AMEYDEN (AMYDENUS), THÉODORE

AMEYDEN (Amydenus), Théodore. — Belgian bibliographer and polyglot, b. 1586, d. 1656. He settled in Rome in 1605, where he married. For a time he was an abbreviator; a member of the College of Curial Advocates, he became its dean. He displayed great literary activity. Among his works, still unpublished, are the Elogia SS. Pontificum et Cardinalium and the Avvisi, written in the form of a diary for the Spanish court, of which he was legal and diplomatic agent. The Elogia generally have little historical value, unlike the Avvisi, which are of the greatest interest. In his commentary on the Rime of P. Bembo he reveals himself as 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 Alexander VII (1655).