Anselmo Banduri

Who was Anselmo Banduri?

Anselmo Banduri was a Benedictine scholar, archaeologist and numismatologist from the Republic of Ragusa.

Banduri was born in Ragusa, Dalmatia as Matteo Banduri, he joined the Benedictines at an early age and took the monk name Anselmo. He studied at Naples, and was eventually sent to Florence, then a flourishing center of higher studies. Here he made the acquaintance of the famous Benedictine scholar Bernard de Montfaucon, at the time traveling in Italy in search of manuscripts for his edition of the works of St. John Chrysostom. Banduri rendered him valuable services and in return was recommended to Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany for the chair of ecclesiastical history in the University of Pavia. It was also suggested that the young Benedictine be sent to Paris for a period of preparation, and especially to acquire a sound critical sense.

After a short sojourn at Rome, Banduri arrived at Paris in 1702 and entered the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés as a pensioner of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.