BALBI (Balbus), GIROLAMO. — Humanist, bishop of Gurk, born in Venice around 1460, died in 1535. A disciple of Pomponio Leto in Rome, he was later in
Paris, whence the persecution by the royal poet Fausto Andreini forced him to flee. He then taught in Vienna, Buda, and Prague. In 1515, through the intervention of King Ladislaus, he was appointed provost of the cathedral of Pozsony and entrusted with various missions. In 1523 he was appointed bishop of Gurk. Charles V counted him among his advisers. He left behind verse, speeches, and treatises on history, philosophy, and politics.
BIBL.: J. Edlen von Retser, Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Schriften des Hieronymus B., Vienna 1790, later translated into Latin at the beginning of the ed. of the Opere of B., Vienna 1791; Pastor, IV, II, passim.