Many travellers, some of them famous writers of their age, other Emperors, philologists, priests, ambassadors came to Rome and met with Mezzofanti. All of them tested Mezzofanti at his skill in their own languages to see if there was any truth in the man's reputation.

Charles Russell, an Irish writer, was one of them. Shortly after Mezzofanti's death he compiled a complete collection of what people said about their meeting with Mezzofanti. He read travel diaries. Letters. Books. He interviewed people who worked with Mezzofanti. He looked in his private papers.

The result of this work was a book, "The Life of Cardinal Mezzofanti", where each language we think Mezzofanti spoke is investigated and the objective elements of proof we have are laid out.

You will find the entire text of this book on this website. I also compiled a full language table with details for each language.