of sonnets andcanzoni(songs) in a vol-
ume entitledCanzoniere, a collection that
would grow to nearly four hundred poems
in a variety of forms—sonnets, ballads,
and madrigals—through several later revi-
sions. In his early works Petrarch describes
a mysterious and distant love, Laura,
whom he had first seen in 1327 in
Avignon’s Church of Saint Clare. Although
his love was unrequited, the figure of
Laura would haunt Petrarch’s poems and
letters for the rest of his life.
As his family was not wealthy, and he
had no interest in public life or a career in
the law, Petrarch took the vow of Holy
Orders as a young man. His work as a rep-
resentative and diplomat for Cardinal Col-
onna allowed him the freedom and the in-
come to pursue his true interest: classical
scholarship. He was one of the first medi-
eval writers to closely study the ancient
Roman authors and take these pagan writ-
ers seriously as a model for his own works
and philosophy. In the late 1330s he was
living the life of a hermit in the moun-
tainous region of Vaucluse, in the French
Alps, where he began working on schol-
arly and historical works, including the
epic poemAfricaon the career of the Ro-
man general Scipio Africanus. In the
meantime, the poems ofCanzonierewon
renown throughout Europe. In 1341, Pe-
trarch was crowned as a poet laureate in
Rome, becoming the first writer to enjoy
this honor since the time of the Roman
Empire.
Still in the service of the cardinal, Pe-
trarch was sent on a mission to Naples in
- On his return to France, he traveled
through Verona, where he discovered un-
known letters of Cicero in the library of
the cathedral. Transcribing the manu-
scripts, he deliberated on a collection of
his own letters as a personal testament to
his life and philosophy. Returning to Vau-
cluse, he wrote a biographical work,De
Vita Solitaria(Of the Solitary Life). In the
late 1340s the Black Death struck Europe,
eventually killing many of Petrarch’s
friends and acquaintances, including
Laura, the love of his life, as well as Cardi-
nal Colonna and Petrarch’s son Giovanni.
The plague inspiredThe Triumph of Death,
which he followed withThe Triumph of
LoveandThe Triumph of Chastity.
Although he had achieved fame as a
scholar and poet, Petrarch found himself
uninterested in the status or profit that
would come with an important appoint-
ment. He turned down several offers of
high posts in the Catholic Church and as
a professor at the University of Avignon.
Instead, he lived in Milan, where he en-
joyed the patronage of Giovanni Visconti,
the ruler of the city, and then in the city
of Padua, where he also had the patronage
of a nobleman and where he built a coun-
try house in which to live out his years.
Petrarch’s important works in Latin in-
cludeOn Contempt for the Worldly Life,
Metrical Epistles, On Solitude, and the
Eclogues. He was the first author to find
inspiration in Christian piety as well as
classical scholarship; his life was devoted
to balancing the intellectual life of a
scholar and the spiritual pursuits of a man
of the church. This outlook had great in-
fluence on other writers of Italy and Eu-
rope and looked forward to the humanism
of Renaissance art and scholarship.SEEALSO: Dante Alighieri; humanismPhilip II (Spain) ..............................
(1527–1598)
King of Spain from 1556 to 1598. Born in
Valladolid, he was the son of Isabella of
Portugal and Charles V, ruler of the Holy
Roman Empire as well as Spain, southern
Italy, Sicily, the Low Countries, and Spain’sPhilip II