BALBI (Balbus), Girolamo. — Humanist, bishop of Gurk, born in Venice c. 1460, died in 1535. A pupil in Rome of Pomponio Leto, he later went to Paris, from where the persecution by the court poet Fausto Andrelini forced him to flee. He then taught in Vienna, Buda, and Prague. In 1515, through the intercession of King Ladislaus, he was appointed provost of the cathedral of Pozsony and entrusted with various missions. In 1523 he was named bishop of Gurk. Charles V counted him among his advisors. He left behind verses, orations, treatises on history, philosophy, and politics.
BIBL.: J. Edlen von Retzer, Nachrichten von dem Leben und der Schriften des Hieronymus B., Vienna 1790, later translated into Latin at the beginning of the edition of the Works of B., Vienna 1791; Pastor, IV, II, passim.