RENAISSANCE Humanism

FRANCESCO PETRARCA ARETINO     1304-1374        

Family: Aretino = from Arezzo, Tuscan city ruled by Florence
             White Guelfs exiled from Florence in 1302
  Avignon:  father notary at Papal court; 
  Italy:  patronage of Visconti in Milan,  Carrara of Padua                                             

Poetry: Canzoniere, Rime   Italian poems,      
                        including  sonnets to Laura    (d. 1348)
             Africa Latin epic poem about Scipio Africanus
                        republican hero of the Punic Wars
             Italia mia   pacification of Italy by Roman virtue
   1341 crowned Poet Laureate on Capitoline Hill  
             patronage of King Robert of Naples
 
Humanism: revival of Latin literature
          manuscript hunting in monastic libraries
             desire to go ad fontes   (to the sources)       
Petrarch's Works:
          Latin edition of Livy's History of Roman Republic
          De Viris Illustribus (Concerning Illustrious Men):
            biographies of Romans as model of virtue        
            humanist view of history
          Letters to Famous Men: writes to classical authors 
                                                 Cicero, Socrates
          Familiar Letters  to contemporaries
              including Cola di Rienzo, Emperor Charles IV
          Secretum (Secret Book) 
                  dialogue with St. Augustine internal struggle:
                   pursuit of fame, love versus Christian goals

RENAISSANCE HUMANISM
         revival of classical literature and learning:
            recovery of Latin texts   14th C
                             Greek texts  (Plato)  15th C
            social context:         literate laymen, lawyers
                    notaries (ars dictaminis = letter writing)
        new curriculum: use classical texts for study of 
                                    human life, morality
     * studia humanitatis:
             study of things human (not divine, not natural)
             curriculum: grammar, rhetoric,   poetry,
                                history, moral philosophy
  compare medieval scholastic curriculum
      trivium:  grammar, logic, rhetoric
      quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy

Humanism as guide to living:
          classical Latin literature as moralizing, practical,
         this-worldly virtues aim to teach good conduct,
          responsibilities in social & political relationships

14th century roman Politics
        context: Papacy in Avignon 1305-1378
City of Rome:
            Commune – republican city government
                  head quarters on Capitoline Hill
            Barons - noble families (Orsini, Colonna)
COLA DI RIENZO         Roman notary:
                  studies classical history, archeology
          1342: sent to Avignon by city of Rome
                     Petrarch hears Cola speak before Pope
1347: ROMAN REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION
          Cola leads revolt, takes title of
                  "Tribune of Freedom, Peace & Justice;
                    Liberator of the Holy Roman Republic"
             Conference in Rome of Guelf city states:
                   proclaims Roman jurisdiction over entire world
             1348 overthrown by Roman nobility,
                prisoner of Charles IV, then Pope; escapes,
                   returns to Rome as Senator; executed 1354
Petrarch’s correspondence with Cola:
        supports revival of Roman Republic
           poem: Spirito Gentil  1337-38
                   lament on the decline of Rome