AMEYDEN (AMYDENUS), THÉODONE

AMEYDEN (Amydenus), Théodone. - Belgian bibliographer and polyglot, b. in 1586, d. in 1656. He settled in Rome in 1605, where he married. Abbreviator for a time; a member of the college of curial advocates, he became its dean. He carried on extensive activity as a writer. Among his works, still unpublished, mention may be made of the Elogia SS. Pontificum et Cardinalium and the Avvisi, written in diary form for the court of Spain, of which he was legal and diplomatic agent. The Elogia generally have little historical value, unlike the Avvisi, which are of the keenest interest. In his commentary on the poems of P. Bembo he shows himself to be a Neoplatonist. Exiled from Rome for having published the De officio et jurisdictione datarii without approval (1654), he was able to return after the election of Alessandro VII (1655).