PETRARCH

born July 20, 1304, Arezzo, Tuscany died July 18/19, 1374, Arqu, near Padua, Carrara Italian in full Francesco Petrarca Italian scholar, poet, and Humanist whose poems addressed to Laura, an idealized beloved, contributed to the Renaissance flowering of lyric poetry. Petrarch's inquiring mind and love of classical authors led him to travel, visiting men of learning and searching monastic libraries for classical manuscripts. He was regarded as the greatest scholar of his age. Additional reading M. Fowler, Catalogue of the Petrarch Collection Bequeathed by Willard Fiske (1916), an exhaustive guide to all the early editions of Petrarch and works concerning him; Abb de Sade, Mmoires pour la vie de Franois Ptrarque, 3 vol. (1764-67), a standard biography of Petrarch; E.H. Wilkins, The Making of the Canzoniere and Other Petrarchan Studies (1951), Studies in the Life and Works of Petrarch (1955), Petrarch's Eight Years in Milan (1958), Petrarch's Later Years (1959), and Life of Petrarch (1961), a major American contribution to Petrarch scholarship; Pierre de Nolhac, Ptrarque et l'humanisme, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1907), and Petrarch and the Ancient World (1907), an abridged version of the great work by de Nolhac; Hans Baron, From Petrarch to Leonardo Bruni (1968); G. Billanovich, Petrarca letterato (1947); U. Bosco, Francesco Petrarca, 2nd ed. (1961), an excellent general Italian presentation of Petrarch; N. Sapegno in vol. 2 of the Cecchi-Sapegno Storia della letteratura italiana (1965), with copious bibliography; Aldo Scaglione, Francis Petrarch, Six Centuries Later (1975), essays; and Stephen Minta, Petrarch and Petrarchism: The English and French Traditions (1980), commentaries on and selections of poets writing in the Petrarchan tradition. Major Works: The chronology of Petrarch's works is difficult to ascertain because the poet habitually and heavily revised everything he wrote. His collected works (Opera) were published in 1554 and 1581. Epistolae metricae (he worked on the collection in three phases: 1350, 1357, and 1363; ed. by D. Rossetti, Poesie minori del Petrarca, 1831); Africa (begun 1338 or 1339; published posthumously 1396; critical edition by N. Festa, 1926); De viris illustribus (begun 1338-39; revised 1341-43, and again 1351-53; later replanned with the title Quorundam virorum illustrium epithoma, preface by Petrarch, completed by his disciple Lombardo della Seta; ed. by L. Razzolini, 1874-79); Secretum meum (1342-43, revised 1353-58; ed. by E. Carrara in Prose, 1955); De vita solitaria (1346 and later-one addition of 1371; ed. by G. Martellotti in Prose, 1955); De otio religioso (1347, revised and enlarged 1357; ed. by G. Rotondi, 1958); Familiarium rerum libri xxiv (arrangement of the letters begun 1351-53, i-viii; 1359-60, ix-xix; 1363-64, xx-xxiii; 1366, xxiv; critical edition by V. Rossi and U. Bosco, 1933-42); De remediis utriusque fortunae (begun 1354; published 1366; Petrarch probably returned to it later); Senilium rerum libri (after 1361 to 1374); Posteritati (first draft before 1367; additions 1370-72; ed. by E. Carrara and P.G. Ricci in Prose, 1955); De sui ipsius et multorum ignorantia (written 1367, published 1371; ed. by L.M. Cappelli, 1906).