Traversari, Ambrogio (Fra Ambrogio, Ambrose of
Camaldoli) (c. 1386–1439) Italian humanist
He entered the Camaldolese Order in 1400, at the
monastery of Sta. Maria degli Angioli at Florence. From
1431 he was general of the order. At the Council of FLO-
RENCEhe strove to promote the union between the East-
ern and Western Churches. A scholar of refined taste and
the owner of a renowned collection of Greek patristic
manuscripts, he translated many of the Greek Fathers into
Latin. He supported the movement within the Roman
Catholic Church for the reform of abuses. Although never
canonized, he is commemorated on 20 November. His let-
ters and speeches were published in 1759.
Trecento (Italian, “three hundred”) The period of artistic
and cultural development in Italy during the 14th century.
This period was a prelude to the Renaissance of the fol-
lowing two centuries and witnessed the gradual transition
from Gothic ideals, despite the disruption caused by the
Black Death in 1348. Focused upon such cultural centers
as Florence, Siena, and Venice, the Trecento saw the emer-
gence of DANTE, the chief literary figure of the time, the
dominance of the PISANOfamily in the field of sculpture,
and the influence of DUCCIO, Simone MARTINI, the LOREN-
ZETTIbrothers, and GIOTTOand his followers over painted
art, most profoundly in their emancipation from Byzan-
tine tradition.
Tremellius, John (1510–1580) Hebrew scholar and
reformer
Born a Jew in Ferrara, he converted to Catholicism (1538)
under the influence of Cardinal POLE. He then came under
the influence of PETER MARTYRand became a Protestant,
fleeing to Basle (1542) and then to Strasbourg and Eng-
land, where he became King’s Reader of Hebrew at Cam-
bridge (1549) and made the acquaintance of Matthew
PARKER. The accession of the Catholic Mary I (1553)
caused Tremellius to return to Europe where, after exten-
sive traveling and a brief period of imprisonment, he set-
tled at Metz. He spent his last years teaching Hebrew at
Sedan, where he died. Tremellius’s great work was the
translation of the Bible from Hebrew and Syriac into Latin
(1569–79). Despite its errors, this became the standard
Latin translation used by the reformers to replace the Vul-
gate.
Trent, Council of The ecumenical council of the Roman
Catholic Church, convened at Trent (Trento) in northern
Italy, which met in three sessions (1545–47, 1551–52,
1562–63) and ushered in the COUNTER-REFORMATION.
There had long been calls for an ecumenical council to re-
form abuses in the Church, but early 16th-century popes
had been reluctant to call such a council. There were
many reasons for this reluctance. Reforming councils in
the late 14th and early 15th centuries had ventured to
limit the power of the popes. (They had achieved this by
voting in “nations,” according to which the “Italian na-
tion” was always outvoted, even though the Italian bish-
ops present outnumbered those from the “French” and
“German” “nations.”) More immediately, the Protestant
revolt made the situation still more difficult. Emperor
CHARLES Vwanted desperately to settle the religious ques-
tion in the empire, as the Lutheran heresy there sapped his
power. (The Lutheran princes were always interested in
limiting the power of the emperor.) Charles was willing to
compromise and in fact, in the 1548 Interim of AUGSBURG,
he offered such concessions as clerical marriage and Com-
munion in both kinds (bread and wine) to the Protestant
negotiators. In a sense, it was in the interest of Rome to
call the reforming council, lest the emperor call a German
council and settle the religious question in his domains
without taking into account the interests of the papacy.
Nor did the French king have much interest in backing
the papal call for a council, for he feared the collusion of
pope and emperor. The Gallican Church always strove to
be independent of the papacy, so much so that there was a
point in mid-century when the French king almost fol-
lowed the example of HENRY VIIIin breaking with Rome.
Rome itself was not overly anxious to compromise with
the Protestants, a reluctance that frustrated the emperor.
Finally, however, the council was called, to be held in
the small city of Trent. The first session began on Decem-
ber 13, 1545. Few delegates attended this first meeting;
there were only 31 bishops and 50 theologians and canon-
ists in attendance. At one time or another during the three
sessions of the council, 270 bishops attended. There were
187 Italians, 31 Spaniards, 26 French, and only two Ger-
man bishops, figures which might lead one to think that
the pope could easily have had his way, since voting was
by individual bishop rather than by “nation.” However,
the Milanese and Neapolitan bishops were constrained to
some degree by the wishes of their temporal overlord,
Charles V, while the Venetian bishops shared the strong
antipapal feeling of Venice. In the third session
(1562–63), the very orthodox and unbending Spanish
bishops strove to work as a disciplined group, even
though they were outnumbered. They resisted any doctri-
nal novelty and they tried to make the episcopate and the
council independent of the pope. Their goal was to allow
the pope a primacy of honor but not of power, and they
intended to shelter the Spanish national Church from di-
rect papal interference. In addition, the 20 or so French
bishops, invested with a Gallican spirit, were intent upon
safeguarding the independence of their national Church.
However, since all these groups conflicted with each other,
the pope eventually prevailed.
Notwithstanding these contradictory forces, the
Council of Trent was able to accomplish a great deal.
While in the second and third decades of the 16th century
it had not always been clear what was Protestant doctrine44772 2 TTrraavveerrssaarrii,, AAmmbbrrooggiioo