Parr, Catherine (1512–1548) English queen, sixth wife of
Henry VIII
Catherine married HENRY VIIIreluctantly in 1543; already
twice widowed, she had wished to marry Sir Thomas Sey-
mour. A scholar herself, she took advantage of her posi-
tion at court to become a notable patron of Protestant
humanism. As nurse to Henry, and his intellectual equal,
she exerted a restraining influence, encouraging him to
greater religious toleration. Under Catherine’s influence
Henry founded Trinity College, Cambridge, and reformed
Wolsey’s Cardinal College at Oxford as Christ Church.
Herself childless, Catherine oversaw the education of
Henry’s three children with care and kindness, influencing
the Protestant faith of Elizabeth and encouraging her and
her half-sister Mary to publish their own translations. She
herself commissioned translations of key Reformation
texts, among them Erasmus’s Paraphrase of the Gospels,
and published her own devotional writings Prayers, or
Meditacions (1545) and Lamentacion or Complaynt of a
Sinner (1547). After Henry’s death (1547) she married
Seymour, but died in childbirth a year later.
Parsons, Robert (Robert Persons) (1546–1610) English
Jesuit
Parsons held a post at Oxford (1568–74) which he aban-
doned in order to join the Roman Catholic Church at Lou-
vain. In 1575 he became a Jesuit in Rome and later joined
Edmund CAMPIONon the first Jesuit mission to reconvert
the English. He escaped back to the Continent and con-
tinued to direct Jesuit policy concerning England, but his
plots with hardline English Catholics against Elizabeth I
had the effect of provoking her to clamp down vigorously
on RECUSANCY. In 1594 he published pseudonymously a
book claiming the right of a people to reject an heir to a
throne on religious grounds and supporting the claim of
the impeccably Catholic Infanta of Spain to the English
crown.
Paruta, Paolo (1540–1598) Italian historian
A member of a patrician Venetian family, Paruta was edu-
cated at Padua and from 1561 occupied a number of offi-
cial positions in the republic, among them that of city
historian, an office previously held by BEMBO, to which he
was appointed in 1579. In this capacity he was able to
consult state records and his careful use of these sources
lend a special interest to his historical works in Italian
which he was officially commissioned to write. These in-
clude Istorie veneziane (1605), a history of the republic
from 1513 to 1552, and Storia della guerra di Cipre
(c. 1573), a history of the Cyprus war (1570–73). The
conservative and reflective viewpoint of a Venetian noble-
man informs the works written on his own account. The
dialogue Della perfezione della vita politica (1579) is a dis-
cussion of civic ideals in which Paruta supports the argu-
ment for the active life of political involvement against the
contemplative religious life. His Discorsi politici cover
questions in history and politics earlier introduced by
MACHIAVELLI, for example, the causes of the greatness of
ancient Rome and the character of the ideal state.Pasquier, Étienne (1529–1615) French lawyer and man
of letters
Pasquier studied law at Toulouse and was called to the bar
in his native Paris in 1549. He made his name as a lawyer
with his successful defense of the university of Paris in its
suit with the Jesuits (1565), who had demanded the right
for their order to be admitted to teach there. Having
served as commissioner in the assize courts of Poitiers and
Toulouse, in 1585 he was appointed advocate-general for
Henry III at the chambre des comptes in Paris. In 1560
Pasquier produced the first volume of his Recherches de la
France, an encyclopedic collection of information on the
country’s history, culture, and institutions; this major
work was to occupy much of his leisure time in the later
years of his life and was first published in its entirety in- His other writings include the anti-Jesuit pamphlet
Le Catéchisme des Jésuites (1602), Lettres (1586, 1619),
and a number of collections of poetry.
Passarotti, Bartolommeo (1529–1592) Italian painter
Born in Bologna, he studied with Giacomo Barozzi da
VIGNOLAand then became the assistant of Taddeo ZUC-
CAROin Rome, where he lived from about 1551 to about- His Martyrdom of St. Paul can be seen in the church
of San Paolo alle Tre Fontane. On his return to Bologna he
continued to paint altarpieces and also portraits, mainly of
popes and cardinals, at which he excelled. He created a
type of genre and still-life painting depicting peasants
with flowers and fowls and he produced a number of etch-
ings. As his style moved further towards the BAROQUE, his
studio became a focal point for many of Bologna’s artists,
among whom his most distinguished disciple was the
painter and engraver Agostino Carracci (1557–1602).
Passerat, Jean (1534–1602) French poet and humanist
Passerat was born at Troyes and after studying at the uni-
versity of Paris and teaching at the Collège du Plessis, he
was appointed to the chair of Latin at the Collège de
France (1572). His prose writings include commentaries
on Catullus, Propertius, and other Latin poets; among his
better-known poetic works are the ode “Du premier jour
de mai” and the villanelle “J’ai perdu ma tourterelle.” A
supporter of Henry of Navarre (later Henry IV), Passerat
was one of the authors of the SATIRE MÉNIPPÉE(1594). His
Recueil des oeuvres poétiques was published in 1606.Pasti, Matteo de’ (c. 1420–c. 1467) Italian architect and
artist
Pasti was born in Verona and executed a number of works
in Venice. He included Sigismondo MALATESTA, Leonello33662 2 PPaarrrr,, CCaatthheerriinnee