Petrarch, Francesco 571WORKS AND INFLUENCEIn 1130s and early 1140s, Peter wrote a life of the monk
Gerard, attended the council of PISA, a life of Saint
Matthew, a treatise on MIRACLES, and a treatise against the
heretic Peter of Bruys (d. ca. 1139), which he finished in
- In June 1140, after the condemnation of his former
teacher, ABÉLARD, Peter kindly allowed him to stay at
Cluny and effected the reconciliation of Abélard with
BERNARD OFCLAIRVAUX. After Abélard’s death on April
21, 1142, Peter had his body taken to the monastery of
the Paraclete, where HÉLOÏSEwas abbess.
From March to October 1142, Peter went to SPAINto
meet King Alfonso VII (r. 1126–57) of León and Castile.
On the way he commissioned a translation of the QURAN
and several other polemical works on ISLAM, yet hoped
for fruitful dialogue with and conversion of the Muslims.
He also promoted an alliance against the BYZANTINE
EMPIRE. In June or July 1143, he wrote a very negative
treatise against the JEWS. In mid-March 1147, Peter took
part in a diet of Frankfurt-am-Main in preparation for the
Second CRUSADE. After the failure of this Crusade, with
Bernard and SUGER OFSaint DENIS, he again promoted a
new expedition but was unable to attend a council on the
matter at CHARTRESin May 1150. He was honored by his
contemporaries for his holiness and gentleness and even
then called the Venerable. Peter died at Cluny on Christ-
mas in 1156. His feast was May 11.
See alsoANTI-JUDAISMand ANTI-SEMITISM.
Further reading:Peter, the Venerable, The Letters of
Peter the Venerable, ed. Giles Constable (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967); Gillian R. Knight,
The Correspondence between Peter the Venerable and
Bernard of Clairvaux: A Semantic and Structural Analysis
(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002); James Kritzeck, Peter the Ven-
erable and Islam(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1964).
Petra Petra and its basin, where the ancient city rests,
were a stronghold, and probably the capital city, of the
biblical Edomites. The Greek name Petra simply means
“rock.” After the Roman occupation of the city in 106
C.E., Petra acquired other names as well, such as Petra
Hadriana, from 131. Petra was the major city of a little-
known people, the Aramaic-speaking Nabataeans, who
were famous for their ceramics and had unique MOSAICS,
architecture, religion, and hydraulic technology. The form
of their writing was an ancestor of Arabic. It was an
important stop and commercial center on the TRADE
routes from the western Arabian Peninsula, carrying
spices, frankincense, myrrh, gems, balsam, bitumen, and
even SILKfrom China.
Petra and the Nabataeans were not integrated into
the Roman Empire until the second century C.E. It pros-
pered after the Roman takeover, until trade routes shifted.
There were vineyards, gardens, orchards, and cultivated
fields within the confines of the city. It was also a natural
fortress and not at all easy to access.LATER FRAGMENTED HISTORY
By the early 12th century, the site had acquired the name
“The Valley of Moses,” as Christian religious zeal
extended Mosaic relationships to all parts of Petra. Its
urban fabric suffered major destruction from earthquakes
and was gradually hidden by sand. Thirty-nine levels of
culture were identified between an earthquake of 363 and
the modern era. There were five occupations between
363 and another earthquake in 551, followed by six tem-
porary occupations between 551 and the present. It was
first abandoned in the seventh century but was known
and occupied during the CRUSADES, forgotten until the
early 19th century, and rarely visited until after the World
War I. It contained numerous famous buildings carved
into the rose-red rock in the sides of the hills producing
its dispersed city center. The supposed tomb of Aaron,
long venerated by Muslims, was nearby.
Further reading: Christian Augé and Jean-Marie
Dentzer, Petra: Lost City of the Ancient World,trans. Lau-
rel Hirsch and David Baker (1999; reprint, New York: H.
N. Abrams, 2000); Robert G. Hoyland, Arabia and the
Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam(New
York: Routledge, 2001); Alexander B. W. Kennedy, Petra:
Its History and Monuments(London: Country Life, 1925).Petrarch, Francesco (Petrarca) (1304–1374) Italian
poet, humanist
A child of Pietro di Parenzo and Eletta Canisiani of Flo-
rence, exiled to Arezzo in 1302, Francesco Petrarch spent
his childhood in TUSCANY. In 1311, he moved with his
family to Carpentras, near AVIGNON, where his father, a
notary, worked at the papal court of CLEMENTV. Follow-
ing his father’s wish that he become a lawyer, he studied
LAWat MONTPELLIERin 1319 and 1320 and at BOLOGNA
between 1323 and 1325.
He returned to Avignon on his father’s death in 1326
and abandoned law for letters to enter the service of the
Colonna family. With their PATRONAGE he undertook
numerous missions that led to important discoveries of
manuscripts and texts for the field of classical philology
in Europe and especially ITA LY, such as the later discov-
ery at VERONAof Cicero’s more personal letters in 1345.
On Good Friday, April 6, 1327, he met and immediately
fell in love with Laura, the personification of his ideas of
truth and beauty and the inspiration for much of his
work. In 1341 he was crowned in Rome as a poet laure-
ate in the classical tradition. He made trips back to Italy
for the HOLYYEARof 1350 but quarreled with other
potential clerical patrons. He had come to loath the cor-
ruption of the papal court at Avignon, although he did
scruple to minor orders in return for financial support.
He had two illegitimate children. In 1353, he moved