THE TALENTED MR CRICHTON Had he been no more than an enor mous
brain, Crichton would have been impressive enough, but his accomplishments went far beyond the sphere of the intellect. Among the other activities in which he excelled were dancing, hunting, riding, tossing the pike, swimming and billiards. He was also ‘highly celebrated for his
martial powers’, having attained mastery in the use of the sword and spear. These talents were acquired and refi ned during the two years he spent fi ghting in the civil wars of France. Following his service with the French army,
he headed to Italy. In Genoa, he reportedly delivered a Latin address at the election of the senate. At some point during 1580, at the age of 20, he arrived in Venice, where he formed a friendship with Aldus Manutius of the famed publishing family. Manutius introduced his new friend to
many men of arts and letters and Crichton soon became the darling of a Venetian cultural com munity that was blossoming with the seeds of Renaissance humanism. Producing a memora ble effect on almost everyone he met, Crichton’s literary talents were said to have ‘astonished the Italians’. Not every impression was favourable, as
might be imagined. As biographer Macaulay relates: ‘The popular applause that attended such demonstrations of intellectual superiority had too natural a tendency to excite envy.’ The prodigy stirred up further tension
when he ‘undertook to refute innumerable errors of Aristotle’. His next calling point was Padua, where he clashed with several pro fessors from the ancient university there con cerning their interpretations of Aristotle. He also pointed out the fl awed mathematics of several faculty members. As embarrassing as these demonstrations might have been for the professors, they served only to bolster the legend of Crichton. The Scots expat was soon looked upon as ‘one of the wonders of Italy’.
Rapier wit Crichton’s clashes were not always of the intellectual sort. Soon after relocating to Mantua, he engaged in a duel with a ‘fi erce Italian gentleman, who had recently slain three antagonists’. A tested brawler and scholar, Crichton expertly wielded his sabre and ultimately ‘pierced the belly’ of this much- feared swordsman. In a strange example of higher learning, Crichton observed that marks of his adversary’s wounds resembled an ‘isosceles triangle’. Though this would not be Crichton’s last
physical altercation, there are no more reports of any showdowns with irate Italians. Perhaps
he had lost his taste for argument, as he soon entered the council of the Duke of Mantua, who sought the young man’s advice on how to best fortify his palace. Crichton also became the personal tutor of the Duke’s son, Prince Vincenzo. As with everything he did, Crichton
excelled in this new role. But the deep admiration he won from the Duke aroused an equally intense jealousy in Prince Vincenzo. Not surprisingly, this envy only grew when Crichton became the lover of Vincenzo’s former mistress. On the night of 3 July 1582, as
Crichton, ‘with his lute in hand’, returned from a visit to his mistress, he was set upon by three masked men on the streets of Mantua. Fighting back, he dropped the lute, reached for his sword and proceeded to defend him self with great skill. Having made short
work of the fi rst two attackers, he turned his attention to the third man, who promptly un mas- ked himself. It was Prince Vincenzo. The story goes that,
on seeing his master’s son before him, Crichton, despite the danger of his situation, put down his sword, then ‘fell upon his knees and entreated forgiveness’. It was an honourable gesture but hardly a wise one. The Prince instantly took advantage of the
situation, seizing Crichton’s sword and stabbing him though the heart. Death was as immediate as it was violent. And so was ‘terminated the mortal existence
of one of the most remarkable persons of the era to which he belonged’. Crichton was all of 21 years of age. Macaulay refl ects on how this untimely
demise prevented the world from knowing what might have been a major cultural fi gure in the course of history. Such an early death instead consigned Crichton to the status of a curious, tragic footnote. Though prodigies continue to live among
us, the days of the polymath have been left far behind. In this increasingly complex world, there is vastly more information out there and some of the world’s brightest minds now devote entire careers to elucidating the smallest fraction of knowledge. It’s a near certainty we’ll never see another Admirable Crichton.
‘The deep admiration he won from the Duke aroused an equally intense jealously in the Prince’
Left: The Duke of Mantua, the former Prince Vincenzo, who murdered Crichton in 1582. Above: Aristotle (portrayed in the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle) was one on the young man’s specialist subjects.
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