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Giovanni Colonna (historian)

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Giovanni Colonna's name in the redrubricof a 15th-century copy of hisMare historiarum.It is spelledJohanne de columpna.

FraGiovanni Colonna(1298? – 1343/44) was an ItalianDominican friarand scholar. Educated inFrance,he served as a preacher and vicar inRome,chaplain inCyprusand lector inTivoli.He lived and worked inAvignonfor a time and traveled widely in theNear Eastduring his Cypriot period.

Anearly humanist,he was a friend and correspondent ofPetrarch,whose eight surviving letters to him are an important source for his later years, during which he suffered fromgout.He wrote two works of history,Liber de viris illustribus('Book of Famous Men') andMare historiarum('Sea of Histories'), the first during his time in Avignon and the second during his final years in Tivoli.

Life

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Giovanni Colonna[1]was born in the 1290s, in 1298 according to some scholars.[2]He belonged to the family of the lords ofGallicano,a branch of theColonna.His father, Bartolomeo di Giovanni, bore the titledomicello di Belvedere.[3]He was a nephew ofLandolfo Colonna.His great-great-great-grandfather was Oddone, the brother of CardinalGiovanni Colonna.[4]

Beginning in 1315, Colonna was educated in France atChartres,TroyesandAmiens.[5]During his stay in Chartres, he stayed with his uncle Landolfo.[6]He joined theDominican Orderbefore 1320, in which year he took up studying at theUniversity of Paris.According to Petrarch, he was learned in philosophy. In 1324, the chapter of the Dominican province of Rome named him preacher-general. He was soon appointed chaplain toGiovanni Conti,archbishop of Nicosia,and moved toCyprusuntil after Conti's death in 1332.[5]During this period, he visited theHoly Land.[6]In a letter to Colonna, Petrarch refers to his addressee's travels inPersia,ArabiaandEgypt,which must have taken place during his service with Giovanni Conti.[7]Petrarch and Colonna maintained a correspondence during the years 1336–1343.[8]

From Cyprus, Colonna returned to Rome, whence he was sent topapal Avignon.It was there that he drafted hisLiber de viris illustribus.Petrarch records that enemies in Avignon eventually forced him to return to Rome. He had to wait one month inNicefor a ship, which was then forced to return to port during a storm. When he finally landed inPisa,he was seriously ill.[5]

In 1338, he was appointed vicar of the Dominican priory inSanta Sabinauntil a new prior was elected. In the fall of 1339, he was appointed lector of the priory atTivoli.He passed the last years of his life there studying theclassicsand finishing hisMare historiarum.[5]In the days after hislaureationon 8 April 1341, Petrarch joined Colonna in Rome and the two of them toured the city, visiting classical and early Christian monuments and discussing ethics, aesthetics and history.[9]Colonna suffered in his last years fromgout.From Petrarch's letters it is clear that he was prematurely old, and Petrarch recommended readingCicero'sDe senectuteandTusculanae disputationes.[10]The two met for the last time atPalestrinain October 1343. As indicated by a letter of Petrarch to ArchbishopGuido Sette,Colonna died not long afterwards, towards the end of 1343 or early in 1344.[5]In all, eight of Petrarch'sEpistolae familiares(family letters) are addressed to Colonna. His lost playPhilologiawas also dedicated to him.[11]

Works

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The frontispiece to Book II (David and Solomon) of theMare historiarum.

Petrarch wrote of Colonna that he owned many books, was an expert in antiquities and wrote excellentLatin.A reading of his works reveals a critical mind equally comfortable in classical pagan texts and medieval Christian ones.[5]Roberto Weissputs him in the early generation of humanist scholars at the papal court in Avignon. Of Colonna he writes that he "searched for ancient texts, studied them critically, and used them as sources in [his] writings."[12]

Liber de viris illustribus

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Colonna's earlier work,Liber de viris illustribus('Book of Famous Men'), was begun during his stay in Avignon. It consists of some 330 biographies and bibliographies of illustriouspagansand Christians. The book beings with a long philosophical introduction, followed by the pagan biographies arranged alphabetically and then the Christian biographies arranged in the same way. Colonna's model wasJerome'sDe viris illustribus.He also used the same-titled works byGennadiusandIsidore.Other important sources includeSeneca,Lactantius,Eusebius,Pseudo-Walter Burleyand theSpeculum historialeofVincent of Beauvais.Beyond a few extracts,De virishas never been edited or published.[5]Manuscripts from which certain extracts have been printed include:[5]

Mare historiarum

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Colonna's later work,Mare historiarum('Sea of Histories'), is auniversal historyfrom the creation of the world to 1250. Although he intended to bring it down to his own time, it was unfinished at his death. It relies heavily on Vincent'sSpeculum historiale.Other important sources for ancient history includeLivy,Josephus,Lactantius and Jerome.[14]It survives in the following manuscripts:[15]

Notes

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  1. ^Johannes de Columnain Latin:Modonutti 2016.
  2. ^1298 is accepted byModonutti 2016and theTreccani editors,but questioned bySurdich 1982.
  3. ^Surdich 1982.For a family tree, seeBalzani 1885,p. 235.
  4. ^Balzani 1885,p. 235.
  5. ^abcdefghijkSurdich 1982.
  6. ^abModonutti 2016.
  7. ^The Giovanni Colonna who corresponded with Petrarch is sometimes identified with a brother ofSciarra Colonna,but it is most likely the Dominican. SeeSurdich 1982andWilkins 1963.
  8. ^Treccani editors.
  9. ^For the date, seeWilkins 1963.Surdich 1982dates this tour to 1337. Petrarch in one letter names nearly 100 places they visited in Rome.
  10. ^Surdich 1982;Forte 1950,p. 390.
  11. ^Modonutti 2016lists the letters as II, 5–8; III, 13; VI, 2–4. For an analysis of VI, 2, seeWilkins 1963.It was written in response to a request from Colonna that Petrarch put into writing his account of the origin of arts that he gave when the two were resting at theBaths of Diocletian.
  12. ^Weiss 1947,p. 21.
  13. ^Surdich 1982.Availableonline.
  14. ^Van Duzer 2012,pp. 282–283.
  15. ^Van Duzer 2012,p. 283 n.24, says "seven manuscripts", but lists only six.
  16. ^abcdVan Duzer 2012,p. 283 n.24.
  17. ^Van Duzer 2012,p. 283.
  18. ^According toForte 1950,p. 398, these are three separate manuscripts of books III, VI and VII copied on paper in the 17th century.

Bibliography

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  • Balzani, Ugo(1885).Landolfo e Giovanni Colonna secondo un codice Bodleiano.Reale Società romana di Storia patria.
  • "Colónna, Giovanni".Enciclopedia on line.Treccani.Retrieved15 April2022.
  • Forte, Stephen L. (1950). "John Colonna, O.P.: Life and Writings (1298–c. 1340)".Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum.20:369–414.
  • Modonutti, Rino (2016)."Colonna, Giovanni".In Graeme Dunphy; Cristian Bratu (eds.).Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle.Brill Online.doi:10.1163/2213-2139_emc_SIM_00746.Retrieved15 April2022.
  • Ross, W. Braxton (1970). "Giovanni Colonna, Historian at Avignon".Speculum.45(4): 533–563.doi:10.2307/2855668.JSTOR2855668.S2CID163147750.
  • Ross, W. Braxton (1985). "New Autographs of Fra Giovanni Colonna".Studi Petrarcheschi.n.s.2:211–229.
  • Ross, W. Braxton (1989). "The Tradition of Livy inMare historiarumof Fra Giovanni Colonna ".Studi Petrarcheschi.n.s.6:70–86.
  • Surdich, Francesco (1982)."Colonna, Giovanni".Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani,Volume 27: Collenuccio–Confortini(in Italian). Rome:Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.ISBN978-8-81200032-6.
  • Van Duzer, Chet(2012). "A Neglected Type of Medieval Mappamundi and Its Re-imaging in the Mare Historiarum (Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Lat. 4915, Fol. 26v)".Viator.43(2): 277–301.doi:10.1484/J.VIATOR.1.102714.
  • Weiss, Roberto(1947).The Dawn of Humanism in Italy: An Inaugural Lecture.London.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Wilkins, Ernest H. (1963). "On Petrarch'sEp. Fam.VI 2 ".Speculum.38(4): 620–622.doi:10.2307/2851659.JSTOR2851659.S2CID163699232.
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