Giovanni Aurispa
Giovanni Aurispa Piciunerio (or Piciuneri) (June/July 1376–c. 25 May 1459)[1] was an Italian historian[2] and savant of the 15th century. He is remembered in particular as a promoter of the revival of the study of Greek in Italy. It is to Aurispa that the world is indebted for preserving the greater part of our knowledge of the Greek classics.[3]
Life
Aurispa was born at
In 1418, Aurispa visited
In 1421 Aurispa was sent by
On 15 December 1423 Aurispa arrived in Venice with the largest and finest collection of Greek texts to reach the west prior to those brought by
Further items included the oldest manuscript of Athenaeus; a 10th-century codex containing seven plays by Sophocles and six by Aeschylus—the only manuscript in the world of these, plus the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes;[6] the Iliad, works by Demosthenes, and many more.[7] A work by Herodotus was also among the collection; also the Geography of Strabo. The texts are all listed in the letter to Traversari.[8]
The only
- I have not brought any sacred volumes from Greece except the letters of Gregory, which are, I believe, 200. This book is in faultless condition, and all the pages can be read, but its beauty is hardly such as to invite the reluctant reader. Long ago I sent from Constantinople to Sicily a good number of very choice sacred volumes, for I admit frankly that they were less precious to me, and a number of malicious persons often brought charges to the Greek emperor, accusing me of pillaging the city of sacred books. With regard to the heathen books, it seemed to them not such a great crime.[4]
Back in Venice, Aurispa is said to have been obliged to pawn his treasures for 50 gold florins to provide for the shipping costs. Traversari wrote to Lorenzo de' Medici on his behalf, who made a loan to Aurispa to redeem the manuscripts. Traversari also arranged to exchange Niccolo's transcriptions of newly discovered texts by Cicero for Aurispa's transcriptions of Aristotle's Rhetoric and Eudemian Ethics.
In 1424 Aurispa went to Bologna, where he became professor of Greek at the university, but this was not a success. At the urging of Traversari, from 1425 to 1427 he held the prestigious Chair of Greek studies in Florence. This ensured that his collection was copied widely among the humanists.
Quarrels at Florence led Aurispa to leave Florence in late 1427 or early 1428 and to move to
By 1430 Aurispa had managed to recover a bundle of his manuscripts from Sicily. These included a volume of lives of the saints, including one of St.
In 1438, when the Council was transferred to Ferrara, Aurispa attracted the attention of Pope Eugene IV, who appointed him an Apostolic Secretary, and so he moved to Rome. He held a similar position under Pope Nicholas V, who bestowed two lucrative commendatory abbacies on him. He seems also to have been made a papal poet laureate.[9]
Aurispa returned to Ferrara in 1450 and died there in 1459, at the age of 83.
Legacy
Considering his long life and reputation, Aurispa produced little:
Aurispa's reputation rests upon the extensive collection of manuscripts copied and distributed by him, and his persistent efforts to revive and promote the study of ancient literature.[10]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Bigi, Emilio (1962). Aurispa, Giovanni (in Italian). Vol. 4.
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ignored (help) - ^ "Giovanni Aurispa".
- ^ a b Adler, Elmer; Winterich, John Tracy, eds. (1948). The New Colophon: A Book Collector's Quarterly. Vol. 2. pp. 333–334.
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has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ ISBN 978-0873953047.
- ^ a b The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of useful Knowledge. Vol. 4. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. 1844. p. 211.
- ^ This is the famous manuscript Laurentianus 32.9.
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ William Roscoe, The Life of Lorenzo De'Medici, Called the Magnificent, p.31; Epistulis Amb. Trav. lib. xxiv, Ep. 53
- ^ John L. Flood (2006), Poets Laureate in the Holy Roman Empire: A Bio-bibliographical Handbook, Walter de Gruyter, vol. 4, pp. 2333–2334.
- ^ a b public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Aurispa, Giovanni". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 926. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/195435
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905. .