68 Reading: Humanist Thought
Petrarch
Petrarch is often called the “Father of Humanism,” both for his discovery of important classical texts and his personal commitment to the way of life found in ancient literature and philosophy.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Explain Petrarch’s contributions to the Renaissance
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Key Points
- Petrarch is traditionally called the “Father of Humanism,” both for his influential philosophical attitudes, found in his numerous personal letters, and his discovery and compilation of classical texts.
- Petrarch was born in the Tuscan city of Arezzo in 1304, and spent his early childhood near Florence, but his family moved to Avignon to follow Pope Clement V, who moved there in 1309 to begin the Avignon Papacy.
- He traveled widely in Europe and, during his travels, collected crumbling Latin manuscripts, whose discovery, especially Cicero ‘s letters, helped spark the Renaissance.
- 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.
Key Terms
- Dark Ages: An imprecise term of historical periodization that was once used to refer to the Middle Ages but is latterly most commonly used in relation to the early medieval period, i.e., the centuries following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire; the term was coined by Petrarch.
- Humanism: The study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries.
- Avignon Papacy: The period from 1309 to 1377, during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon, France.
Overview
Francesco Petrarca (July 20, 1304–July 19, 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest Humanists. Petrarch’s rediscovery of Cicero’s letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance. Petrarch is often considered the founder of Humanism. Petrarch’s sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry. In the 16th century, Pietro Bembo created the model for the modern Italian language based on Petrarch’s works.
Petrarch was born in the Tuscan city of Arezzo in 1304. Petrarch spent his early childhood in the village of Incisa, near Florence. He 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. Petrarch studied law at the University of Montpellier (1316–1320) and the University of Bologna (1320–23); because his father was in the profession of law he insisted that Petrarch and his brother study law also. Petrarch, however, was primarily interested in writing and Latin literature, and considered these seven years wasted.
He traveled widely in Europe, served as an ambassador, an