The Age of Humanism: Petrarch ’ s Role

1. The Age of Humanism: Petrarch’s Role Gooch, Taylor, Sanju, Neena

2. Beginnings of Humanism • Early Humanism formed in a culture spiritually determined by mendicant friars • Voluntary poverty was the center of true Christian conduct

3. In the fourteenth century, scholarship shifted from the hands of the Church to the hands of laymen such as lawyers and doctors. • These men revived the classical studies of Greece and Rome • Instead of focusing exclusively on God and religion, they were more interested in human aspects such as culture, society, and values.

4. Principles of Humanism • Salutati • Man is responsible for his good or bad deeds • God does not control a man’s will or morality • It is better to benefit others by living an active public life than to live as a monk, which does not benefit anyone other than the monk

5. Principles of Humanism • Bruni • Medieval values of piety, humility, and poverty not important • Attitudes about wealth, credit finances, and usury modified • Pagan elements introduced into Christian culture

6. Emphasized the dignity and worth of the individual • People are rational beings who possess within themselves the capacity for truth and goodness • Emphasized the value of the Greek and Latin classics for their own sake, rather than for their relevance to Christianity • Collection and translation of classical manuscripts • Inspired by Plato (Aristotle inspired medieval scholarship) • Centered around education • Attempted to develop the character and intelligence of pupils by a general literary study of the ancient classics

7. Interested in grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and ethics as an alternative to the Scholastic curriculum which laid emphasis on logic, natural philosophy (science), medicine, law, and theology • Humanism was mostly a new educational discipline, not a philosophy of life • To write well and speak effectively, it is necessary to closely study and to imitate the ancient classics • Created a new mental outlook by establishing that the study of ancient literature and the writing of new works based on this inspiration contributes directly to the dignity, usefulness, and happiness of human beings

8. Factions of Humanism • Stoic—Rely on the power of reason alone to achieve contentment • Neither material goods nor misfortune should have any meaning • Stoicism in a Christian framework was popular in intellectual circles as a remedy for the affluent and commercialized age • Life of poverty is necessary for a wise man’s independence of mind • Every step from poverty to wealth was bound to increase human desire, greed, passion, unrest, and misery • NeoPlatonist- Focused on classical manuscripts • Aristotelian- Academics

9. Francesco Petrarch • Born in Arezzo in 1304 after his father was banished from Florence • Began to study law in 1316 because his father wanted him to • His father died in 1326 and Petrarch abandoned his legal studies; discovered Cicero, Vergil, and the Latin classics; began his exclusive devotion to literature

10. In 1327 he accepted minor ecclesiastical vows but did not accept powerful or prestigious positions • Traveled through Europe 1327-1336 • Given the title of Poet Laureate in 1340 • Returned permanently to Italy in 1353

11. Great boldness Influenced solely by ancient philosophers Ignored his “true self” because of too many distractions (fame, success of Laura sonnets, title of Poet Laureate) Awareness of the insufficiency of his earlier way of life Need to identify more closely with contemporary ways of thinking introduced during the Christian Era Two Periods of Petrarch’s Life

12. The First Modern Intellectual • Petrarch had a deep understanding of what ancient Latin and Greek literature had been in antiquity • He was very interested in making literature the greatest of intellectual activities • Founded philology, the systematic and scientific study of all literary and linguistic phenomena • Made poetry his sole profession

13. Petrarch and Politics • He was not involved in politics • He had a sentimental and intellectual attachment to Italy • He was interested in individual affairs, not in political affairs • He viewed Italy as a centralized unity under Rome and, influenced by the history of classical times, had ideas of a republic or a universal empire • Petrarch believed that the Vita solitaria was the supreme standard for living • A truly wise man is focused on intellectual and spiritual matters, not distracting political problems

14. Petrarch and Solitude • He felt that being alone, in the absence of avarice, was the secret to happiness • He was happiest when he lived by himself in his country home • He never truly integrated into any group or society that he joined • Autonomy and freedom were needed to apply himself to his humanistic studies

15. Petrarch and wealth • Petrarch hated wealth, power, and external honors • It was not the wealth itself that he hated, but the anxiety, toil, and trouble connected with it • He said he would rather live in bitter, abject poverty than be wealthy • At another time, however, he said that he would rather be wealthy because living in poverty is only bearable for those who do it in the name of Christ • One should not escape wealth, but one should not possess it “with an avaricious mind”

16. Petrarch as a Humanist • Felt that all of Medieval culture was uniformly barbarous…classical-minded scholars and poets were needed to lead humanity away from the arid Scholastic rationalizing and the cultural degradation into which it had been sunk • Influenced by Horace, Lucan, Statius, Persius, Juvenal, Martial, Cicero, Livy, Seneca, and Caesar

17. Petrarch’s Contributions to Humanism • Recognition of the true features of classical Latin prose and poetry • Passion for collecting ancient manuscripts • Perception that the future of classical scholarship depended upon the recovery of Greek works • Support for Humanism among the rich and powerful • Reconciliation between pagan and Christian ways of thinking

18. Petrarch’s Influence on Humanism • Petrarch was concerned with individual matters, not general problems • As a consequence, few humanists of the next generations were directly influenced by him • Petrarch did not influence many of his fellow humanists, either, because his life was so different than theirs (isolationism) • However, Petrarch is still considered to be the father of Humanism because he broke with tradition and completely changed the way people thought, learned, and lived.