In France, the library at Fulda seemed to retain its books and respect. It was greatly enlarged by Charlemagne, who also founded a more ostentatious one at Tours. With the revival of learning, and with the hope of opening a wider field to secular literature, Charles VI., of France, founded a royal library which numbered 1100 volumes by A. D. 1411. A similar library in England, that of the British crown, numbered 329 volumes at the time of Henry VIII. In contrast with these early royal efforts stood that of Corvinus, king of Hungary, whose library numbered 50,000 volumes, mostly manuscripts, in 1490. This imperial collection was burned by the Turks in 1540. About this time the nucleus of the modern Laurentian Library of Florence was formed. In 1556, the Bibliothèque Nationale, or royal library of France, at Paris, was endowed by the king with power to demand a copy of every book printed in France. This power became the basis of the copyright tax, now universally levied by civilized nations, and which has been the means of greatly enriching all government libraries. In 1556 the royal library of France could boast of but 2000 volumes. In 1789 it contained 200,000 volumes, the largest number of any library then existing. At the end of the nineteenth century it still retains the distinction of being the most extensive library in the world, containing approximately 3,000,000 volumes. [Illustration: THE NEW LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D. C.] In Italy the libraries, though venerable and very rich in rare collections of manuscripts, are not noted for the number of books which represent modern literature. The most noted library is the Biblioteca Vaticana, or library of the Vatican. It traces a vague history back to the fifth century, but its real foundation was in 1455. The number of volumes and manuscripts on its shelves is approximately 300,000.