SOANDER-BEG. 



SCAPULA, JOHN. 



300 



his father, Giovanni Domenico, also practised as an architect. He was 

 taught by his father the elementary part of his art, and then sent by 

 him to Venice, where he is said to have studied under Palladio ; yet 

 this is exceedingly doubtful, and it is certain that in his writings 

 Scamozzi is rather a detractor than an admirer of that master. Before 

 leaving Vicenza he had given proofs of his abilities and taste in several 

 designs for Count Verlati and others; and in 1569 he was employed 

 to remedy the defects of S. Salvatore at Venice (destroyed by fire in 

 1471). At the age of twenty-two he wrote a treatise on perspective, 

 wherein he entered at length into the subject of scene-painting. It 

 was in 1579 that he first visited Rome, where the sight of the remains 

 of antiquity filled him with admiration. He was most diligent in 

 studying them, sparing neither expense nor personal trouble; and 

 among other things of the kind, he made elaborate drawings of the 

 baths of Antoninus and of Diocletian. Having thus occupied himself in 

 that city for eighteen months, he proceeded to Naples, at which place 

 and its environs he was equally diligent in exploring the vestiges of 

 ancient buildings. 



On his return home he resolved to fix himself at Venice, as offering 

 a wider field to his ambition. His first occupation there was however 

 with his pen, for, at the request of a bookseller, he wrote the explana- 

 tions to a series of plates by Pittori, to which he prefixed three 

 chapters relative to ancient Rome generally, a work which, although 

 extolled by Maffei beyond its real merits, not undeservedly obtained 

 for him credit with his contemporaries as one of the most erudite in 

 his profession. The recent death of Sansovino and Palladio (1570 and 

 1580) were circumstances in his favour, and caused him to be looked 

 forward to as their successor in the public esteem. Accordingly 

 almost his very first work, after the monument to the Doge Niccolo da 

 Ponte, was to complete the public library by the first-mentioned of 

 those architects ; he was afterwards similarly employed to finish one 

 of Palladio' s, namely, the Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza, to which he 

 added the fixed sceua, with its three avenues of buildings shown in 

 perspective, but executed in relief. Although such kind of decora- 

 tion is utterly unsuitable to the modern drama, and is anything but 

 an improvement on painted scenery, it gave such satisfaction, that in 

 1588 he was employed by the Duke Vespasiano Gonzaga to erect a 

 similar theatre at Sabbionetta, of which structure nothing now remains. 



About this time a deputation being sent from the republic to con- 

 gratulate Sigismund on his accession to the throne of Poland, Scamozzi 

 availed himself of the opportunity offered him by his friend the 

 senator Duodo of visiting that country, and also in the course of their 

 route some of the principal cities of Germany. It was this journey 

 that first suggested what continued to be afterwards a favourite object 

 of his, namely, the work entitled ' Architettura Universale,' which 

 he intended to be a sort of encyclopaedia of the art, and to contain 

 specimens of various styles and examples in different parts of Europe. 

 Nor was this the only result of his journey, for on passing through 

 Salzburgh he was introduced to the archbishop, by whom he was 

 afterwards employed (1604) to design the cathedral of that city, which 

 may be considered as his work, though not completed till 1628, and 

 which is described by Temauza as one of the noblest temples of 

 modern times, and greatly superior, as regards architecture alone, to 

 St. Peter's. In the meanwhile his engagements at home were nume- 

 rous, and, besides many noble private habitations erected by him both 

 in the city and on the Venetian terra firma, he built several churches, 

 among others that of San Nicolo di Tolentino, Venice (remarkable for 

 having a Corinthian hexastyle diprostyle, subsequently added by 

 Tirali), and SS. Simone e Guida. But his most important work, that 

 which has chiefly contributed to his fame, is the stately range of 

 building on the south side of St. Mark's Place, called the Procuratie 

 Nuove, commenced by him in 1586. The design itself however may 

 be said to belong nearly as much to Sansoviuo, at least to have been 

 fixed by him, all the lower part as far as the entablature of the second 

 order being in continuation of the faade of the adjoining public 

 library ; while the difference is that the excessively deep frieze and 

 cornice of Sansovino's second order are moderated, and a third or 

 Corinthian story added to the elevation. This last order has been 

 considered by some to be the most elegant portion of the whole, but 

 it is also objected to as destroying the general uniformity, in regard 

 to height, of the buildings on three of the sides of the piazza. Scamozzi 

 was almost overwhelmed with commissions and applications for designs. 

 Among his other works are the Palazzo Roberto Strozzi, Florence ; 

 the Palazzo Pretorio, Vicenza ; ditto Bergamo ; the Villa Duodo, and 

 seven small churches or chapels at Monselice. He also made two 

 designs for the Rialto bridge, one with three arches, the other with a 

 single arch, but neither was adopted. Thus continually engaged, he 

 had little leisure for his pen, and did not therefore complete his 

 'Architettura Universale,' which was to have been in ten books, but 

 only six appeared, and those were published only a few months before 

 his death, on August 7th 3616; two days before which he made a 

 singular will, expressive of a most extraordinary solicitude for per- 

 petuating his name, for having no surviving offspring, he there adopted 

 Francesco Gregori, who died shortly after, and protracted litigation as 

 to his successor under the will was the consequence. What renders 

 such solicitude on the part of Scamozzi ah inconsistency is that he 

 speaks of himself as having acquired an imperishable name. 



SCANDER-BEG, prince of Albania, whose real name was George 



Castriota, was the eon of John Castriota, one of the rulers of that 

 country. He was born in 1404. His father having become a tributary 

 to the Turks, Scander-beg, with three other brothers, was sent to the 

 court of Mur.-td II., who lodged them in his own palace, and had them 

 educated in the Mohammedan religion, notwithstanding the solemn 

 promise to the contrary given to their father. After the death of his 

 three brothers, Scander-beg rose in favour with that sultan, who 

 received him into his guard, promoted him, and gave him the appoint- 

 ment of Sanjac-beg, with the command of five thousand cavalry. 

 On the death of his father in 1432, his family dominions were 

 seized by Murftd, who appointed a bashaw to govern them in his own 

 name. 



From that time Scander-beg formed the design of possessing himself 

 of his principality. Having accompanied the Turkish army to Hun- 

 gary, he entered into a secret arrangement with the celebrated 

 Hunyade, waywode of Transylvania, and commander-iu-chief of the 

 combined Christian forces, and he contributed, by a sudden manoeuvre 

 of the forces under his command, to the defeat of the Turkish army 

 on the plain of Nisaa (10th of November 1443). Having, in the con- 

 fusion resulting from the battle, penetrated into the tent of the Reis 

 Effendi, he put him to death with his own hand, after compelling him 

 to sign an order to the Turkish bashaw of Epirus, enjoining him to 

 deliver Croia, the capital, and the surrounding districts to the bearer. 

 Scander-beg left the camp with three hundred Albanians, appeared 

 before Croia, massacred the Turkish garrison, and ascended the throne 

 of his fathers, having previously renounced the Mohammedan religion. 

 A long warfare ensued ; but although frequently obliged to retire to 

 the fastnesses of the mountains, Scander-beg renewed his attacks upon 

 the first favourable occasion, and in this manner destroyed a vast 

 number of his enemies. In 1444 he defeated in the Lower Dibra a 

 considerable force which had been sent against him ; and though in 

 1449 Mura*d took from him the important fortress of Sfetigrad, though 

 he invested Croia in 1450, that powerful sultan was at last compelled 

 to raise the "siege and retire into his own dominions, where he died (at 

 Adrianople) 5th of Februaiy 1451. 



Mohammed II., who was Murjtd's successor, having proposed to 

 Scander-beg terms of peace, which were accepted, that warrior, at tho 

 request of Pope Pius II., repaired to Italy, to the assistance of Ferdi- 

 nand, king of Naples, who was closely besieged at Bari by John, count 

 of Anjou. Not only did Scander-beg oblige this prince to raise the 

 siege, but he greatly contributed to the victory which Ferdinand 

 gained over his antagonist near Troia (18th of August 1462). The 

 Venetians having declared war against the Turks, Scander-beg was 

 induced by them to break the treaty by which he was bound, and 

 to make an inroad into Mohammed's dominions. He was again 

 successful, and defeated a considerable force which besieged Croia, the 

 capital of his states. He was at length carried off by sickness at Lissa 

 in the Venetian territory, on the 17th of January 1467, in the sixty- 

 third year of his age, leaving a son of tender years, whose guardianship 

 he entrusted to the republic of Venice. His death however was soon 

 followed by the entire submission of Albania to the Turkish yoke. 



Scander-beg was a great warrior ; his enterprise and military skill 

 constituted him one of the ablest generals of his day. Such were his 

 personal strength and his courage in the field, that the Turks gave 

 him the name of Iskander-beg (Prince Alexander). On the taking of 

 Lissa, where his remains were discovered by the conquerors, the Turks 

 dug up his bones and made them into amulets, under the impression 

 that they would thus transfer his courage to them. There are various 

 chronicles of Scander-beg : the principal and the best is that of Marino 

 Barlesio, his contemporary, which appeared for the first time at 

 Frankfurt, folio, 1537, under the title of ' De Viti\ et Moribus ac 

 Rebus prsDcipub adversus Turcas gestis Georgii Castrioti clarissimi 

 Epirotarum Principis, qui propter celeberrima facinora Scanderbegus, 

 hoc est Alexander Magnus, cognominatus fuit.' It was afterwards 

 reprinted and translated into French and German. Another anony- 

 mous history had previously appeared at Rome in folio, 1537. T. M. 

 Monardo published one in Italian, folio, Venice, 1591, which was 

 translated into Portuguese and into Spanish. There are also ' Histoire 

 de Scander-beg,' by Du Poncet, Paris, 1709; 'Scander-beg, ou les 

 Aventures du Prince d'Albanie,' by Chevilly, ibid., 2 vols. 12mo, 1732, 

 and two Latin poems on the history of Scander-beg, one by Kokert 

 (4to, Lubec., 1648), the other by Busieres. 



(Hammer Purgstall, Qeschichte des Osmanischen lieichs, Pesth, 1827 35, 

 vol. ii. ; Hawkins, History of the Ottoman Empire, London, 1787, 

 voL i.) 



SCA'PULA, JOHN, was probably a native of Lausanne. He lived 

 during the latter half of the 16th and the commencement of the 17th 

 century, and at one period of his life he was employed at Paris in the 

 printing establishment of Henry Stephens. The time of his death is 

 unknown, but it is probable that in the year 1512 he was still alive. 

 Scapula is known as the editor of a Greek dictionary, which, instead 

 of gaining him credit, has drawn upon him the just and severe censure 

 of all honest men. He was employed by Stephens at the time when 

 that great scholar was printing his ' Thesaurus Linguso Grsecse/ which 

 was published in 1752. After the publication of that work, Scapula 

 appears to have left his employer, for in 1579 he published at Basel a 

 'Lexicon Grseco-Latinum,' fol. This dictionary is iu fact only an 

 extract from or abridgement of the great work of Stephens. The 



