Albertino found ready to hand as he attempted to awaken
his fellow citizens to the danger of renewed aggression
by the Veronese. He was inspired to cast this tale in the
form of a Senecan tragedy, Thyestes, and thus wrote the
fi rst tragedy since antiquity. It was for Ecerinis that Al-
bertino was crowned with laurels, just as Rolandino had
been crowned for the Chronicles. However, Albertino
failed in his goal of awakening Padua, and Cangrande
conquered the city in 1328. Because of his staunch
political opposition to Cangrande, Albertino went into
exile; he died at Chioggia on 31 May 1329.
Further Reading
Editions
Albertino Mussato. Thesaurus antiquitatum et historiarum
italiae, ed. Graevius. Leyden, 1722, Vol. 6(2). (Poems.)
——. Rerum italicarum scriptores, ed. L. A. Muratori. Milan,
1727, Vol. 10. (Histories.)
——. Ecerinide, ed. L. Padrin. Bologna, 1900.
——. Mussato’s “Ecerinis” and Loschi’s “Achilles,” trans. Joseph
R. Berrigan. Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 1975.
Critical Studies
Berrigan, Joseph R. “The Ecerinis: A Prehumanist View of Tyr-
anny.” Delta Epsilon Sigma Bulletin, 12, 1967, pp. 71–86.
——. “Early Neo-Latin Tragedy in Italy.” In Acta Conventus
Neo-Latini Lovaniensis. Leuven: Leuven University Press,
1973, pp. 85–93.
––––. “A Tale of Two Cities: Verona and Padua in the Late
Middle Ages.” In Art and Politics in Late Medieval and Early
Renaissance Italy, 1250 – 1500 , ed. Charles M. Rosenberg.
Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990,
pp. 67–80.
Billanovich, Giuseppe. I primi umanisti e le tradizioni dei classici
latini. Fribourg: Edizioni Universitarie, 1953.
Billanovich, Guido. “Veterum vestigia vatum nei carmi dei
preumanisti padovani.” Italia Medioevale e Umanistica, 1,
1958, pp. 155–243.
Cosenza, Mario. Biographical and Bibliographical Diction-
ary of Italian Humanists. Boston, Mass., 1962, Vol. 3, pp.
2396–2398; Vol. 5, pp. 1223–1224.
Dazzi, Manlio Torquato. Il Mussato preumanista (1261–1329):
L’ambiente e l’opera. Vicenza: Neri Pozza, 1964.
Hyde, J. K. Padua in the Age of Dante. Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1966.
Martellotti, Guido. “Mussato, Albertino.” In Enciclopedia Dan-
tesca. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1984, Vol.
3, pp. 1066–1068.
Raimondi, Ezio. “L’Ecerinis di Albertino Mussato.” In Studi Ez-
zeliniani, Fasc. 45–47 of Studi storici. Rome: Istimto Storico
Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1963, pp. 189–203.
Weiss, Roberto. The Dawn of Humanism in Italy. London:
Lewis, 1947.
Joseph R. Berrigan
ALBERTUS MAGNUS (ca. 1200–1280)
Also known as “Albert the Great” and “Universal Doc-
tor,” Albertus Magnus was a Dominican theologian,
philosopher, scientist, and saint. One of the most famous
medieval precursors of modern science and best known
today as the teacher of Thomas Aquinas, Albert was re-
nowned in his own day for his encyclopedic knowledge,
his voluminous writings, and his interpretive rendering
of Arabic Aristotelian sources into Latin. In part due to
spurious works given his name, he gained further repute
after his death and into the Renaissance as a magician
and alchemist. Albert introduced his own sort of Aris-
totelian scholasticism to the Dominican houses of study
he founded in Germany, and Albertist Aristotelianism
became one strain of the scholastic via antique (old path)
that endured in German universities.
Born in Lauingen, Bavaria, Albert fi rst studied at
Padua, joined the Dominicans in 1223, and went to
Cologne to study theology. He moved to Paris (1241) to
complete his master in theology (1245), and was the fi rst
German to hold a chair of theology there. He lectured
at Paris until returning to Cologne (1248) to found the
Dominican precursor to the university, studium generale.
Thomas Aquinas, Ulrich of Strassburg, and Giles of
Lessines were among his students during these years.
Made provincial of German Dominicans (1254), Albert
acted as arbiter in many diffi cult ecclesial and political
disputes, one of which led to his being made bishop of
Regensburg briefl y in the 1260s. Sent to all Germany
by Pope Urban IV to preach the Crusade in 1263–1264,
he thereafter resided mostly in Cologne, although he
traveled on foot continuously throughout Germany, as
well as to France and to Italy. Albert preached, taught
theology, and wrote continuously from the 1230s until
just before his death in 1280.ALBERTUS MAGNUSFra Angelico (1387–1455); Saint Albertus Magnus, roundel.
Detail from the Crucifi xion. © Scala/Art Resource, New York.