaze drove me our of a friend's hospitable house into the fire-lit street, where bullets whizzed past me until I found a shelter, and where at daybreak I was kept standing for a time beside a pile of burning corpses under the brazen look of the statue of Justus Lipsius.' Literae ad Craneveldium, a compilation of the Cranevelt letters that professor De Vocht saved, was published after the war in 1928. A second bundle of about 160 letters was acquired by the University of Leuven, with the help of the King Baudouin Foundation, in 1989 at an auction at Christie's in London.
24 december 1525 - Letter from Erasmus to Cranevelt.
3 february 1521 - Letter from Thomas More to Cranevelt. He inquires about the accommodations for his stay in Bruges. At the end of the letter, More mentions the candelabra (candle) that Cranevelt would send him.
2 may 1522 - Letter from John de Fevyn to Cranevelt in the vigil of the Lutheran affair.
1 february 1521 - Letter from Juan Luis Vives to Cranevelt. He writes about the tiring journey that he made from Bruges to Louvain.
The Cranevelt correspondence provides an insight into the lives of their authors, and into sixteenth century humanism in Flanders and Brabant, and hint at the looming presence of Martin Luther and the reformation.
1 november 1922 - Letter from John de Fevyn to Cranevelt. He asks about the sed pontificiam, the special chair that Pope Adrianus VI used during his stay in Leuven.
12 november 1522 - A draft version of a letter from Cranevelt to Pope Adrianus VI. He congratulates the new pope on his appointment and apologizes for his late letter.
Bibliography
“Craneveltbrieven.” KU Leuven Bibliotheken, https://bib.kuleuven.be/bijzondere-collecties/erfgoed/herkomst/craneveltbrieven.
De Vocht, Henry. "Literae Virorum Eruditorum Ad Franciscum Craneveldium 1522-1528". Humanistica Lovaniensia, vol. 1, Louvain: Librairie Universitaire, 1928.
IJsewijn, Jozef, e.a., “Litterae ad Craneveldium Balduinianae: a preliminary edition. 2: Letters 31-55, February 1521 - May 1521”. Humanistica Lovaniensia: Journal of Neo-Latin Studies, vol. 42 en 44, 1993 en 1995, p. 1-51 en 1-78.
IJsewijn, Jozef, e.a., “Litterae ad Craneveldium Balduinianae: a preliminary edition. 3: Letters 56-85, May-October 1521." Humanistica Lovaniensia: Journal of Neo-Latin Studies, vol. 43, 1994, p. 15-68.
Miller, Clarence H., "Thomas More's letters to Frans van Cranevelt including seven recently discovered autographs: Latin text, English translation, and facsimiles of the originals", Moreana: revue trimestrielle, vol. 31. nr 117, maart 1994, 3-66.
Sacré, Dirk. “Pittige tafelgesprekken van humanisten en reguliere monniken”. Erasmus’ Droom: Het Leuvense Collegium Trilingue 1517-1797, Leuven, Peeters, 2017, pp. 54–56.
Verweij, Michiel. “Geleerde geroddel”. Anima Academiae Bibliotheca, onder redactie van Peter Delsaerdt e.a., Universiteitsbibliotheek KU Leuven, 2010, p. 43.