influential (on Chaucer,
among others) through his
poetry composed in Italian, in
which themes of both human
romantic love and religious
longing are intertwined.o Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–
1375) was also deeply
learned in the classics. His
most famous work, the
Decameron, consists of 100
tales told by 10 young people
over a period 10 days when
they have fled the plague in
Florence. A spiritual crisis
later led Boccaccio to reject
his earlier career, and he
turned to composing more
sober works in Latin.• Such writers show that creativity and imagination can thrive even in
the worst of material circumstances. In the next lecture, we will see
how equal creativity was summoned by Christians who sought to
bring about reform in the face of growing ecclesiastical corruption.Arbeth, The Black Death.
Lea, The Inquisition of the Middle Ages.
- Discuss the ways in which the plagues in the time of Justinian and in the
14 th century fundamentally altered the course of history.
Suggested Reading
Questions to Consider
We see the same combination
of human romantic love and
religious longing in Petrarch’s
poetry as we do in that of Dante,
yet with Petrarch, there is a turn
much more toward the classical
than the Catholic.© iStockphoto/Thinkstock.