Francesco Petrarca
Born	20 July 1304(1304-07-20) Arezzo
Died	19 July 1374 (aged 69) Arquà Petrarca
Occupation	Renaissance humanist
Nationality	Italian
Writing period	Early Renaissance

Francesco Petrarca (July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374), known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet, and one of the earliest Renaissance humanists. Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold Arezzo ( Latin Arretium) is a city in central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Events 711 - Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by their king Roderic. Arquà Petrarca is a town and municipality ( Comune) in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region in the Province of Padua. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Renaissance Humanism was a European intellectual movement beginning in Florence in the last decades of the 14th century Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold Events 711 - Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by their king Roderic. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" Renaissance Humanism was a European intellectual movement beginning in Florence in the last decades of the 14th century Petrarch is often popularly called the "father of humanism". Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal ^[1] Based on Petrarch's works, and to a lesser extent those of Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio, Pietro Bembo in the 16th century created the model for the modern Italian language, later endorsed by the Accademia della Crusca. Pietro Bembo ( May 20, 1470 - either 11 January or 18 January, 1547 was an Italian scholar poet literary theorist and Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. The Accademia della Crusca is an Italian institution that brings together scholars and experts in Italian linguistics and Philology. Petrarch is credited with perfecting the sonnet although William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser and others perfected it futher, making it one of the most popular art forms to date. The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in Lyric poetry from Europe. William Shakespeare ( baptised Edmund Spenser (c 1552 &ndash 13 January, 1599) was an important English Poet and Poet Laureate best known for The His sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poems. Petrarch was also known for being one of the first people to call the Middle Ages the Dark Ages. This article is about the phrase "Dark Age(s" as a characterization of the Early Middle Ages in Western Europe

Biography

Santa Maria della Pieve in Arezzo.

Petrarch says he was born on Garden Street of the city of Arezzo, just at the dawn on a Monday. Arezzo ( Latin Arretium) is a city in central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in He was the son of Ser Petracco. Ser Petracco (1267-1326 was the father to Francesco Petrarch. He spent his early childhood in the village of Incisa, near Florence. Incisa Scapaccino is a Comune (municipality in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 60 km southeast Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Petrarch spent much of his early life at Avignon and nearby Carpentras, where his family moved to follow Pope Clement V who moved there in 1309 to begin the Avignon Papacy. Avignon (/aviɲɔ̃/ in French) ( Provençal: Avinhon in classical norm or Avignoun in Mistralian norm is a commune Carpentras ( Provençal Occitan: Carpentràs in classical norm or Carpentras in Mistralian norm is a town and commune in the Pope Clement V' (About 1264 &ndash April 20, 1314) born Raymond Bertrand de Got (also occasionally spelled de Gouth and de In the History of the Roman Catholic Church, the Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1377 during which seven Popes all French, resided in Avignon He studied law at Montpellier (1316–20) and Bologna (1320–23) with a lifelong friend and schoolmate called Guido Sette. Montpellier ( Occitan Montpelhièr) is a City in the south of France. Bologna (boloɲa from Latin Bononia, Bulåggna in Bolognese dialect is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy Because his father was in the profession of law he insisted that he and his brother study law also. Petrarch however was primarily interested in writing and Latin literature and considered this seven years wasted. Additionally he proclaimed that through legal manipulation his guardians robbed him of his small property inheritance in Florence which only reinforced his dislike for the legal system. Protesting he declared, "I couldn't face making a merchandise of my mind", as he viewed the legal system as the art of selling justice. ^[2]

Petrarch was a prolific letter writer and counted Boccaccio among his notable friends to whom he wrote often. After the death of their parents, Petrarch and his brother Gherardo went back to Avignon in 1326, where he worked in numerous different clerical offices. Avignon (/aviɲɔ̃/ in French) ( Provençal: Avinhon in classical norm or Avignoun in Mistralian norm is a commune This work gave him much time to devote to his writing. With his first large scale work, Africa, an epic in Latin about the great Roman general Scipio Africanus, Petrarch emerged as a European celebrity. Africa is an epic poem in Latin Hexameters by the 14th century Italian poet Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major ( Latin: P·CORNELIVS·P·F·L·N·SCIPIO·AFRICANVS ¹) (236&ndash183 On April 8, 1341, he became the first poet laureate since antiquity and was crowned on the holy grounds of Rome's Capitol. A Poet Laureate is a Poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events He was the first laureate of the tradition in modern times to be given this honor. ^[3]

He traveled widely in Europe and served as an ambassador and has been called "the first tourist" ^[4] because he traveled just for the pleasure alone,^[5] which was the basic reason why he climbed Mont Ventoux. ^[6] During his travels, he collected crumbling Latin manuscripts and was a prime mover in the recovery of knowledge from writers of Rome and Greece. He encouraged and advised Leontius Pilatus's translation of Homer, from a manuscript purchased by Boccaccio; although he was severely critical of the result. Leozio Pilatus, or Leontius ( Leonzio Pilato; d 1366 one of the earliest promoters of Greek studies in Western Europe, was a native of Homer ( Ancient Greek:, Homēros) is a legendary ancient Greek epic Poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Petrarch had acquired a copy, which he did not entrust to Leontius, ^[7] but he knew no Greek; Homer, Petrarch said, "was dumb to him, while he was deaf to Homer". Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Muteness is a Speech disorder in which a person cannot speak The Umbrella term "speech-impaired" is sometimes also used though just as "visually ^[8] In 1345 he personally discovered a collection of Cicero's letters not previously known to have existed, the collection ad Atticum. Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Classical Latin ˈkikeroː usually ˈsɪsərəʊ in English January 3, 106 BC &ndash December 7, 43 BC was a Roman He remarked:

Each famous author of antiquity whom I recover places a new offence and another cause of dishonor to the charge of earlier generations, who, not satisfied with their own disgraceful barrenness, permitted the fruit of other minds, and the writings that their ancestors had produced by toil and application, to perish through insufferable neglect. Although they had nothing of their own to hand down to those who were to come after, they robbed posterity of its ancestral heritage.

Disdaining what he believed to be the ignorance of the centuries preceding the era in which he lived, Petrarch is credited with creating the concept of a historical "Dark Ages". ^[9]

Summit of Mont Ventous

Petrarch claimed that on April 26, 1336, with his brother and two servants, he climbed to the top of Mont Ventoux (1,909 m; 6,263 ft). Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. Mont Ventoux (Ventor in classical norm or oc ''Ventour'' in Mistralian norm is a Mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some 20 km He wrote an account of the trip, composed considerably later as a letter to his friend Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro. Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro ( c 1300 — March 31 1342) was an Augustinian Monk who was at one time Petrarch The accuracy of Petrarch's account is open to question; particularly the assertion that he was the first to climb a mountain for pleasure since Philip V of Macedon, and that an aged peasant had warned him off the unclimbable mountain. Philip V ( Greek Φίλιππος Ε΄) (238 BC - 179 BC was King of Macedon from 221 BC to 179 BC Jean Buridan had climbed the same mountain a few years before, and other ascents are recorded from the Middle Ages, including Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne. Jean Buridan (in Latin, Johannes Buridanus; ca 1295 &ndash 1358 was a French Priest who sowed the seeds of the Copernican revolution Jakob Burckhardt's rhapsody on the subject has been often repeated since. Jacob Christoph Burckhardt ( May 25, 1818, Basel, Switzerland &ndash August 8, 1897, Basel was a Swiss ^[10]

J.H. Plumb writes in his book The Italian Renaissance of Morris Bishop's version of Petrarch's Ascent of Mont Ventoux showing Petrarch's climb in 1336 was epoch making. Sir John Harold Plumb ( 20 August[[ 911]] – 21 October[[ 001]] known as Jack, was a British historian known for his books on British eighteenth Morris Gilbert Bishop ( April 15, 1893 &mdash November 20, 1973) was an American scholar historian biographer author and humorist The Italian poet Petrarch wrote a well-known letter about his Ascent of Mont Ventoux on April 26 1336, written around 1350, ^[11] This was because Petrarch did this climb on his own volition and not because anything was forced upon him. Petrarch's letter of the ascent to his confessor,^[12] the monk Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro, rings of aesthetic gratification to grandeur and majesty, ^[13] a modern attitude that is quoted to this day in many books and journals pertaining to mountaineering. Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro ( c 1300 — March 31 1342) was an Augustinian Monk who was at one time Petrarch A journal (through French from late Latin diurnalis, daily has several related meanings a daily record of events or business a private “Alpinist” redirects here See also Alpinist (magazine Mountaineering is the Sport, Hobby or Profession of ^[14]

"For pleasure alone he climbed Mount Ventoux, which rises to more than six thousand feet, beyond Vaucluse. It was no great feat, of course; but he was the first recorded Alpinist of modern times, the first to climb a mountain merely for the delight of looking from its top. “Alpinist” redirects here See also Alpinist (magazine Mountaineering is the Sport, Hobby or Profession of (Or almost the first; for in a high pasture he met an old shepherd, who said that fifty years before he had attained the summit, and had got nothing from it save toil and repentance and torn clothing. ) Petrarch was dazed and stirred by the view of the Alps, the mountains around Lyons, the Rhone, the Bay of Marseilles. He took St Augustine's Confessions from his pocket and reflected that his climb was merely an allegory of aspiration towards a better life. Confessions ( Latin: Confessiones) is the name of an Autobiographical work consisting of 13 books by St An allegory (from αλλος allos "other" and el αγορευειν agoreuein "to speak in public" is a figurative mode of representation " ^[15]

The later part of his life he spent in journeying through northern Italy as an international scholar and poet-diplomat. Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting Negotiations between representatives of groups or states Petrarch's career in the Church did not allow him to marry, but he did father two children by a woman or women unknown to posterity. As a Christian Ecclesiastical term Catholic —from the Greek adjective, meaning "general" or "universal"—is described A son, Giovanni, was born in 1337, and a daughter, Francesca, was born in 1343. Both he later legitimized. ^[16]

Giovanni died of the plague in 1361. Bubonic plague is the best-known manifestation of the bacterial disease plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (formerly known as Francesca married Francescuolo da Brossano (who was later named executor of Petrarch's Last Will and Testament) that same year. Francescuolo da Brossano was the son-in-law and heir of the Italian medieval poet Petrarch. In Common law, a will or testament is a document by which a person (the Testator) regulates the rights of others over his or her Property In 1362, shortly after the birth of a daughter, Eletta (same name as Petrarch's mother), they joined Petrarch in Venice, to flee the plague then ravaging parts of Europe. Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the A second grandchild, Francesco, was born in 1366, but died before his second birthday. Francesca and her family lived with Petrarch in Venice for five years from 1362 - 1367 at Palazzo Molina; although Petrarch continued to travel in those years. Palazzo Molina or Palace of Two Towers is Petrarch's home also known as "Molina house of the two towers

About 1368 Petrarch and his daughter Francesca (with her family) moved and settled in Padua, where he passed his remaining years in religious contemplation. Padua ( Padova 'padova Latin: Patavium, Padoa) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. He died in Arquà in the Euganean Hills on July 19, 1374 - just one day short of his seventieth birthday. Arquà Petrarca is a town and municipality ( Comune) in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region in the Province of Padua. The Euganean Hills ( Colli Euganei) are a group of hills of volcanic origin that rise to heights of 300 to 600 meters from the Padovan-Venetian plain a few kilometers south of Events 711 - Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by their king Roderic.

Petrarch's will (dated April 4, 1370) leaves 50 florins to Boccaccio "to buy a warm winter dressing gown"; various legacies (a horse, a silver cup, a lute, a Madonna) to his brother and his friends; his house in Vaucluse to its caretaker; for his soul, and for the poor; and the bulk of his estate to his son-in-law, Francescuolo da Brossano, who is to give half of it to "the person to whom, as he knows, I wish it to go"; presumably his daughter, Francesca, Brossano's wife. Events 1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I. Images of the Madonna and Madonna and Child are one of the central Icons of Christianity, representing the Madonna or Mary mother of Jesus The soul, according to many religious and philosophical beliefs is the self-awareness, or Consciousness, unique to a particular living The will mentions neither the property in Arquà, nor his library; Petrarch's library of notable manuscripts was already promised to Venice, in exchange for the Palazzo Molina. The poet Petrarch arranged to leave his personal library to the city of Venice; but it never arrived This arrangement was probably cancelled when he moved to Padua, the enemy of Venice, in 1368. The library was seized by the lords of Padua, and his books and manuscripts are now widely divided over Europe. Padua ( Padova 'padova Latin: Patavium, Padoa) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy. ^[17] Nevertheless, the Biblioteca Marciana traditionally claimed this bequest as its founding; although it was in fact founded by Cardinal Bessarion in 1468. The Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, the National Library of St Mark's, is one of the earliest surviving public manuscript depositories in Italy and holds one of Basilios Bessarion or Basilius Bessarion (in Greek Βασίλειος Βησσαρίων ( January 2 1403 &ndash November 18 ^[18]

Works

Petrarch revived the work and letters of the ancient Roman Senator Marcus Tullius Cicero. The Roman Senate was a political institution in Ancient Rome. Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Classical Latin ˈkikeroː usually ˈsɪsərəʊ in English January 3, 106 BC &ndash December 7, 43 BC was a Roman

Petrach's Virgil (title page) (c. Publius Vergilius Maro ( October 15, 70 BCE &ndash September 21, 19 BCE later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or 1336)
Illuminated manuscript by Simone Martini, 29 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan. Simone Martini (c 1284 – c 1344 was an Italian painter born in Siena.

Petrarch is best known for his Italian poetry: notably the Canzoniere and the Trionfi ("Triumphs"). Il Canzoniere (English "Song Book" also known as the Rime Sparse (English "Scattered Rhymes" is a poetical collection by the Italian However, Petrarch was an enthusiastic Latin scholar and did most of his writing in this language. His Latin writings are quite varied and include scholarly works, introspective essays, letters, and more poetry. Among them are Secretum ("My Secret Book"), an intensely personal guilt-ridden imaginary dialogue with Augustine of Hippo; De Viris Illustribus ("On Famous Men"), a series of moral biographies; Rerum Memorandarum Libri, an incomplete treatise on the cardinal virtues; De Otio Religiosorum ("On Religious Leisure") and De Vita Solitaria ("On the Solitary Life"), which praise the contemplative life; De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae ("Remedies for Fortune Fair and Foul"), a self-help book which remained popular for hundreds of years; Itinerarium ("Petrarch's Guide to the Holy Land"), a distant ancestor of Fodor's and Lonely Planet; a number of invectives against opponents such as doctors, scholastics, and the French; the Carmen Bucolicum, a collection of 12 pastoral poems; and the unfinished epic Africa. Secretum ( De secreto conflictu curarum mearum, translated as The Secret or My Secret Book) is a trilogy of dialogues in Latin written by De viris illustribus ("On Illustrious Men" is a collection of short biographies, written in Latin, by the 14th century Italian In some Christian traditions there are four cardinal virtues: Prudence - to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time An itinerarium (plural itineraria) was an Ancient Roman road map Fodor's (ˈfoʊdɚz is the world's largest publisher of English language Travel and Tourism information and the first relatively professional producer Lonely Planet Publications (usually known as Lonely Planet or LP) is one of the largest travel Guidebook publishers in the world Legal residents and citizens To be French according to the first article of the Constitution is to be a citizen of France regardless of one's origin race or religion ( Africa is an epic poem in Latin Hexameters by the 14th century Italian poet Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca Petrarch also published many volumes of his letters, including a few written to his long-dead friends from history like Cicero and Virgil. Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Classical Latin ˈkikeroː usually ˈsɪsərəʊ in English January 3, 106 BC &ndash December 7, 43 BC was a Roman Publius Vergilius Maro ( October 15, 70 BCE &ndash September 21, 19 BCE later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Cicero, Virgil, and Seneca were his literary models. Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca, or Seneca the Younger; Σένεκας in Ancient Greek literature (c Unfortunately most of his Latin writings are difficult to find today. However, several of his works are scheduled to appear in the Harvard University Press series I Tatti, [1]. It is difficult to assign any precise dates to his writings because he tended to revise them throughout his life.

In addition Petrarch collected his letters into two major sets of books called Epistolae familiares and Seniles, a plan suggested to him by knowledge of Cicero's letters. Epistolae familiares was originally called by Petrarch Epistolarum mearum ad diversos liber ( "a book of my letters to different people") which Epistolae familiares was originally called by Petrarch Epistolarum mearum ad diversos liber ( "a book of my letters to different people") which Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Classical Latin ˈkikeroː usually ˈsɪsərəʊ in English January 3, 106 BC &ndash December 7, 43 BC was a Roman He kept out of Epistolae familiares a special set of 19 controversial letters called Liber sine nomine that had much criticism against the Avignon papacy. The Liber sine nomine ("The Book without a Name" is a collection of nineteen letters written in Latin by the fourteenth century Italian poet and Renaissance In the History of the Roman Catholic Church, the Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1377 during which seven Popes all French, resided in Avignon These were published "without names" to protect the recipients, all of whom had close relationships to Petrarch. The recipients of these letters included Philippe de Cabassoles, bishop of Cavaillon; Ildebrandino Conti, bishop of Padua; Cola di Rienzo, tribune of Rome; Francesco Nelli, priest of the Prior of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Florence; and Niccolà di Capoccia, a cardinal and priest of Saint Vitalis. The Bishop of Cavaillon, Philippe de Cabassoles, Seigneur of Vaucluse, was the great protector of Renaissance poet and Orator Francesco The former French diocese of Cavaillon existed until the French Revolution. Ildebrandino Conti was an Italian churchman and a member of the Conti family a noble Roman family Cola di Rienzo or di Rienzi ( c 1313 – October 8, 1354) was an Italian medieval politician and popular leader Tribune Tribune (from the Latin: tribunus; Byzantine Greek form τριβούνος) was a title shared by 2–3 elected magistracies in the Francesco Nelli of Florence was secretary to the bishop Angelo Acciaiuoli I and a pastor at the Prior of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Florence Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Nicola Capocci (died 1368 was an Italian Cardinal. He studied law at the University of Perugia; later in 1362 he founded there the Collegium Gregorianum (later

His "Letter to Posterity" (the last letter in Seniles)^[19] gives an autobiography and a synopsis of his philosophy in life. Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar It was written originally in Latin and was completed in 1371 or 1372. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. ^[20]

While Petrarch's poetry was set to music frequently after his death, especially by Italian madrigal composers of the Renaissance in the 16th century, only one musical setting composed during Petrarch's lifetime survives. A madrigal is a type of Secular vocal music composition written during the Renaissance and early Baroque eras Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600 This is Non al suo amante by Jacopo da Bologna, written ca. Jacopo da Bologna (fl 1340 &ndash 1360) was an Italian composer of the Trecento, the period sometimes known as the Italian ars nova 1350.

Laura and poetry

On April 6, 1327, Good Friday, after giving up his vocation as a priest, the sight of a woman called "Laura" in the church of Sainte-Claire d'Avignon awoke in him a lasting passion, celebrated in the Rime sparse ("Scattered rhymes"). Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato in the Battle of Thapsus Good Friday, also called Holy Friday or Great Friday, is the Friday preceding Easter Sunday ("Pascha" Avignon (/aviɲɔ̃/ in French) ( Provençal: Avinhon in classical norm or Avignoun in Mistralian norm is a commune Later, Renaissance poets who copied Petrarch's style named this collection of 366 poems Il Canzoniere ("Song Book"). Il Canzoniere (English "Song Book" also known as the Rime Sparse (English "Scattered Rhymes" is a poetical collection by the Italian Laura may have been Laura de Noves, the wife of Count Hugues de Sade (ancestor of the Marquis de Sade). Laura de Noves (ca 1308 - 1348 was the wife of Count Hugues de Sade (ancestor of the Marquis de Sade) Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, Marquis de Sade ( June 2, 1740 – December 2, 1814) ( was a French aristocrat There is little definite information in Petrarch's work concerning Laura, except that she is lovely to look at, fair-haired, with a modest, dignified bearing. Laura and Petrarch had little or no personal contact. According to his "Secretum", she refused him for the very proper reason that she was already married to another man. He channeled his feelings into love poems that were exclamatory rather than persuasive, and wrote prose that showed his contempt for men who pursue women. Upon her death in 1348, the poet finds that his grief is as difficult to live with as was his former despair. Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss it also has physical cognitive behavioral social and philosophical Later in his "Letter to Posterity", Petrarch wrote: "In my younger days I struggled constantly with an overwhelming but pure love affair - my only one, and I would have struggled with it longer had not premature death, bitter but salutary for me, extinguished the cooling flames. I certainly wish I could say that I have always been entirely free from desires of the flesh, but I would be lying if I did. "

While it is possible she was an idealized or pseudonymous character - particularly since the name "Laura" has a linguistic connection to the poetic "laurels" Petrarch coveted - Petrarch himself always denied it. Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields His frequent use of l'aura, as in "Erano i capei d'oro a l'aura sparsi" is also remarkable: for example, the line may both mean "her hair was all over Laura's body", and "the wind ("l'aura") blew through her hair". There is psychological realism in the description of Laura and Petrarch's love is nothing conventional - unlike some cliché women of troubadours and courtly love. A troubadour ( IPA:, originally) was a composer and performer of Occitan Lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100&ndash1350 Courtly love was a Medieval European conception of ennobling love which found its genesis in the ducal and princely courts of Aquitaine, Provence Her presence causes him unspeakable joy, but his unrequited love creates unendurable desires, inner conflicts between the ardent lover and the mystic Christian, making it impossible to reconcile the two, his quest for love a hopeless, endless agony. Christian Mysticism is traditionally practised through the disciplines of Prayer (including oratio meditation and Contemplation

Laura is unreachable - the few physical descriptions are vague, almost unpalpable as the love pines for, and such is perhaps the power of his verse, which lives off the melodies it evokes against the fading, diaphane image that is no more consistent than a ghost. Francesco De Sanctis remarks much the same thing in his Storia della letteratura italiana, and contemporary critics agree on the powerful music of his verse: Gianfranco Contini, in a famous essay on Petrarch's language ("Preliminari sulla lingua del Petrarca". Francesco de Sanctis ( March 28, 1817 &ndash December 29, 1883) was an Italian literary critic considered the most important scholar Petrarca, Canzoniere. Turin, Einaudi, 1964) has spoken of linguistic indetermination - Petrarch never rises above the "bel pié" (her lovely foot): Laura is too holy to be painted, it is an awe-inspiring goddess. Sensuality and passion are rather suggested by the rhythm and music that shape the vague contours of the lady.

Dante

Dante Alighieri, detail from a Luca Signorelli's affresco della cappella di San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto. Luca Signorelli (c 1445 - October 16, 1523) was an Italian Renaissance painter who was noted in particular for his ability as a draughtsman

Petrarch's is a world apart from Dante, and the Divina Commedia. The Divine Comedy In spite of the metaphysical subject, the Commedia is deeply rooted in the cultural and social milieu of turn-of-the-century Florence: Dante's rise to power (1300) and exile (1302), his political passions call for a "violent" use of language, where he uses all the registers, from low and trivial to sublime and philosophical. Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy investigating principles of reality transcending those of any particular science Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany Petrarch confessed to Boccaccio to have never read the Commedia, remarks Contini, wondering whether this was true or if Petrarch wanted to distance himself from Dante. Dante 's language evolves as he grows old, from the courtly love of Dolce Stil Novo (Vita Nuova) to the Convivio and Divina Commedia, where Beatrice is sanctified as the Goddess of philosophy - the philosophy announced by the Donna Gentile at the death of Beatrice.

Petrarch's thought and style is relatively uniform throughout his life - he spent much of it revising the songs and sonnets of the Canzoniere rather than moving to new subject — matters or poetry. Here, poetry alone provides a consolation to personal grief, much less philosophy or politics (as in Dante), for Petrarch fights within himself (sensuality vs. mysticism, profane verse vs. Mysticism (from the Greek grc μυστικός mystikos, an initiate of a Mystery religion) is the pursuit of communion with identity Christian literature), not without. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth The strong moral and political convictions which had inspired belong to the Middle Ages and the libertarian spirit of the commune, but Petrarch's moral dilemmas, his refusal to take a stand in politics, his reclusive life point to a different direction, or time. Communes in Europe in the Middle Ages were sworn allegiances of mutual defense (both physical defense and of traditional freedoms among community members of a town or city One in which moral values and faith are giving way and are constantly questioned. The free commune, the place that had made Dante an eminent politician and scholar is being dismantled: the signoria is taking its place. Humanism and its spirit of empirical enquiry, however, are making progress - but papacy (especially after Avignon) and the empire (Henry VII, the last hope of the white Guelphs, dies near Siena in 1313) have lost much of their original prestige. Henry VII ( Heinrich; c 1275 (or 1279 &ndash 24 August 1313) was the King of Germany (or Rex Romanorum) from 1308 and

Petrarch polished and perfected the known sonnet form inherited from Giacomo da Lentini and which Dante widely used in his Vita Nova to popularise the new courtly love of Dolce Stil Novo. Giacomo da Lentini, also known as Jacopo ( il) Notaro, was an Italian poet of the 13th century. The tercet benefits from Dante's terza rima (cfr. Terza rima is a rhyming verse Stanza form that consists of an interlocking three line rhyme scheme Divine Comedy), the quatrains prefer the ABBA-ABBA to the ABAB-ABAB scheme of the Sicilians. A quatrain is a Poem, or a Stanza within a poem that consists always of four lines The imperfect rhymes in u / closed o and i /closed e (inherited from Guittone's mistaken rendering of Sicilian verse) are excluded, but the rhyming of open and closed o is kept. The Sicilian School was a small community of Sicilian, and to a lesser extent mainland Italian poets gathered around Frederick II, most of them belonging to his court Finally, Petrarch's enjambement creates longer semantic unities by connecting one verse to the following. Enjambment (also spelled enjambement) is the breaking of a syntactic unit (a Phrase, Clause, or sentence) by the end of a line or between two Many of Petrarch's poems collected in the Canzoniere (dedicated to Laura) were indeed sonnets, and the Petrarchan sonnet still bears his name. Il Canzoniere (English "Song Book" also known as the Rime Sparse (English "Scattered Rhymes" is a poetical collection by the Italian The sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in Lyric poetry from Europe. Romantic composer Franz Liszt set three of Petrarch's Sonnets (47, 104, and 123) to music for voice, Tre sonetti del Petrarca, which he later would transcribe for solo piano for inclusion in the suite Années de Pèlerinage. Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Années de Pèlerinage ( Years of Pilgrimage) ( S160 S161 S163) is a set of three Suites by Franz Liszt for solo piano

Philosophy

Portrait of Petrarch.

Petrarch is traditionally called the father of Humanism and considered by many to be the "father of the Renaissance. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere " He was the first to offer a combining of abstract entities of classical culture and Christian philosophy. In his work Secretum meum he points out that secular achievements didn't necessarily preclude an authentic relationship with God. Secretum ( De secreto conflictu curarum mearum, translated as The Secret or My Secret Book) is a trilogy of dialogues in Latin written by Secularity ( adjective form secular) is the state of being separate from Religion. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Petrarch argued instead that God had given humans their vast intellectual and creative potential to be used to their fullest. ^[21] He inspired humanist philosophy which led to the intellectual flowering of the Renaissance. He believed in the immense moral and practical value of the study of ancient history and literature - that is, the study of human thought and action. Petrarch was a devout Catholic and did not see a conflict between realizing humanity's potential and having religious faith. A highly introspective man, he shaped the nascent humanist movement a great deal because many of the internal conflicts and musings expressed in his writings were seized upon by Renaissance humanist philosophers and argued continually for the next 200 years. For example, Petrarch struggled with the proper relation between the active and contemplative life, and tended to emphasize the importance of solitude and study. Later politician and thinker Leonardo Bruni argued for the active life, or "civic humanism. Leonardo Bruni (or Leonardo Aretino) (c 1369 &ndash March 9 1444) was a leading humanist, Historian and a Chancellor Classical republicanism' is a form of Republicanism originating from and inspired by the governmental forms and writings of Classical antiquity. " As a result, a number of political, military, and religious leaders during the Renaissance were inculcated with the notion that their pursuit of personal glory should be grounded in classical example and philosophical contemplation. Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural History centered on the Mediterranean

Legacy

Petrarch's Tomb Arquà Petrarca. Arquà Petrarca is a town and municipality ( Comune) in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region in the Province of Padua.

In November 2003, it was announced that pathological anatomists would be exhuming Petrarch's body from his casket in Arquà Petrarca, in order to verify 19th century reports that he had stood 1. November 2003: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - Pathology (from Greek grc πάθος pathos, "fate harm" and grc -λογία -logia) is the study and Anatomy (from the Greek anatomia, from ana separate apart from and temnein, to cut up cut open is a branch of Biology that is the consideration Arquà Petrarca is a town and municipality ( Comune) in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region in the Province of Padua. 83 meters (about six feet), which would have made him very tall for his period. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International The team from the University of Padua also hoped to reconstruct his cranium in order to obtain a computerized image of his features to coincide with the poet's 700th birthday. The University of Padua ( Italian Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) located in Padua, Italy, was founded in 1222 The tomb had been opened previously in 1873 by Professor Giovanni Canestrini, also of Padua University. When the tomb was opened, the skull was discovered in fragments and a DNA test revealed that the skull was not Petrarch's,^[22] prompting calls for the return of Petrarch's skull. Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) is a Nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known

The researchers are fairly certain that the body in the tomb is Petrarch's due to the fact that the skeleton bears evidence of injuries mentioned by Petrarch in his writings, including a kick from a donkey when he was 42. In Biology, the skeleton is a strong and often a rigid framework that supports the body of an animal holding it upright and giving it shape and strength (Also skeletal The donkey or ass, Equus asinus, is a member of the Equidae or horse family and an odd-toed ungulate. ^[23]

Footnotes

References

• Bartlett, Kenneth R. (1992). The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance; a Source Book. Lexington: D. C. Heath and Company. ISBN 0-669-209000-7
• Bishop, Morris (1961). Morris Gilbert Bishop ( April 15, 1893 &mdash November 20, 1973) was an American scholar historian biographer author and humorist "Petrarch. " In J. H. Plumb (Ed. Sir John Harold Plumb ( 20 August[[ 911]] – 21 October[[ 001]] known as Jack, was a British historian known for his books on British eighteenth ), Renaissance Profiles, pp. 1-17. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-131162-6 .
• Kallendorf, Craig. "The Historical Petrarch," The American Historical Review, Vol 101, No. 1 (Feb. 1996): <130-141. >
• Hanawalt, A. Barbara. "The Middle Ages:An Illustrated History" pp. 131-132 Oxford University Press New York 1998

Further reading

• Bernardo, Aldo (1983). "Petrarch. " In Dictionary of the Middle Ages, volume 9. The Dictionary of the Middle Ages is a 13-volume Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages published by the American Council of Learned Societies between
• Hollway-Calthrop, Henry (1907). Petrarch: His Life and Times, Methuen. From Google Books. Google Book Search is a tool from Google that searches the full text of books that Google scans OCRs, and stores in its digital database
• Kohl, Benjamin G. (1978). "Francesco Petrarcha: Introduction; How a Ruler Ought to Govern His State," in The Earthly Republic: Italian Humanists on Government and Society, ed. Benjamin G. Kohl and Ronald G. Witt, 25-78. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1097-2
• Nauert, Charles G. (2006). Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe: Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-54781-4
• Rawski, Conrad H. (1991). Petrarch's Remedies for Fortune Fair and Foul A Modern English Translation of De remediis utriusque Fortune, with a Commentary. ISBN 0-253-34849-8
• Robinson, James Harvey (1898). James Harvey Robinson ( June 29, 1863 &ndash February 16, 1936) was an American historian Petrarch, the First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters[2], Greenwood Press. From Google Books. Google Book Search is a tool from Google that searches the full text of books that Google scans OCRs, and stores in its digital database

External links

• Canzoniere (different edition) and other works
• Petrarch and Laura Multi-lingual site including many translated works (letters, poems, books) in the public domain and biography, pictures, music.
• Petrarch from the Catholic Encyclopedia. The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia
• Excerpts from his works and letters
• The Petrarchan Grotto
• Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) (1304-1374)
• Works by Petrarch at Project Gutenberg
• Poems From The Canzoniere, translated by Tony Kline. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works
• Petrarch - the poet who lost his head April 6, 2004 article in The Guardian regarding the exhumation of Petrarch's remains.
• Francesco Petrarca at The Online Library of Liberty
• De remediis utriusque fortunae, Cremonae, B. de Misintis ac Caesaris Parmensis, 1492. (Vicifons)[[uk:Петрарка Франческо]