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History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 52, Renaissance Men 3:
march 22, 2004:
In this essay I continue with the study of Renaissance men.
Last time I discussed Petrarch. An ally of Petrarch was another poet and writer Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375). Although born in France, Giovanni was Italian. In poetry, his earlier works were such that no less than Chaucer and Shakespear found them inspirational. Not just a poet he wrote the famous Decameron. This was a collection of 100 witty stories that became a model for future Italian prose. His work acquired the stature of the old classics of literature.
Giovanni met Petrarch in Florence in 1350 and became something of a disciple to the extent that he invested his remaining life in the study of humanist issues. Together these two men laid the foundations for the humanist movement and the revival of the classic ideals and writings. Giovanni produce many important works in areas as diverse as anthropology, biography, and mythology.
Like Petrarch, Giovanni was a true Renaissance man in every way and in some ways went even farther that Petrarch. He helped raise the modern literature to the level of the classics. He worked not only in poetry, but in modern prose as well. He also made efforts to reinterpret the ancient classic texts.
It is important to understand that both Geovanni and Petrarch lived through the period of the so called Black Death that ravaged Europe in the 14th century. This was no trivial adversary. There were no miracle drugs around to mitigate the effect. In less than 20 years it annihilated some 50 percent of the population. Wealthy or poor, it spared no one. In Europe about 25 million people died and about one thousand towns and villages disappeared completely. That these guys could think and create at all in such an environment is something of a miracle.
Lest I give the impression that all scholastic philosophers were some kind of antediluvian mossbacks let us look at Nicholas Oresme (1320-1382), Oresme was a Frenchman who was a bishop in the church. In addition to being a scholastic philosopher he was an economist and mathematician. He is credited with creating a basis for the development of modern mathematics. Later, Descartes was able to build on that in his development of analytic geometry. Oresme also laid some groundwork for modern science and French prose, In particularly he gave French prose its scientific vocabulary.
Oresme did much work at the request of King Charles V of France, including translations of some of Aristotle's work. In his own works he rejected some of Aristotle's concepts of space and time. He also has some influence on the economic policies of King Charles. He argued that money belongs to the people, not the prince, therefore the prince has no right to devalue the currency. He opposed astrology on both scientific and religious grounds. Much of his work influenced the future direction of renaissance science.
Another humanist, Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406), was more of a politician than philosopher. Salutiati became chancellor of the elected lords of Florence in 1375 and held the post for 31 years. From that we can guess he was good at his job. One of his main activities was criticizing other states in what are called his Latin letters. It that he was so effective that he earned the grudging phrase of such notables as the Duke of Milan who felt the sting of his criticisms. He is more noted for his essays and letters on humanist philosophy. He gave council and encouragement to a number of humanist philosophers including the Byzantine scholar Manuel Chrysoloras.
Manuel Chrysoloras (1353-1415) was a Greek scholar who was sent to Italy by his emperor to get help against the Ottorman Turks. That did out work out, but Chrysoloras remained in Florence where he taught Greek and translated Homer and Plato. One of his works was the Latin translation of Plato's Republic. He was also active in trying to arrange for a general council to consider union of the Greek and Latin churches. He was a pioneer in opening the classic Greek literature to the men of the renaissance.
A student of Chrysoloras at Constantinople was Guarino da Verona (1370-1446). He was another Italian Humanist and classical scholar. When he returned to Italy, he brought with him an invaluable collection of manuscripts. Not just a humanist, Guarino was a skilled linguist who did translations and worked with Greek and Latin Churchmen at the council of Ferrara-Florence.
This council was just a continuation of the Council of Basel. It began in Basel, was moved by Pope Eugenisu IV to Ferrara. Later the plague drove it out of Ferrara and it was moved to Florence. Later it moved to Rome. All of this took place over many years. This whole enterprise was part of the ongoing attempt to reconcile the schism between the Roman and Greek churches. There were some heavy hitters involved including the Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaeologus. Though there was an apparent agreement, the Greeks quickly repudiated it and the whole thing came to naught in the end.
Another Chancellor of Florence was Leonardo Bruni (1370 1444). He was a humanist scholar who wrote the first history of Florence based on his examination of the facts from available material. He also did many translations of the classics and wrote biographies of such notables as Dante, Petrarch, and Giovanni.
Now let us look at Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446). Brunelleschie was an outstanding architect and engineer. He was an innovator in the early Renaissance architecture of Italy. He is best known for the dome of the Florence Cathedral which was built with special machinery that Brunelleschi invented for that specific task.
In some earlier achievement Brunelleschi rediscovered the principles of linear-perspective. This involves the concept of the single vanishing point in architectural drawing and the relationship between distance and the diminishing size of objects in space. It was a rediscovery, because these things were known to the Greeks and Romans, but were lost. Brunelleschi demonstrated these things, but he did not bother to write them down. That was done later by Leon Battista Alberti. So it goes. Even so, Brunelleschi is considered to be the pioneer of renaissance architecture.
In education the renaissance produced another giant in Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446). We might think of this man as a true modern liberal educator. A humanist scholar, he studied and taught at the University of Padua. He was so well regarded that the Gonzaga family, rulers of Mantua, tapped him to be their kid's tutor. He did more than that. He set up a school, independent of the court where he enrolled the prince's kids along with 60 others. He included among these some poor youngsters just based on their aptitude. Shades of John Dewey.
Vittorino taught languages, literature of Rome and Greece,
arithmetic, geometry, and music. He also included games and physical
exercises. He was a proponent of the Greek ideal of development
of the body as well as of the mind. In addition, he rejected corporal
punishment, He was tutor to future rulers and professionals as
well as scholars. In that, he helped inspire some of the best
minds of the renaissance.
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