volume I: Introduction -- On his letters -- His life and his world -- The scholar and man of letters -- The moralist volume II: Education and the prince -- Rome, Italy and its rulers -- Religion and the church -- Letters to the ancients -- Memory -- Appendix I. Chronology of events in Petrarca's life -- Appendix II. Petrarca's literary works -- Appendix III. Biographical notes on Petrarca's correspondents.
Summary:
"We naturally think of Petrarca first as a poet. But he was much more than that. The first of the great scholar-poets of the Renaissance, Petrarca was instrumental in establishing as a cultural goal the rediscovery and collection of manuscripts of the ancient Latin authors; thanks to Petrarca the humanist scholars who followed him became the main conduit for the transmission and revitalization of classical learning, a necessary condition of the wider European Renaissance. Even more significant was Petrarca's role in shaping the literary movement that became known as humanism, a movement that for centuries promoted the study and cultivation of Latin literature. A charismatic figure with a gift for friendship, his life - revealed above all in his letters - became a model for how to live a literary life, how to reconcile the study of pagan literature with sincere Christian belief, and how the study of ancient languages and literatures could serve both true religion and the public world of princes and republics, as well as promote moral excellence in mankind as a whole. He gave the humanities a set of ideals that they fed upon for centuries. He taught how the civic virtues and philosophical wisdom of the pagans could be combined with Christian teachings to produce a richer civilization. He taught that the humanistic study of antiquity could transform lives and bring back virtue as a personal and public ideal. He more than anyone planted the great tree of Christian classicism which flourished in the West down to modern times."-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.