by Francesco Petrarch

Born in the Tuscan city of Arezzo in 1304, Francesco Petrarca (better known as Petrarch) was the son of an exiled Florentine notary. His early years were spent in Pisa, Tuscany, and in Avignon, and Carpentras in Provence, where he was educated in grammar and rhetoric. In 1316 he began legal studies, first at Montpellier, then in Bologna. Upon the death of his father, however, Petrarch abandoned the law to pursue a Church career that would enable him to concentrate on literature and scholarship instead. He returned to Avignon and in 1330 was appointed household chaplain to Cardinal Giovanni Colonna, who remained Petrarch’s patron for many years. While in Colonna’s service, Petrarch purchased a house in Vaucluse on the left bank of the Sorgue River and began to compose Italian lyrics and scholarly works in Latin, including the Africa, an epic celebrating the military...