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Boniface VIII. at Anagni in 1303 . Avignon was therefore the centre of that varied society which the high pontiffs of Christendom have ever gathered See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round them . Nowhere else could the youth of See also:

GENIUS (from Lat. genere, gignere)

genius who was destined to impress a See also:

COSMOPOLITAN (Gr. Kbvµos, world, and IroXirgs, citizen)

cosmopolitan See also:

STAMP (from " to stamp," to strike or tread heavily, hence to impress, O. Eng. stempen, Du. stampen, Ger. stampfen, whence, O. Fr. estamper, mod. etamper)

stamp on medieval culture and to begin the See also:

MODERN

modern era have grown up under conditions more favourable to his task . At Incisa and at Pisa he had learned his mother-See also:

TONGUE (O. Eng. lunge)

tongue . At See also:

CARPENTRAS

Carpentras, under the direction of Convennole of See also:

PRATO

Prato, he studied the humanities between the years 1315 and 1319 . Avignon, at a distance from the party strife and somewhat parochial politics of the Italian commonwealths, impressed his mind with an ideal of civility raised far above provincial prejudices . Petrarch's real name according to Tuscan usage was Francesco di Petracco . But he altered this patronymic, for the See also:

SAKE

sake of euphony, to Petrarca, proving by this slight See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change his emancipation from usages which, had he dwelt at Florence, would most probably have been imposed on him .

Petracco, who was very anxious that his eldest son should become an eminent jurist, sent him at the See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age of fifteen to study See also:

law at See also:

MONTPELLIER

Montpellier . Like See also:

OVID [PUBLIUS OvID1us NASO] (43 B.C.–A.D. 17)

Ovid and many other poets, Petrarch See also:

FELT (cognate with Ger. Filz, Du. vilt, Swed. and Dan. fill; the root is unknown; the word has given Med. Lat. filtrum, " filter ")

felt no inclination for his father's profession . His See also:

INTELLECT (Lat. intellectus, from intelligere, to understand)

intellect, indeed, was not incapable of understanding and admiring the majestic edifice of See also:

ROMAN

Roman law; but he shrank with disgust from the illiberal technicalities of practice . There is an See also:

AUTHENTIC (from Gr. aOO 'rns, one who does a thing himself)

authentic See also:

story of Petracco's flinging the See also:

young student's books of See also:

POETRY

poetry and See also:

RHETORIC (Gr. psroperctj TEXvq, the art of the orator)

rhetoric upon the See also:

FIRE (in O. Eng. f j'r; the word is common to West German languages, cf. Dutch vuur, Ger. Feuer; the pre-Teutonic form is seen in Sanskrit pu, pavaka, and Gr. irup; the ultimate origin is usually taken to be a root meaning to purify, cf. Lat. purus)

fire, but saving See also:

Virgil and See also:

CICERO

Cicero See also:

HALF

half-burned from the flames at his son's passionate entreaties . Notwithstanding Petrarch's See also:

FIRM

firm determination to make himself a scholar and a See also:

man of letters rather than a lawyer, he so far submitted to his father's wishes as to remove about the See also:

YEAR

year 1323 to See also:

Bologna, which was then the headquarters of juristic learning . There he stayed with his brother Gherardo until 1326, when his father died, and he returned to Avignon . Banishment and change of See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place had already diminished Petracco's See also:

FORTUNE, ROBERT (1813-188o)

fortune, which was never large; and a fraudulent See also:

ADMINISTRATION (Lat. administrare, to serve)

administration of his See also:

ESTATE (through O. Fr. estat, mod. flat, from Lat. status, state, condition, position, stare, to stand)

estate after his See also:

DEATH

death See also:

LEFT

left the two heirs in almost See also:

COMPLETE

complete destitution . The most See also:

PRECIOUS (O. Fr. precios, mod. precieux, Lat. pretiosus, of high value or price, pretium)

precious remnant of Petrarch's See also:

INHERITANCE

inheritance was a MS. of Cicero_ There remained no course open for him but to take orders . This he did at once on his arrival in Provence; and we have See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good See also:

REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason to believe that he advanced in due See also:

time to the See also:

RANK (O.Fr. rant or rent, mod. rang, generally connected with the O.E. and O.H.G. bring, a ring)

rank of See also:

PRIEST (Ger. Priester, Fr. pretre)

priest . A great Roman See also:

NOBLE, SIR ANDREW (1832- )

noble and ecclesiastic, Giacomo See also:

Colonna, after-wards See also:

bishop of Lombez, now befriended him, and Petrarch lived for some years in partial dependence on this See also:

PATRON

patron . On the 6th of See also:

APRIL

April 1327 happened the most famous event of Petrarch's See also:

HISTORY

history . He saw Laura for the first time in the See also:

church of St See also:

CLARA, SAINT (1194-1253)

Clara at Avignon .

Who Laura was remains uncertain still . That she was the daughter of Audibert de Noves and the wife of See also:

Hugh de See also:

SADE, DONATIEN ALPHONSE FRANCOIS, COUNT

Sade rests partly on tradition and partly on documents which the See also:

ABBE (Serbo-Croatian Rai))

abbe de Sade professed to have copied from originals in the 18th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century, Nothing is now extant to prove that, if this See also:

LADY (0. Eng. hlaefdige, Mid. Eng. ldfdi, lavedi; the first part of the word is hldf, loaf, bread, as in the corresponding hldford, lord; the second part is usually taken to be from the root dig-, to knead, seen also in " dough "; the sense development fr

lady really existed, she was the Laura of the Canzoniere, while there are reasons for suspecting that the abbe was either the fabricator of a See also:

ROMANCE

romance flattering to his own family, or the dupe of some previous impostor . We may, however, reject the sceptical See also:

HYPOTHESIS (from Gr. inrorcOivat, to put under; cf. Lat. suppositio, from sub-ponere)

hypothesis that Laura was a See also:

mere figment of Petrarch'sz II See also:

FANCY (a shortened form, dating from the 15th century, of " fantasy," which is derived through the O. Fr. fantasie, modern fantaisie. from the Latinized form of the Gr. cbavraoia, Oavrai'ecv, Oat Pais, to show)

fancy; and, if we accept her See also:

PERSONAL

personal reality, the poems of her See also:

LOVER, SAMUEL (1797-1868)

lover demonstrate that she was a married woman with whom he enjoyed a respectful and not very intimate friendship . Petrarch's inner See also:

LIFE

life after this date is mainly occupied with the See also:

PASSION (post-classical Lat. passio, formed from pati, passus, to suffer, endure)

passion which he celebrated in his Italian poems, and with the friendships which his Latin epistles dimly reveal to us . Besides the bishop of Lombez he was now on terms of intimacy with another member of the great Colonna family, the See also:

CARDINAL (Lat. cardinalis)

cardinal Giovanni . A See also:

German, See also:

Ludwig, whom he called See also:

SOCRATES

Socrates, and a Roman, Lello, who received from him the classic name of Laellius, were among his best-loved associates . Avignon was the See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief seat of his residence up to the year of 1333, when he became restless and undertook his first long See also:

JOURNEY (through O. Fr. jornee or journee, mod. Fr. journee, from med. Lat. diurnata, Lat. diurnus, of or belonging to dies, day)

journey . On this occasion he visited See also:

Paris, See also:

GHENT (Flem. Gent, Fr. Gand)

Ghent, See also:

Liege, See also:

COLOGNE (Ger. Koln, or officially, since 1900, Coln)

Cologne, making the acquaintance of learned men and copying the See also:

MANUSCRIPTS

manuscripts of classical authors . On his return to Avignon he engaged in public affairs, pleaded the cause of the Scaligers in their lawsuit with the See also:

Rossi for the lordship of See also:

PARMA

Parma, and addressed two poetical epistles to See also:

Pope See also:

Benedict XII. upon the restoration of the papal see to See also:

Rome . His eloquence on behalf of the tyrants of See also:

Verona was successful . It won him the friendship of their See also:

AMBASSADOR (also EMBASSADOR, the form sometimes still used in America; from the Fr. ambassadeur, with which compare Ital. ambasciatore and Span. embajador, all variants of the Med. Lat. ambassiator, ambassiator, ambasator, &c., derived from Med. Lat. amba

ambassador, Azzo di See also:

Correggio —a fact which subsequently influenced his life in no small measure . Not very long after these events Petrarch made his first journey to Rome, a journey memorable from the See also:

account which he has left us of the impression he received from its ruins .

It was some time in the year 1337 that he established himself at See also:

VAUCLUSE

Vaucluse and began that life of solitary study, heightened by communion with nature in her loneliest and wildest moods, which distinguished him in so remarkable a degree from the See also:

COMMON

common See also:

HERD (a word common to Teutonic languages; the O. Eng. form was heord; cf. Ger. Herde, Swed. and Dan. hjord; the Sans. ca'rdhas, which shows the pre-Teutonic form, means a troop)

herd of medieval scholars . Here he spent his time partly among books, meditating on Roman history, and preparing himself for the Latin epic of See also:

Africa . In his See also:

HOURS, CANONICAL

hours of recreation he climbed the hills or traced the Sorgues from its See also:

FOUNTAIN (Late Lat. fontana, from ions, a spring)

fountain under those tall See also:

LIMESTONE

limestone cliffs, while odes and sonnets to Madonna Laura were committed from his memory to See also:

paper . We may also refer many of his most important See also:

TREATISES

treatises in See also:

PROSE

prose, as well as a large portion of his Latin See also:

correspondence, to the leisure he enjoyed in this See also:

RETREAT (O. Fr. retrete, mod. retraite, from Lat. retrahere, to draw back)

retreat . Some woman, unknown to us by name, made him the father of a son, Giovanni, in the year 1337; and she was probably the same who brought him a daughter, Francesca, in 1343 . Both See also:

CHILDREN, LAW RELATING TO

children were afterwards legitimized by papal bulls . Meanwhile his fame as a poet in the Latin and the vulgar See also:

TONGUES, GIFT OF, or GLOSSOLALIA (yXwova, tongue, aXeiv, speak)

tongues steadily increased, until, when the first See also:

DRAUGHTS (from AS. dragan, to draw)

draughts of the Africa began to circulate about the year 1339, it became See also:

MANIFEST (Lat. manifestus, clear, open to view)

manifest that no one had a better right to the See also:

LAUREL

laurel See also:

CROWN

crown than Petrarch . A See also:

DESIRE

desire for See also:

GLORY (through the O. Fr. glorie, modern gloire, from Lat. gloria, cognate with Gr. KXebs, abets)

glory was one of the most deeply-rooted passions of his nature, and one of the points in which he most strikingly anticipated the humanistic scholars who succeeded him . It is not, therefore, surprising to find that he exerted his See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence in several quarters with the view to obtaining the honours of a public See also:

CORONATION (Lat. corona, crown)

coronation . The result of his intrigues was that on a single See also:

day in 1340, the 1st of See also:

SEPTEMBER (Lat. septem, seven)

September, he received two invitations, from the university of Paris and from King Robert of Naples respectively . He See also:

CHOSE (Fr. for " thing ")

chose to accept the latter, journeyed in February 1341 to Naples, was honourably entertained by the king, and, after some formal disputations on matters touching the poet's See also:

art, was sent with magnificent See also:

CREDENTIALS (lettres de creance)

credentials to Rome . There, in the See also:

month of April, Petrarch assumed the poet's crown upon the Capitol from the See also:

hand of the Roman senator amid the plaudits-of the See also:

PEOPLE

people and the See also:

PATRICIANS (Lat. patricius, an adjectival form from pater, father; not, as some say, from pater and ciere, to call)

patricians .

The oration which he delivered on this occasion was composed upon these words of Virgil: " Sed me Parnassi deserta per ardua dulcis Raptat amor." The See also:

ancient and the modern eras met together on the Capitol at Petrarch's coronation, and a new See also:

STADIUM

stadium for the human spirit, that which we are wont to See also:

style See also:

RENAISSANCE, THE

Renaissance, was opened . With the coronation in Rome a fresh See also:

CHAPTER (a shortened form of chapiter, a word still used in architecture for a capital; derived from O. Fr. chapitre, Lat. capitellum, diminutive of caput, head)

chapter in the See also:

BIOGRAPHY (from the Gr. (3ios, life, and yp&4 , writing)

biography of Petrarch may be said to have begun . Henceforth he ranked as a rhetorician and a poet of See also:

EUROPEAN

European celebrity, the See also:

guest of princes, and the ambassador to royal courts . During the See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring months of 1341 his friend Azzo di Correggio had succeeded in freeing Parma from subjugation to the Scaligers, and was laying the See also:

FOUNDATIONS

foundations of his own tyranny in that See also:

CITY (through Fr. cite, from Lat. civitas)

city . He invited Petrarch to attend him when he made his triumphal entry at the end of May; and from this time forward for a considerable period Parma and Vaucluse were the two headquarters of the poet . The one he called his Transalpine, the other his Cisalpine See also:

PARNASSUS (mod. Likkoura or Likeri)

Parnassus . The events of the next six years of his life, from May 1341 to May 1347, may be briefly recapitulated . He lost his old friend the bishop of Lombez by death and his brother Gherardo by the entrance of the latter into a Carthusian monastery . Various small benefices were conferred upon him; and repeated offers of a papal secretaryship, which would have raised him to the highest dignities, were made and rejected . Petrarch remained true to the See also:

INSTINCT

instinct of his own vocation, and had no intention of sacrificing his studies and his glory to ecclesiastical ambition . In January 1343 his old friend and patron Robert, king of Naples, died, and Petrarch was sent on an See also:

EMBASSY

embassy from the papal court to his successor See also:

JOAN

Joan . The notices which he has left us of Neapolitan society at this See also:

EPOCH (Gr. E7roxij, holding in suspense, a pause, from E1rxav, to hold up, to stop)

epoch are interesting, and, it was now, perhaps, that he met See also:

BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI (1313-1375)

Boccaccio for the first time .

The beginning of the year 1345 was marked by an event more interesting in the scholar's eyes than any change in dynasties . This was no less than a See also:

DISCOVERY

discovery at Verona of Cicero's See also:

FAMILIAR (through the Fr. familier, from Lat. familiaris, of or belonging to the familia, family)

Familiar Letters . It is much to be regretted that Petrarch found the precious MS. so See also:

LATE

late in life, when the style of his own epistles had been already modelled upon that of See also:

SENECA

Seneca and St See also:

Augustine . In the month of May 1347 Cola di See also:

RIENZI, COLA DI (c. 1313–1354)

Rienzi accomplished that extraordinary revolution which for a See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short space revived the See also:

REPUBLIC (Lat. respublica, a commonweal or common-wealth)

republic in Rome, and raised this enthusiast to titular equality with See also:

KINGS, FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF

kings . Petrarch, who in politics was no less visionary than Rienzi, hailed the See also:

ADVENT (Lat. Adventus, sc. Redemptoris, " the coming of the Saviour ")

advent of a founder and deliverer in the self-styled See also:

TRIBUNE (med. Lat. tribune, from classical Lat. tribunal)

tribune . Without considering the impossibility of restoring the See also:

MAJESTY (Fr. majeste; Lat. majestas, grandeur, greatness, from the base mag-, as in magnus, great, major, greater, &c.)

majesty of ancient Rome, or the absurdity of dignifying the medieval Roman. See also:

RABBLE

rabble by the name of Populus See also:

ROMANUS

Romanus, he threw himself with passion into the republican See also:

MOVEMENT

movement, and sacrificed his old See also:

friends of the Colonna family to what he judged a patriotic See also:

DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty . Petrarch built himself a house at Parma in the autumn of 1347 . Here he hoped to pursue the tranquil avocations of a poet honoured by men of the See also:

WORLD

world and men of letters throughout Europe, and of an idealistic politician, whose effusions on the questions of the day were read with See also:

PLEASURE (through Fr. plaisir from Lat. placere, to please; Gr. rlbovii)

pleasure for their style . But in the course of the next two years this agreeable prospect was overclouded by a See also:

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of calamities . Laura died of the See also:

PLAGUE (in Gr. Xotµos; in Lat. pestis, pestilentia)

plague on the 6th of April 1348 . Francesco degli Albizzi, Mainardo Accursio, Roberto de' Bardi, Sennuccio del Bene, Luchino See also:

VISCONTI

Visconti, the cardinal Giovanni Colonna and several other friends followed to the See also:

GRAVE

grave in rapid See also:

SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession . All of these had been intimate acquaintances and correspondents of the poet .

Friendship with him was a passion; or, what is more true perhaps, he needed friends for the See also:

MAINTENANCE (Fr. maintenance, from maintenir, to maintain, support, Lat. manu tenere, to hold in the hand)

maintenance of his intellectual activity at the highest point of its effectiveness . Therefore he felt the loss of these men acutely . We may say with certainty that Laura's death, accompanied by that of so many distinguished associates, was the turning-point in Petrarch's inner life . He began to think of quitting the world, and pondered a plan for establishing a See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of humanistic See also:

CONVENT (Lat. conventus, from convenire, to come together)

convent, where he might dedicate himself, in the company of kindred See also:

SPIRITS

spirits, to still severer studies and a closer communion with God . Though nothing came of this See also:

SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)

scheme, a marked change was henceforth perceptible in Petrarch's See also:

LITERARY

literary compositions . The poems written In Morte di Madonna Laura are graver and of more religious See also:

TONE, THEOBALD WOLFE (1763-1798)

tone . The prose See also:

WORKS

works See also:

TOUCH (derived through Fr. toucher from a common Teutonic and Indo-Germanic root, cf. " tug," " tuck," O. H. Ger. zucchen, to twitch or draw)

touch on retrospective topics or See also:

DEAL

deal with subjects of deep meditation . At the same time his renown, continually spreading, opened to him ever fresh relations with Italian despots . The noble houses of See also:

Gonzaga at See also:

MANTUA (Ital. Mantova)

Mantua, at See also:

Carrara at See also:

PADUA (Lat. Patavium ; Ital. Padova)

Padua, of See also:

Este at See also:

FERRARA

Ferrara, of Malatesta at See also:

RIMINI

Rimini, of Visconti at See also:

Milan, vied with Azzo di Correggio in entertaining the illustrious man of letters . It was in vain that his correspondents pointed out the discrepancy between his professed zeal for Italian liberties, his See also:

RECENT

recent See also:

ENTHUSIASM

enthusiasm for the Roman republic, and this See also:

ALLIANCE

alliance with tyrants who were destroying the freedom of the Lombard cities . Petrarch remained an incurable rhetori-cian; and, while he stigmatized the despots in his ode to See also:

Italy and in his epistles to the See also:

EMPEROR (Fr. empereur, from the Lat. imperator)

emperor he accepted their hospitality . They, on their See also:

PART

part, seem to have understood his temperament, and to have agreed to recognize his See also:

POLITICAL

political theories as of no See also:

PRACTICAL

practical importance .

The tendency to See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour men of letters and to patronize the arts which distinguished Italian princes throughout the Renaissance period first manifested itself in the attitude assumed by Visconti and Carraresi to Petrarch . When the See also:

JUBILEE (or JUBILE), YEAR OF

jubilee of 1350 was proclaimed, Petrarch made a See also:

PILGRIMAGE (Fr. pelerinage, Lat. peregrinatio)

pilgrimage to Rome, passing and returning through Florence, where he established a firm friendship with Boccaccio . It has been well remarked that, while all his other friendships are shadowy and dim, this one alone stands out with clearness . Each of the two friends had a distinguished See also:

PERSONALITY (from Lat. persona, originally an actor's mask, from personare,1 to sound through)

personality . Each played a foremost part in the revival of learning . Boccaccio carried his admiration for Petrarch to the point of See also:

WORSHIP (i.e. " worth-ship," O. Eng. weor8scipe)

worship Petrarch repaid him with sympathy, counsel in literary studies, and moral support which helped to elevate and purify the younger poet's over-sensuous nature . It was Boccaccio who in the spring of 1351 brought to . Petrarch, then See also:

RESIDENT

resident with the Carrara family at Padua, an invitation from the seigniory of Florence to accept the rectorship of their recently founded university . This was accompanied by a diploma of restoration to his rights as See also:

CITIZEN (a form corrupted in Eng., apparently by analogy with " denizen," from O. Fr. citeain, mod. Fr. citoyen)

citizen and restitution of his patrimony . But, flattering as was the offer, Petrarch declined it . He preferred his literary leisure at Vaucluse, at Parma, in the courts of princes, to a post which would have brought him into contact with jealous priors and have reduced him to the position of the servant of a common-See also:

WEALTH

wealth . Accordingly, we find him journeying again in 1351 to Vaucluse, again refusing the See also:

OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")

office of papal secretary, again planning visionary reforms for the Roman people, and beginning that curious fragment of an autobiography which is known as the See also:

EPISTLE

Epistle to Posterity .

See also:

Early in 1353 he left Avignon for the last time, and entered See also:

LOMBARDY

Lombardy by the pass of Mont Genevre, making his way immediately to Milan . The See also:

ARCHBISHOP (Lat. archiepiscopus, from Gr. apxceatorcoros)

archbishop Giovanni Visconti was at this period virtually See also:

DESPOT (Gr. Sc-va6rgs, lord or master; the origin of the first part of the Gr. word is unknown, the second part is cognate with rbvcs, husband, Lat. potens, powerful)

despot of Milan . He induced Petrarch, who had long been a friend of the Visconti family, to establish himself at his court, where he found employment for him as ambassador and orator . The most memorable of his See also:

DIPLOMATIC

diplomatic See also:

MISSIONS (Lat. missio, a sending)

missions was to See also:

Venice in the autumn of 1353 . Towards the See also:

close of the long struggle between See also:

GENOA (anc. Genua, Ital. Genova, Fr. GPnes)

Genoa and the republic of St See also:

Mark the Genoese entreated Giovanni Visconti to mediate on their behalf with the Venetians . Petrarch was entrusted with the office; and on the 8th of See also:

NOVEMBER (Lat. novem, nine)

November he delivered a studied oration before the See also:

DOGE

doge See also:

ANDREA, GIOVANNI (1275-1348)

Andrea See also:

Dandolo and the great See also:

COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

council . His eloquence had no effect; but the orator entered into relations with the Venetian See also:

ARISTOCRACY (Gr. apuvror, best; «paria, government)

aristocracy which were afterwards extended and confirmed . Meanwhile, Milan continued to be his place of residence . After Giovanni's death he remained in the court of Bernabd and Galeazzo Visconti, closing his eyes to their cruelties and exactions, serving them as a diplomatist, making speeches for them on ceremonial occasions, and partaking of the splendid hospitality they offered to emperors and princes . It was in this capacity of an See also:

INDEPENDENT

independent man of letters, highly placed and favoured at one of the most wealthy courts of Europe, that he addressed epistles to the emperor See also:

Charles IV. upon the distracted See also:

state of Italy, and entreated him to resume the old Ghibelline policy of Imperial interference . Charles IV. passed through Mantua in the autumn of 1354 . There Petrarch made his acquaintance, and, finding him a man unfit for any noble enter-prise, declined attending him to Rome .

When Charles returned to See also:

Germany, after assuming the crowns in Rome and Milan, Petrarch addressed a See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

letter of vehement invective and reproach to the emperor who was so negligent of the duties imposed on him by his high office . This did not prevent the Visconti sending him on an embassy to Charles in 1356 . Petrarch found him at See also:

PRAGUE (Ger. Prag; Bohemian Praha)

Prague, and, after See also:

PLEADING (Fr. plaider, plaidoyer)

pleading the cause of his masters, was despatched with honour and the diploma of See also:

COUNT (Lat. comes, gen. comitis, Fr. comte, Ital. conte, Span. conde)

count See also:

PALATINE (from Lat. palatium, a palace,)

palatine . His student's life at Milan was again interrupted in 1360 by a See also:

MISSION

mission on which Galeazzo Visconti sent him to King See also:

John of See also:

France . The tyrants of Milan were aspiring to royal alliances; Gian Galeazzo Visconti had been married to See also:

Isabella of France; Violante Visconti, a few years later, was wedded to the See also:

ENGLISH

English See also:

DUKE (corresponding to Fr. duc, Ital. duca, Ger. Herzog)

duke of See also:

CLARENCE, DUKES OF

Clarence . Petrarch was now commissioned to congratulate King John upon his liberation from captivity to See also:

England . This duty performed, he returned to Milan, where in 1361 he received See also:

NEWS

news of the deaths of his son Giovanni and his old friend Socrates . Both had been carried off by plague . The remaining years of Petrarch's life, important as they were for the furtherance of humanistic studies, may be briefly condensed . On the See also:

firth of May 1362 he settled at Padua, from the neighbourhood of which he never moved again to any great distance . The same year saw him at Venice, making a donation of his library to the republic of St Mark . Here his friend Boccaccio introduced to him the See also:

Greek teacher See also:

LEONTIUS

Leontius See also:

PILATUS, LEO, or LEONTIUS [LEONZIo PILATO] (d. 1366)

Pilatus .

Petrarch, who possessed a MS. of See also:

HOMER, WINSLOW (1836-191o)

Homer and a portion of See also:

PLATO

Plato, never acquired the Greek See also:

LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language, although he attempted to gain some little knowledge of it in his later years . Homer, he said, was dumb to him, while he was See also:

DEAF

deaf to Homer; and he could only approach the Iliad in Boccaccio's See also:

RUDE, FRANCOIS (1784–1855)

rude Latin version . About this period he saw his daughter Francesca happily married, and undertook the See also:

EDUCATION

education of a young scholar from See also:

Ravenna, whose sudden disappearance from his See also:

HOUSEHOLD, ROYAL

household caused him the deepest grief . This youth has been identified, but on insufficient grounds, with that Giovanni Malpaghini of Ravenna who was destined to See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form a most important See also:

LINK

link between Petrarch and the humanists of the next age of culture . Gradually his See also:

OLDEST

oldest friends dropped off . Azzo di Correggio died in 1362, and See also:

LAELIUS

Laelius, See also:

SIMONIDES (or SEMONIDES) OF AMORGOS

Simonides, Barbato, in the following year . His own death was reported in 1365; but he survived another See also:

DECADE (from Gr. Oka, ten)

decade . Much of this last See also:

STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage of his life was occupied at Padua in a controversy with the Averroists, whom he regarded as dangerous antagonists both to See also:

sound See also:

religion and to sound culture . A curious See also:

TREATISE

treatise, which See also:

GREW, NEHEMIAH (1641-1712)

grew in part out of this dispute and out of a previous See also:

DUEL (Ital. duello, Lat. duellum—old form of bellum-from duo, two)

duel with physicians, was the See also:

BOOK

book Upon his own See also:

IGNORANCE (Lat. ignorantia, from ignorare, not to know); want of knowledge, a state of mind which in law has important consequences. A well-known legal maxim runs: ignorantia juris non excusat ("ignorance of the law does not excuse")

Ignorance and that of many others . At last, in 1369, tired with the bustle of a See also:

TOWN

town so big as Padua, he retired to Arqua, a village in Euganean hills, where he continued his usual See also:

TRAIN (M. Eng. trayn or trayne, derived through Fr. from Late Lat. trahinare, to drag, draw, Lat. trahere, cf. trail, trace, ultimately from the same source)

train of literary occupations, employing several secretaries, and studying unremittingly . All through these declining years his friendship with Boccaccio was maintained and strengthened . It rested on a solid basis of mutual See also:

AFFECTION (Lat. ad, and facere, to do something to, sc. a person)

affection and of common studies, the different temperaments of the two scholars securing them against the disagreements of rivalry or See also:

JEALOUSY (adapted from Fr. jalousie, formed from jaloux, jealous, Low Lat. zelosus, Gr. j'i os, ardour, zeal, from the root seen in '&u', to boil, ferment; cf. " yeast ")

jealousy .

One of Petrarch's last compositions was a Latin version of Boccaccio's story of See also:

GRISELDA

Griselda . On the 18th of July 1374 his people found the old poet and scholar dead among his books in the library of that little house which looks across the hills and lowlands towards the Adriatic . When we attempt to estimate Petrarch's position in the history of modern culture, the first thing which strikes us is that he was even less eminent as an Italian poet than as the founder of See also:

HUMANISM (from Lat. humanus, human, connected with holm)

Humanism, the inaugurator of the Renaissance in Italy . What he achieved for the modern world was not merely to bequeath to his Italian imitators masterpieces of lyrical art unrivalled for perfection of workmanship, but also, and far more, to open out for Europe a new See also:

SPHERE (Gr. vclsa?pa, a ball or globe)

sphere of See also:

MENTAL

mental activity . See also:

STANDING

Standing within the See also:

THRESHOLD

threshold of the See also:

MIDDLE

middle ages, he surveyed the See also:

KINGDOM

kingdom of the modern spirit, and, by his own inexhaustible See also:

INDUSTRY (Lat. industria, from indu-, a form of the pre, position in, and either stare, to stand, or struere, to pile up)

industry in the See also:

FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)