Historical Figures Codexery

Petrarch

Italian scholar and poet, father of Renaissance humanism

Francis Petrarch was an Italian scholar and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, born 20 July 1304 in Arezzo.[1][2] Petrarch's sonnets became a model for lyrical poetry across Europe during the Renaissance.[3]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Francesco di Petracco
Born
20 July 1304
Birthplace
Arezzo
Died
19 July 1374
Place of death
Arquà, Padua
Resting place
Arquà Petrarca
Occupation
  • Scholar
  • poet
  • Catholic cleric
Language
Italian (Tuscan dialect), Latin

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Petrarch was the son of Ser Petracco and Eletta Canigiani, and his birth name was Francesco di Petracco.[2] His father, a notary, insisted Petrarch study law at Montpellier and Bologna, but Petrarch considered those seven years wasted.[4] After his parents died, Petrarch worked in clerical offices in Avignon, which gave him time to write.[5] He became a European celebrity with his Latin epic poem Africa about Scipio Africanus.[5]

On 8 April 1341, he was crowned poet laureate on Rome's Capitoline Hill.[5] He traveled widely, collected crumbling Latin manuscripts, and discovered Cicero's letters Epistulae ad Atticum in Verona.[6] On 26 April 1336, he climbed Mont Ventoux for recreation, a feat described in a letter to his friend Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro.[7] Petrarch is recognized as the first modern-era climber recorded to have ascended a mountain solely for the pleasure of the view from its summit.[8]

What the cited sources add

That same source notes that Petrarch, though born in Arezzo, identified himself with Florence.[9] The Oregon Petrarch Open Book project digitized ten manuscripts for open study through the Oregon Digital repository.[10] The Webexhibits account states that Dante and Petrarch spread the Sicilian poets' sonnets through Bologna and Florence.[11] The same source notes that Spenser and Shakespeare added their touches to the Petrarchan sonnet form introduced by Wyatt.[11]

The introduction to On Religious Leisure explains that Petrarch visited the Carthusian monastery of Montrieux in early 1347, where his brother Gherardo lived.[12] That introduction also states that Petrarch continued to add to the text of De otio religioso as late as 1356.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Petrarch" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rico, "Petrarca, Francesco", Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Petrarch" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: J.H. Plumb, The Italian Renaissance, 1961; Chapter XI by Morris Bishop "Petrarch", pp. 161–175; New York, American Heritage Publishing, (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Petrarch" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Renaissance or Prenaissance, Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 4, No. 1. (Jan. 1943), pp. 69–74; Theodore E. Mommsen, "Petrarch's Conception of the 'Dark Ag (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Petrarch" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bishop, "Petrarch and His World", Indiana University Press, 2002, p. 27 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Petrarch" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: after Albertino Mussato who was the first to be so crowned according to Robert Weiss, The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity (Oxford, 1973); Plumb, p. 164; Pietrangeli (1981), p. 32; Kirkham, "Petrarch: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works", University of Chicago Press, 2009, p. 9 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Petrarch" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vittore Branca, Boccaccio; The Man and His Works, tr. Richard Monges, pp. 113–118; "Ep. Fam. 18.2 §9"; "History – Biblioteca Capitolare Verona", Bibliotecacapitolare.it (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Petrarch" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nicolson, Marjorie Hope; Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory: The Development of the Aesthetics of the Infinite (1997), p. 49; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Petrarch" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Plumb, "The Horizon Book of the Renaissance", American Heritage, 1961, p. 26 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. "Petrarch (1304–1374). The Complete Canzoniere: 123–183", Poetryintranslation.com. facts only, no text reused. poetryintranslation.com
  10. "The Oregon Petrarch Open Book – "Petrarch is again in sight"", petrarch.uoregon.edu. facts only, no text reused. petrarch.uoregon.edu
  11. "Movements : Poetry through the Ages", Webexhibits.org. facts only, no text reused. webexhibits.org
  12. Francesco Petrarch, On Religious Leisure (De otio religioso), edited & translated by Susan S. Schearer, introduction by Ronald G. Witt (New York: Italica Press,. facts only, no text reused. italicapress.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Petrarch (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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