LIFE

Preface of the Distinguished Jurist, Master Antonio da Tempo, to the most invincible Lord Federico, Marquess of Mantua, regarding the interpretation he composed for the Sonnets and Songs of Master Francesco Petrarch.

Incoming is the life and the commentary upon the Sonnets and Songs of the most excellent poet, Master Francesco Petrarch, arranged by way of arguments and summaries, composed and compiled by the most learned Jurist, Master Antonio da Tempo Antonio da Tempo (active 14th century) was a judge and poet from Padua, famous for writing an early treatise on Italian vernacular poetry., with some additions by another whose name and learning, out of excellence, he did not care to mention further. Having found this work scattered like leaves in the wind during Autumn, I, Domenico, son of Gasparo Siliprando, have collected it with great effort and late-night study. I have destined this labor of mine to continue, and thus to have it printed and to make a gift of these prints—though small, original: "quamvis picolo tamen assai gentile" yet very noble and worthy of the learning, wit, and excellence of you, my lord, Master Federico of the eminent Italian family of Gonzaga Federico II Gonzaga (1500–1540), the Marquess (and later Duke) of Mantua, was a major patron of the arts during the Renaissance.. I pray your Most Illustrious Lordship to be pleased to accept this work as it is, and not to judge it before understanding how it was made, nor to refuse it before reading. I certainly believe you will find food for your stomach here, and good sentiments expressed with the utmost brevity. Hearing that your Lordship has been given? another small Latin work, no less worthy, I shall make our territory? a participant in it, as is my duty and convenience toward you, my Illustrious Lord. However, I do not wish for even the slightest merit or praise to be ascribed to me by you, my Lord, but I pray your Lordship to remember me if anything else should please you, and to deign to command me as a subject servant? of yours, my Lord, praying that you take everything I do in good part, as I have no other end toward your Lordship, to whom I commend myself.

THE LIFE OF MASTER FRANCESCO PETRARCH BY ANTONIO DA TEMPO.

Petrarch, the son of Petracco The text says "parentio," a variation of Petracco, the name of Petrarch’s father., a Florentine citizen descended from a quite ancient and honest family; their origin was from the village of Incisa, near Florence about fourteen miles away. His father was a prudent and active man, employed by the Republic in many very grave cases, and was for some time the scribe over its reformations. Later, contaminated by the factions, he was expelled along with many others of the "White" party The "White Guelphs" were a political faction in Florence; Petrarch's family was exiled at the same time as the poet Dante Alighieri. from Florence and sent into exile to Arezzo. Having lived there for some time, he had two sons, the first of whom was named Gherardo; he became a Carthusian monk, and persevering in that life, ended his days with a good reputation. The other was called Francesco, later surnamed Petrarch after his father's name. He was born in this last age of our Lord God Jesus Christ, in 1304, on the Kalends of August August 1st., on a Monday at dawn. He stayed in Arezzo for the first year of his infancy and the six following in the aforementioned Incisa. In his eighth year, he lived in Pisa, and at this time, his father—having lost hope of returning to Florence—went to Avignon, where the Roman Court The Papacy, which moved from Rome to Avignon, France, from 1309 to 1376. had recently been transferred. There, rising with moral character and subtlety of wit, both here and at Carpentras (a small city near Avignon), he learned Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric Trivium These three subjects formed the "Trivium," the foundation of a medieval liberal arts education. as much as was possible in such a school for his age. Afterward, by his father's command, he stayed for four years to study law at Montpellier, and from there to Bologna. Persevering there for three years, he learned the entire body of Civil Law Civil Law Roman law as preserved in the Justinian Code, the standard legal curriculum of the time. as a young man; he would have reached great perfection in it had he continued such study. But his nature, which was drawn to higher things, secretly preferred?—despite his father—to turn all his thoughts toward the study of the humanities humanities The "studia humanitatis," focusing on classical literature, history, and philosophy, which Petrarch helped define.. Later, after his mother was recalled from exile and his father passed from this life, he removed himself entirely from the law; not because the authority of the laws displeased him, but because their use had been corrupted by the malice of men, and it was hardly possible to use them without vice. Giving himself openly to philosophy and the liberal arts, he possessed such grace of wit that he was the first to recall to the light these sublime studies, which had for a long time fallen into oblivion. During this time, being already twenty-three years of age, he returned to Avignon, and going on Good Friday, which was the sixth of April...