Italy Men of Letters Part 1

Of the troubadours of Italy, Sordello da Goito was in Provence for 40 years; Bonifacio Calvo, from Genoa, lived from 1252 onwards at the court of Alfonso X of Castile. Ruggero da Benevento wrote in Hungary a history of the invasion of the Mongols; and Brunetto Latini spent about six years in France, where he wrote, in French prose,  Li livres dou Tresor . Italian culture penetrated Bohemia with Enrico d’Isernia, founder in Prague of a school of notaries and rhetoric, and with Gozzo d’Orvieto, whom Wenceslaus II called to compile a new code for the Bohemian kingdom.

In the century XIV, Marsilio of Padua was rector of the University of Paris and advisor to Ludwig IV the Bavaro, the Florentine Roberto de ‘Bardi, chancellor of the Parisian university for 13 years. Without mentioning Dante’s probable trip to Paris, Giovanni Villani’s travels and stays in foreign countries, Francesco da Barberino, Bartolomeo da S. Concordio, Fazio degli Uberti and others; without stopping on the Provençal years of Francesco Petrarca and his relations with Convenevole da Prato, his teacher in Carpentras, and with other Italians in Avignon; we will remember that Italy gave France its first writer: Cristina da Pizzano (Christine de Pisan), brought to France in 1368 by Tommaso, her father, astrologer and physician of the court of Charles V.

In the first half of the fifteenth century, many of the Italian humanists made long wanderings through Europe and the Eastern Empire in search of ancient codes and epigraphs. In Constantinople Antonio Cassarino da Noto (died 1444) taught rhetoric for five years. Filippo Buonaccorsi da S. Giminiano was the true introducer of Italian Humanism in Poland. In Germany, at the end of the 15th century, we find humanist poets such as Giovanni Stefano Emiliano da Vicenza, crowned poet by Frederick III and then by Maximilian. Others lived in France: like Publio Gregorio Tifernate, who, after having lived for a long time in Greece, was the first to introduce the study of Greek in Paris around 1455, and the Venetian Girolamo Balbi, humanist and jurist, professor in Paris from 1484, who left France in 1496, went to England and Vienna, where he taught Caesarean law and fine literature, and then in Hungary, court tutor. In England, a group of Italian humanists gathered around Duke Humphrey of Gloucester; others we find under Henry VII. Called to Portugal in 1435, the Venetian Maffeo Pisani was tutor of Prince Alfonso, and wrote the history of the Ceuta war, which he fought; Cataldo Parisio Siculo, master at the court of John II of Lisbon from 1490, wrote De rebus gestis Iohannis regis . Later they were in Spain Guiniforte Barzizza Pavese (1400-1460 c.), Adviser to Alfonso King of Aragon and celebrator of his exploits, and the poets Antonio Gerardini d’Amelia and Bartolomeo Gentile Falamonica, from Genoa. Many Italians gathered around Mattia Corvino and Beatrice d’Aragona, creating in Hungary a true center of Italian humanistic culture: we will remember Antonio Bonfini of Ascoli (1427-1502), who became the first historian of Hungary; Aurelio Brandolini, known as  Lippo, Florentine, who professed eloquence in Buda for several years; Galeotto Marzio, who wrote the biography of the king, educated his son Giovanni and directed the Biblioteea of ​​Buda, whose enrichment and organization were provided by the humanists Taddeo Ugoletti da Parma and Bartolomeo Fonzio fiorentino (1445-1513). Enea Silvio Piccolomini imported Italian Humanism to Bohemia and wrote the history of Bohemia.

In the century XVI, according to Sourcemakeup.com, immigration was very frequent in France. Luigi Alamanni is the greatest representative of Italianism in France; Bernardo Tasso in the court of Henry II wrote the Amadigi ; Matteo Maria Bandello, who followed Cesare Fregoso in France, had a relationship with Margaret of Navarre and had the bishopric of Agen from Henry II (1550); Giammaria Barbieri, who lived eight years in Paris from 1538, was one of the first to illustrate Provençal poetry. To mention others less well known, Girolamo Aleandri, Jewish and Hellenist from Friuli, began the regular teaching of Greek in Paris in 1508; the humanist and poet Publio Fausto Andrelini da Forlì, professor at the Sorbonne, and the Veronese Paolo Emili, author of the work De rebus gestis Francorum , lived for a long time in France . The court of Francesco I became a small Italy: the king had mastered the Brescia humanist Giovanni Francesco Conti, known as  Quinziano Stoa  (1484-1557); Agostino Giustiniani, called by Francesco I, taught oriental languages ​​from 1515 to 1522 at the University of Paris, followed by two Hebrew language professors, the Venetian Paolo Paradisi, nicknamed  Canossa , and the Calabrian Agacio Guidacerio. Having moved to France in 1522, Benedetto Tagliacarne da Sarzana published, under the name of  Teocreno , his  Poëmata, and was teacher of the king’s son; Andrea Alciato, a famous jurisconsult, taught at Bourges, called there by Francesco I. Lyons became a second home for the Florentines: Bernardo Davanzati, Francesco Giuntini and a host of printers went there, of which the best known is Iacopo Giunti. Under Henry II, Francis II and Charles IX, the Venetian Michele Soriano, author of a history of France, lived in France. Flaminio Birago from Milan, French colonel and gentleman of Henry III, composed verses in French. Prospero Santacroce wrote the history of civil wars. Under Catherine de ‘Medici and Henry II, the Italians dominated the French court and culture. The Iberian countries also had a strong impetus for their rebirth from Italy. Andrea Navagero (1483-1529), during his long stay in Granata, became a friend of the poet Juan Boscán, to whom he taught to make Spanish sonnets in the manner of the Italians. The relations with the Italians of Charles V, who elected Paolo Giovio as his historian, are known. Lucio Marineo held literature school in Salamanca for twelve years, and wrote more works in glory than Spain. A story De bello Granatensi  also wrote his contemporary Pietro Santeramo. Antonio Lofrasso from Alghero lived in Catalonia and wrote a pastoral novel in Castilian (1573). Giovanni Antonio Viperano from Messina (born around 1540) was, until 1587, court chaplain and historian of Philip II. Giovanni Pietro Bonamici opened a printing shop in Lisbon in 1501; Nine years lived in Portugal the Jesuit Giampiero Maffei from Bergamo, who wrote the story of the conquest of the Indies in Latin.

Italy Men of Letters Part 1