Petrarch, Francesco Petrarca 1304-74
Italian poet and scholar, one of the earliest and greatest of modern lyric poets

Petrarch was the son of a Florentine notary, who was exiled in 1302 along with Dante and settled in Arezzo, where Francesco was born. In 1312 his father went to Avignon, then the seat of the papal court, and there and in Bologna Francesco devoted himself with enthusiasm to the study of the classics. After his father's death Petrarch returned to Avignon (1326). To obtain an income he became a churchman, although perhaps not a priest, and he lived on the small benefices conferred by his many patrons.

It was at this period (1327) that he first saw Laura (possibly Laure de Noves, married in 1325 to Hugo de Sade; she died, the mother of 11 children, in 1348). She inspired him with a passion which has become proverbial for its constancy and purity. Also at this time he began his friendship with the powerful Roman family of the Colonnas. As the fame of Petrarch's learning and genius grew, his position became one of unprecedented influence, and the most powerful sovereigns of the day competed for his presence at their courts. He travelled repeatedly in France, Germany and Flanders, searching for manuscripts. In Li�ge he found two new orations of Cicero, in Verona a collection of his letters, and in Florence an unknown portion of Quintilian.

Invited by the Senate of Rome on Easter Sunday, 1341, he ascended the Capitol clad in the robes of his friend and admirer, King Robert of Naples, and there, after delivering an oration, he was crowned Poet Laureate. In 1353, after the death of Laura and his friend Cardinal Colonna, he left Avignon and his country house at Vaucluse for ever, disgusted with the corruption of the papal court. His remaining years were passed in various different towns of northern Italy.

Bibliography: Petrarch may be considered as the earliest of the great humanists of the Renaissance. He himself chiefly founded his claim to fame on his epic poem Africa, the hero of which is Scipio Africanus, and his historical work in prose De Viris Illustribus, a series of biographies of classical celebrities. Other Latin works are the eclogues and epistles in verse; and in prose the dialogues De Contemptu Mundi (or Secretum), the treatises De Otio Religiosorum and De Vita Solitaria, and his letters - he was in constant correspondence with Boccaccio. It is as a poet that his fame has lasted for over five centuries. His title deeds to fame are in his Canzoniere, in the Italian sonnets, madrigals, and songs, almost all inspired by his unrequited passion for Laura. The Opera Omnia appeared at Basle in 1554. His Italian lyrics were published in 1470, and have since gone through innumerable editions. See also K Foster, Petrarch (1987) and T Bergin, Petrarch (1970).