#24 – The Father Of The Renaissance (part three)

* “Africa” became alternately Petrarch’s obsession and his revulsion, and he left it incomplete at his death. * Despite Petrarch’s best efforts to conceal his occupation, word of the Africa spread quickly. * It was not long before Petrarch’s fame reached the court of King Robert of Naples, a ruler considered by his contemporaries to be enlightened and studious. * Robert gave Petrarch the resources he needed to devote himself to the Africa, and the king’s favor rewarded the poet’s efforts with wide acclaim. * Paris and Rome were soon contending with each other to crown Petrarch poet laureate, an honor he accepted in 1341 from the Eternal City. * The last time someone had received a laurel wreath in Rome it was the poet Statius and he received it from Domitian in the first century. * During the ceremony on the Capitoline Hill, Petrarch was wearing a purple robe given to him by the King of Naples. * It was a huge deal, with the senator and the elite (what was left of it in Rome) all coming out for the ceremony. * Petrarch gave a big speech about poetry, quoted from Virgil. * Then he marched to St Peters, where he left the crown as a votive offering to God. * But later in life, Petrarch would admit that his best years were still ahead of him at the time of the ceremony, and that the leaves on the crown were immature. * He was mostly known at this stage for his Canzoniere, written in the vernacular. * It was after this date that he wrote most of Africa, in Latin, his “Lives of Illustrious Men” and his Secretum, the dialogues between himself and St Augustine. * These biographies are a set of Lives similar in idea to Plutarch’s Parallel Lives. * There is as yet no English translation. * What the Secretum gives us is the picture of Petrarch as he was in the crisis of his middle years. * It was written in or about the year 1342 when he was thirty-eight. * He’s looking back at his life so far and wondering if he’s wasted it or not. * And he’s arguing with St Augustine about the nature and the value of love. * It’s a fascinating read. * But it wasn’t just Augustine he wrote to. * He also wrote to Homer, Cicero, Livy as if they were living comrades, and complained that he had not been born in the heroic days of the Roman Republic * Around this time he knocked up a women (or two) and had two illegitimate children – a son and a daughter. * Mind you – he’s still technically in the minor orders. * And he’s supposed to be celibate. * According to the Second Lateran Council held in 1139 * And he’s still in love with Laura. * After his daughter was born in 1343, he says he became free of sin. * Meaning he stopped fucking. * Petrarch spent the later part of his life journeying through northern Italy as an international scholar and poet-diplomat. * He’s incredibly famous and on personal terms with the Popes and Kings. * In the fall of 1343 Petrarch went to Naples on a diplomatic mission for Cardinal Colonna. * He recorded his travel impressions in several letters (Familiares V, 3, 6). * Upon his return he stopped at Parma, hoping to settle there. * Because he loves a good chicken parma. *