29 Facts About Poggio Bracciolini

Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, usually referred to simply as Poggio Bracciolini, was an Italian scholar and an early Renaissance humanist.

Poggio Bracciolini was responsible for rediscovering and recovering many classical Latin manuscripts, mostly decaying and forgotten in German, Swiss, and French monastic libraries.

Poggio Bracciolini's distinguished abilities and his dexterity as a copyist of manuscripts brought him into early notice of the chief scholars of Florence; both Coluccio Salutati and Niccolo de' Niccoli befriended him.

Poggio Bracciolini studied notarial law, and, at the age of twenty-one he was received into the Florentine notaries' guild, the Arte dei giudici e notai.

Poggio Bracciolini was esteemed for his excellent Latin, his extraordinarily beautiful book hand, and as occasional liaison with Florence, which involved him in legal and diplomatic work.

Poggio Bracciolini actively kept his links to Florence and remained in constant communication with his learned and influential Florentine friends: Coluccio Salutati, Niccolo de' Niccoli, Lorenzo de' Medici the elder, Leonardo Bruni, Carlo Marsuppini, and Cosimo de' Medici.

Poggio Bracciolini wrote a spate of long letters to justify his move, and composed one of his famous dialogues, An seni sit uxor ducenda.

Poggio Bracciolini lived in Florence during the Council of Florence, from 1439 to 1442.

Poggio Bracciolini held that humanism and theology were separate fields of inquiry, and labeled Valla's mordacitas as dementia.

Poggio Bracciolini resolved to retire from his service of 50 years in the Chancery of Rome, and returned to Florence to assume this new function.

Poggio Bracciolini died in 1459 before he could put the final polish to his work, and was buried in the church of Santa Croce.

Poggio Bracciolini was marked by the passion of his teachers for books and writing, inspired by the first generation of Italian humanists centered around Francesco Petrarch, who had revived interest in the forgotten masterpieces of Livy and Cicero, Giovanni Boccaccio and Coluccio Salutati.

Poggio Bracciolini joined the second generation of civic humanists forming around Salutati.

Resolute in glorifying studia humanitatis, learning, literacy, and erudition as the chief concern of man, Poggio Bracciolini ridiculed the folly of popes and princes, who spent their time in wars and ecclesiastical disputes instead of reviving the lost learning of antiquity.

Poggio Bracciolini became devoted to the revival of classical studies amid conflicts of popes and antipopes, cardinals and councils, in all of which he played an official part as first-row witness, chronicler and critic and adviser.

Poggio Bracciolini recovered Silius Italicus's Punica, Marcus Manilius's Astronomica, and Vitruvius's De architectura.

Poggio Bracciolini carried on the same untiring research in many Western European countries.

Poggio Bracciolini was credited with having recovered Ammianus Marcellinus' Res Gestae, Nonius Marcellus, Probus, Flavius Caper and Eutyches.

Poggio Bracciolini spotted the name, which he remembered as quoted by Cicero.

The manuscript found by Poggio Bracciolini is not extant, but fortunately, he sent the copy to his friend Niccolo de' Niccoli, who made a transcription in his renowned book hand, which became the model for the more than fifty other copies circulating at the time.

Poggio Bracciolini, like Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, was a great traveller, and wherever he went he brought enlightened powers of observation trained in liberal studies to bear upon the manners of the countries he visited.

Poggio Bracciolini was always inclined to make objective observations and clinical comparisons between various cultural mores, for instance ancient Roman practices versus modern ones, or Italians versus the English.

Poggio Bracciolini compared the eloquence of Jerome of Prague and his fortitude before death with ancient philosophers.

Poggio Bracciolini's Historia Florentina, is a history of the city from 1350 to 1455, written in avowed imitation of Livy and Sallust, and possibly Thucydides in its use of speeches to explain decisions.

Poggio Bracciolini continued Leonardo Bruni's History of the Florentine People, which closed in 1402, and is considered the first modern history book.

Poggio Bracciolini's letters are full of learning, charm, detail, and amusing personal attack on his enemies and colleagues.

Poggio Bracciolini was a fluent and copious writer in Latin, admired for his classical style inspired from Cicero, if not fully reaching the elegance of his model, but outstanding by the standards of his age.

Poggio Bracciolini translated Lucian's Ass, considered an influence of Apuleius's Latin masterpiece, The Golden Ass.

Poggio Bracciolini was famous for his beautiful and legible book hand.