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<youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v==Introduction==pdbuYbxMy8A</youtube> The Italian Renaissance produced many outstanding artists, writers, and thinkers and one of the greatest figures of this era was Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374). He was a great poet, philosopher and writer. The Italian was to have a profound impact on the poetry of the Renaissance not only in Italy but throughout Europe. He was also one of the pioneers in the ‘humanist’ movement which radically transformed the worldview of Europeans and their culture and society. Moreover, the Italian can be said to have invented the concept of the Renaissance, which he defined as a return to classical values after the ‘Dark Ages’ of the Medieval World. __NOTOC__
[[File: Petrarch One.jpg |200px|thumb|left|A contemporary drawing of Petrarch]]
The Italian Renaissance produced many outstanding artists, writers, and thinkers and one of the greatest figures of this era was Francesco Petrarcha (1304-1374). He was a great poet, philosopher, and writer. The Italian was to profoundly impact the Renaissance's poetry, not only in Italy but throughout Europe.
He was also one of the pioneers in the ‘humanist’ movement, which radically transformed Europeans' worldviews and culture and society. Moreover, the Italian can be said to have invented the Renaissance concept, which he defined as a return to classical values after the ‘Dark Ages’ of the Medieval World.
==What was Europe like in the 14th century? ==
The 14th century was, in many ways, a time of disaster and darkness. It was marked by terrible wars, famines, and of course, the Black Death, the most lethal pandemic known in European history. However, despite these disasters, there were dramatic changes in European societies. There was an increase in long-distance trade and urbanization, and feudal society began to break down in many areas. The Catholic Church was dominant, and it influenced every aspect of life in Europe. However, it was corrupt and worldly and was riven by disputes. These problems lead many people to adopt a more secular worldview and reconsider key beliefs such as humanity's imperfectability.
The most advanced region of Europe at this time was Italy. It was a patchwork of city-states that had become centers of trade and industry. The peninsula was also the heir of the Roman Empire, and the wealthy urban elite increasingly became interested in the classical world. These led to dramatic cultural changes and new ways of looking at the world, and novel forms of artistic expression that soon spread beyond Italy by the 15th century.
== How did Petrarch become a famous author? ==
[[File: Petrarch 3.jpg|300px|thumb|left|The real-life Laura was Laura De Noves]]
Francesco Petrarch (in Italian Petrarca) was born in Arezzo in Northern Italy. His father was a lawyer and a member of the minor nobility. He spent some of his early childhood in a village near Florence, and his family later moved to Avignon in Southern France. His father followed the Pope's court, who moved to Avignon to escape Rome's disorders and instability.
Petrarch’s father obliged him to study law, but he later abandoned it, his first love was literature, and during his school years, he developed a life-long love of Latin and the ancient world. The young Francesco entered the church and took minor orders. This meant that while he was a cleric, he was able to live and work in society. The young Italian was in financially straitened circumstances after his father's death, and he began to serve the powerful Cardinal Colonna.
Petrarch was a diplomat, and he had a very cosmopolitan outlook, which was very rare in the 14th century. One day while attending mass in 1327, he saw a lady at mass called Laura, whom he fell in love with at first sight, and she became his muse and inspired most of his greatest poetry. During his travels on diplomatic missions, he would write poetry in praise of Laura. Some have argued that Laura was fictional, a poetic device, but most believe she was a real historical figure. She was probably the wife of a local count and died in 1348. Petrarch became famous throughout Europe after the circulation of his Epic in Latin, Africa, based on a Roman general's life.
In 1341, he was invited to Rome and was crowned as Poet Laureate, only the second poet to be honored in this way since the fall of the Empire. <ref> Larner, John. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0582491495/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0582491495&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=58bcbc87c3d5373957814ad9e0794770 Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch, 1216-1380. Vol. 2] (London, Longman Publishing Group, 1980), p 118</ref> He also became friendly with many of the greatest writers of his time, such as Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), the author of the Decameron. The Italian was a great letter-writer and was in correspondence with the leading thinkers of his time. Sometime in 1346, it seems that Petrarch had a spiritual crisis, and he became more religious. But he did not abandon his love of the classics and the classical world.<ref>Larner, Vol I, p 201</ref>
His fame continued to grow, and he was sent on a more diplomatic mission by the Church. The Italian was an early supporter of Cola Rienzi, who failed to resurrect the Roman Republic and restore a popular government in Rome. This made him very unpopular with some of the leading Church figures of the day and possibly harmed his diplomatic career. After 1350 he traveled less and began to dedicate himself more to poetry. He revised many of his earlier lyrics, especially Italian, and he collected these in his famous Il Canzoniere (Song Book).
Despite taking orders, as a cleric, Petrarch, fathered two children outside of marriage and legitimized both a son and a daughter. He had a deep interest in education and became involved in some polemics against those who championed the traditional approach to education, which was largely influenced by the Church's teachings.<ref> Mazzotta, Giuseppe. The worlds of Petrarch. No. 14 (North Carolina, Duke University Press, 1993), p. 119.</ref>In the 1360s, he settled in Florence and later Padua but had to move regularly because of outbreaks of the Black Death. In 1367 he returned to Padua and remained there until he died in 1374.
==Europe in the 14th centuryWhat was Petrarch's impact on Renaissance literature? ==The 14th century was <dh-ad/>While Petrarch wrote in many ways a time of disaster both Latin andItalian, darkness. It was marked by terrible warsit is arguably his works, famines and of course the Black Deathespecially his poetry in his native tongue, the that was most lethal pandemic, known in European historyinfluential. However, despite tthese disasters there were dramatic changes in European societies. There was an increase in long distance trade and urbanisation and feudal society began Vernacular poetry had begun to break down flourish in many areas. The Catholic Church was dominant, the 13th and it influenced every aspect of life in Europe. However14th centuries, it was corrupt and worldly and was riven by disputes. This all was leading many to adopt a more secular view the works of the world Dante and to reconsider key beliefs such as the imperfectability Sicilian School are still considered masterpieces of humanityEuropean literature.<ref> Burckhardt, Jacob. The most advanced area Civilization of Europe at this time was the Renaissance in Italy. It (London, Penguin Books, 1990), p 117</ref> Dante, one of the world’s greatest poets, was a patch-work friend of city-states which Petrarch’s father. The writer had become centres a major impact on the development of trade and industrypoetry in the Renaissance. The peninsula was also heir Petrarch is often credited as the sonnet's inventor, one of the Roman Empire and most popular poetic forms in the wealthy urban elite increasingly became interested western tradition. This is a fourteen-line poem in the classical worldmeter known as iambic pentameter. This led to dramatic cultural changes and new ways of looking at However, he really only perfected the world form, and novel ways of artistic expression, he introduced innovations that soon spread beyond Italy by the 15th centuryallowed poets to use language in a very expressive way.
==The Was Petrarch the First Humanist? ==[[File: Petrarch Two.jpg|300px|thumb|left| Mont Ventoux’ which inspired Petrarch to write one of the most important documents of the Renaissance]]Humanism was a cultural movement that valued human qualities, such as reason , and argued that this world had worth and valuemeaning, which was contrary to Christian teachings and . It taught that human agency could improve society and give dignity and meaning freedom to the individual life.<ref> Nauert, Charles G. Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe: Second Edition. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006), p 115</ref>. Petrarch is often regarded as the Father of Humanism. This is because he helped to popularize the study of the classical world and literaturestudy. He personally rediscovered many manuscripts in monasteries and had Greek works translated to Latin, so that they could be more readily read and studied. Petrarch believed that the study of the classics could enhance a person, intellectually and morally and this , which became axiomatic among humanists. The Italian in his works He encouraged his readers to take an interest in nature and helped to formulate a new aesthetic, which did not regard the world as a ‘vale of tears’ but as something that was beautiful and could help a person to develop spiritually .<ref>Naubert, p. 18.</ref>. His famous ‘Letter on the ‘Ascent of Mont Ventoux’ is regarded as a landmark, which argued that a delight in nature could be morally and spiritually uplifting.<ref> Petrarch Epistolae familiares (IV, 1) </ref>. This is held by many to have Petrarch initiated a the move to the world's re-discovery of the world after the Middle Ages and its focus on the life to come, which was a characteristic of the humanists. This ultimately led to the world's rational examination of the world and this , which had dramatic consequences in the fields as diverse as science, politics , and philosophy. Moreover, the poet in his writings was very much interested in the a person's interior life of a person and suggested that everyone had a rich inner life, a key tenet of humanism. He held that the individual was important, and this was radical for the time . <ref>. Bishop, Morris Petrarch , and His World. (Bloomington, Indiana. Indiana University Press 1963), p 118</ref> However, Petrarch was conflicted, he was a very religious man and , yet he admired the pagan classical world. He was ultimately able to resolve this by arguing that the classical and pagan world could help a person to become more moral and to achieve salvation. This did much to ensure that humanism and its love of the classical past was were acceptable in an Italy and Europe that was still staunchly Christian .<ref>Bishop. p. 201</ref>. [[File: Petrarch Two.jpg|200px|thumb|left| Mont Ventoux’ which inspired Petrarch to write one of the most important documents of the Renaissance]]==Inventing Did Petrarch Invent the Renaissance? ==In some ways, the poet was not only one of the most important figures in the Renaissance, in a sense he invented it. The Renaissance is widely seen as a period of ‘re-birth’ when Europe rediscovered classical values and in the process used the ancient past, for models which ultimately led to the development of more modern ways of thought <ref>Bishop, p. 213</ref>. Petrarch was the first to recognize that the study of the past by the humanists was a new period in history and one that would revive the glory of Rome and Greece. He portrayed it as distinct from previous centuries which he described as ignorant and a ‘Dark Age’ . This was not strictly true because learning in Europe had been growing since the 12th century. Indeed, many have argued that the Renaissance in Italy and elsewhere were a direct result of trends in the Middle Ages. Petrarch’s conception of the Renaissance as something distinct from the Medieval world has been profoundly influential and it remains so to this day<ref> Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy.
[[File: Petrarch four.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Petrarch from a 15th century Italian painting]]
In some ways, the poet was not only one of the most important figures in the Renaissance; he invented it in a sense. The Renaissance is widely seen as a period of ‘re-birth’ when Europe rediscovered classical values and, in the process, used the ancient past for models, which ultimately led to the development of more modern ways of thought.<ref>Bishop, p. 213</ref> Petrarch was the first to recognize that the study of the past by the humanists was a new period in history and one that would revive the glory of Rome and Greece. He portrayed it as distinct from previous centuries, which he described as ignorant and a ‘Dark Age.’
This was not strictly true because learning in Europe had been growing since the 12th century. Indeed, many have argued that the Renaissance in Italy and elsewhere were a direct result of trends in the Middle Ages. Petrarch’s conception of the Renaissance as something distinct from the Medieval world has been profoundly influential, and it remains so to this day<ref> Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy.
== Conclusion ==
Petrarch was undoubtedly one of the most significant influences on the Renaissance, not only in Italy but throughout Europe. His poetry inspired other poets in the period and later to examine their interior life and emotions and celebrate the natural world and see love as something spiritual. His literary forms, such as the sonnet and autobiography, persuaded many writers to adopt a more personal style. Petrarch was also, if not the ‘Father of Humanism’ certainly one of its leading lights.
For example, his works and scholarship did much to encourage an appreciation of the Graeco-Roman civilization. This was radical as it helped to counter the stifling influence of the Church and Papacy. His writings and philosophy promoted a more secular and rational worldview and promoted greater awareness of its importance. This had important repercussions and encouraged a belief that this world was important and not just salvation. This encouraged a rediscovery of the ancient world and a growing investigation of the world and society that led to a more modern outlook and was not wholly influenced by Christianity.
====Further Reading====
Petrarch. F. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674003462/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0674003462&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=8d4d4d3b70930d2aa653d7f7ecdc7f34 My Secret Book]</i>, (Secretum), translated by Nicholas Mann. Harvard University Press.
Petrarch, F. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RI8ZR8/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002RI8ZR8&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=4bee49c555d5352c5fcc100a5b77bf78 Canzoniere]</i>, translated by Anthony Mortimer (London: Penguin, 2002).
Minta, Stephen. <i>Petrarch and Petrarchism: the English and French Traditions</i> (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1980).