after to add luster to the studia in other Italian cities.
On 15 August 1330, Robert of Anjou invited Cino to
teach civil law at the university in Naples, but Cino
remained there for only one year. Some reasons for
his brief stay may be found in the satirical poem Deb,
quando rivedrò il dolce paese, in which he rails against
the vile untutored citizenry, the enviousness of his legal
colleagues, and the generally disreputable nature of the
city. Robert—although he may have considered Cino,
and Cino’s political beliefs, distasteful—held Lectura
in codicem in high esteem, acquiring a personal copy
in 1332.
During the last four years of his life Cino was in
Florence, Perugia, and Pistoia. In Pistoia on 13 July
1334, he was elected gonfaloniere (standard-bearer) for
August and September. Perhaps because of ill health,
he resigned that post, but on 31 March 1336 his fel-
low citizens elected him to the consiglio del popolo
(“council of the people”) for a six-month term. After
the fi rst signs of his fi nal illness began on 12 December
1336, Cino made his will on 23 December. He died
shortly thereafter, either in late December 1336 or in
early January 1337. Because Cino’s son Mino had died
earlier, Mino’s son Francesco—Cino’s grandson—was
named an heir, with Cino’s four daughters (Diamante,
Giovanna, Lornbarduccia, and Beatrice) as legatarie.
Cino was buried with honor in the cathedral of San
Jacopo of Pistoia, and a funereal monument was erected
near the altar of the Porrine in 1337. In the sculptural
relief Cino is remembered as a teacher (twice), but not
as a politician, jurist, or poet.
Nevertheless, it is for his poetry that Cino is most
often remembered. In addition to his synthesis of vari-
ous stilnovistic elements, Cino’s basic contribution
to the lyric tradition was his objective psychologi-
cal realism, which manifested itself in the intensely
personal, almost confessional tone of his poems; and
in this regard he serves as a bridge between the dolce
stil nuovo and Petrarch. Because of his extreme versatil-
ity as a poet, Cino was able to mediate among various
“schools” and individual poets, compose lyrics in a
number of modes and styles, and ultimately profi t from
and contribute directly to the several major literary
currents of his time. Cino enjoyed literary and personal
friendships with the greatest contemporary Italian
poets, all of whom regarded him with much admi-
ration: in addition to Dante’s praise in De vulgari
eloquentia, Boccaccio paid him tribute by incorporat-
ing almost all of his canzone La dolce vista e ‘l bel
guardo soave in Filostrato (5.62–65), and Petrarch
lamented his death in the sonnet Piangete, donne, et
con voi pianga Amore.
See also Dante Alighieri; Henry VII of Luxembourg;
Petrarca, Francesco
Further Reading
Editions
Cino da Pistoia. Le rime di Cino da Pistoia, ed. Guido Zaccag-
nini. Biblioteca dell’ Archivum Romanicum, Series 1, Vol. 4.
Geneva: Olschki, 1925.
Poeti del dolce stil nuovo, ed. Mario Marti. Florence: Le Monnier,- Rimatori del dolce stil novo, ed. Luigi di Benedetto.
Scrittori d’ltalia, 172. Bari: Laterza, 1939.
Critical Studies
Chiappelli, Luigi. Vita e opere giuridiche di Cino da Pistoia
con molti documenti inediti. Pistoia: Tip. Cino dei Fratelli
Bracali, 1881.
——. Nuove ricerche su Cino da Pistoia. Pistoia: Offi cina Tipo-
grafi ca Cooperativa, 1911.
Colloquio Cino da Pistoia (Roma, 25 ottobre 1975). Rome: Ac-
cademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1976.
Corti, Maria. “Il linguaggio poetico di Cino da Pistoia.” Cultura
Neolatina, 12, 1952, pp. 185–223.
De Robertis, Domenico. “Cino e le ‘imitazioni’ dalle rime di
Dante.” Studi Danteschi, 29, 1950, pp. 103–177.
——. “Cino e i poeti bolognesi.” Giornale Storico della Let-
teratura Italiana, 128, 1951, pp. 273–312.
——. “Cino da Pistoia e la crisi del linguaggio poetico.” Con-
vivium, 1952, pp. 1–35.
——. “Cino da Pistoia.” In I Minori. Milan: Marzorati, 1961,
pp. 285–306.
Hollander, Robert. “Dante and Cino da Pistoia.” Dante Studies,
110, 1992, pp. 201–231.
Kleinhenz, Christopher. The Early Italian Sonnet: The First
Century (1220–1321). Lecce: Milella, 1986.
——. “Cino da Pistoia and the Italian Lyric Tradition.” In
L’imaginaire courtois et son double, ed. Giovanna Angeli and
Luciano Formisano. Naples: Edizioni Scientifi che Italiane,
1992, pp. 147–163.
Monti, Gennaro Maria. Cino da Pistoia giurista. Città di Casrello:
Il Solco, 1924.
Treves, E. “La satira di Cino da Pistoia contro Napoli.” Giornale
Storico della Letteratura Italiana, 58, 1911, pp. 122–139.
Zaccagnini, Guido. Cino da Pistoia: Studio biografi co. Pistoia:
Pagnini, 1918.
Christopher Kleinhenz
CLARE, SAINT (1193 or 1194–1253)
Clare (in Italian, Chiara) was among the earliest follow-
ers of Saint Francis, and founder with him of the second
order of Franciscans, better known as the Poor Clares.
Clare renounced her worldly possessions to follow
Francis c. 1212. Before long, she was joined by a num-
ber of other women devoted to Franciscan ideals, and
c. 1215 Francis himself named her the abbess of a new
foundation for women at San Damiano, near Assisi. The
second order grew from this community, of which Clare
remained head until her death; its fi rst rule was granted
in 1219 by Cardinal Ugolino (later Pope Gregory IX).
Thereafter, numerous daughter houses were founded in
Italy and eventually throughout Europe. The austerity
of the Poor Clares went far beyond anything previously
practiced by religious women, especially after modifi ca-
tions in the rule granted by Pope Innocent IV in 1247CINO DA PISTOIA