Giovanni da Serravalle

Giovanni da Serravalle (c. 1350 – 1445) was an Italian Franciscan and humanist, who became bishop of Fermo and bishop of Fano. He is now best known for his commentary on Dante.[1]

Life

In 1385 he was lector at the studium of St. Croce.[2] From 1387 to 1390 he taught moral philosophy at the University of Pavia.[3] He taught arts at the University of Perugia for a year from 1400.[4] He was appointed bishop of Fermo by Pope Gregory XII, around 1410. He was translated to Fano in 1417; and died there.[5]

Works

During the Council of Constance he translated the Divine Comedy into Latin.[6] He did this largely for the benefit of Nicholas Bubwith and Robert Hallam, English bishops attending the Council;[7] he was encouraged by Amedeo Saluzzo attending the council, who was a cardinal of the Avignon obedience. Serraville was also a source for stories concerning the young Dante's visits to Paris and Oxford.[8][9] He lectured at Constance on Dante too, producing later a written commentary.[10] It was strongly influenced by Benvenuto da Imola and Stefano Talice da Ricaldone;[11] and Serravalle revised Benvenuto's glosses, to support the Council's reforming programme.[12]

Notes

  1. ↑ Franaut page
  2. ↑ p. 131 note 50; Google Books.
  3. ↑ Luca Carlo Rossi, Le strade di Ercole: itinerari umanistici e altri percorsi : Seminario internazionale per i centenari di Coluccio Salutati e Lorenzo Valla : Bergamo, 25-26 ottobre 2007 (2010), p. 75; Google Books.
  4. ↑ (Italian) Lista dei maestri
  5. ↑ (Italian) treccani.it biography
  6. ↑ Walter Ullmann, Medieval Foundations of Renaissance Humanism (1977), pp. 114–5.
  7. ↑ Wendy Scase, David Lawton, Rita Copeland (editors), New Medieval Literatures (2000), p. 13; Google Books.
  8. ↑ Henry Francis Cary (translator), The Vision; or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, Volume 1 (1819), p. v; Google Books.
  9. ↑ Miranda entry for Saluzzo
  10. ↑ Werner Paul Friederich, Dante's Fame Abroad, 1350-1850: the influence of Dante Alighieri on the poets and scholars of Spain, France, England, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States (1950), p. 342; Google Books.
  11. ↑ Steven Botterill, Dante and the Mystical Tradition: Bernard of Clairvaux in the Commedia (2005), pp. 137–8; Google Books.
  12. ↑ Richard Lansing (editor), The Dante Encyclopedia (2000), p. 208.

External links