Giovanni Michele Alberto da Carrara
Encyclopedia
Giovanni Michele Alberto da Carrara (John Michael Albert) (1438–1490) was a Bergamasque
Renaissance humanist and medical doctor. He wrote about philosophy
, history
, science
, and medicine
. He was also a Latin
poet
and orator. Despite his name, he was not a member of the Carraresi family.
Son of Guido, also a humanist and physician, Michele studied Aristotle
at the University of Padua
, where he earned the title of doctor physicus. As a physician, Michele ministered to the needs of citizens of Bergamo at a time when it was ravaged by plague. He was a friend of Ermolao Barbaro
, who criticised insufficient knowledge of Greek
.
Of Michele's known forty-two works, the Commentaria in Ciceronis Rhetoricam (before 1489) and seventeen others have been lost. In 1457, aged only nineteen, he produced Armiranda, a Latin comedy
divided into acts and scenes, classical in form but contemporary political in content. From his university years there are also a series of eighteen epigram
s. From two of these it is apparent that Michele saw fellow humanists Giovanni Antonio Pandoni ("Porcello") and Antonio Beccadelli
("Panormita") as rivals. De Fato et Fortuna, a prose philosophical treatise on fate
and fortune
, serves as an overview of his early thought and undergirds much of his later poetry. During this early period he also took to medical writing. De omnibus ingeniis augendae memoriae is a didactic treatise on mnemonic
devices.
His Ad Gloriosam Virginem Mariam Suarum Calamitatum Commemoratio is an autobiographical poem in rhyming hexameter
s, recounting his life from infancy to his early thirties. The six Virgil
ian eclogue
s of Michele's Bucolicum Carmen are original and authentic, and include one (#2) lamenting the idle dreams which the condottieri
induce in rustic youth as they pass by in all their finery. Later he wrote a panegyric
for the funeral of the great Bergamasque condottiero Bartolomeo Colleoni
, Oratio extemporalis habita in funere Batholomaei Coleonis. In this oration and another, the Oratio de laudibus Gabrielis Rangoni S.R.E. Cardinalis, Michele provides the historian with useful information about contemporary subjects, a mercenary and a Franciscan
, Gabriele Rangoni.
Among his work in natural science, there is De constitutione mundi and the encyclopaedic De choreis musarum sive de origine scientiarum. Michele also wrote a vita
of Chiara da Montefalco, whose intercession had helped him in the past and whose intercession he looked forward to in the future. His vita was intended as an improvement upon that of Berengario di Donadio.
Michele's most mature writings are probably the fifteen hexametric Sermones objurgatorii, exhortative sermons. Contra hypocrisin malam deals with hypocrisy
in the church, most notably the corrupt papal institutions nursed by Sixtus IV
. Contra milities segnes is a mocking attack on Roberto Sanseverino
and his milities segnes (lazy soldiers), who failed to guard the city of Cividale from the invasion of Matthias Corvinus. De instituenda Filiola was written for the education of his niece Giulia, and De sene alendo on caring for his friend's elderly father. The last is a notable Renaissance work on senility and gerontology
.
Giovanni Giraldi, after two decades of study, published Michele's surviving works save thirteen in 1967 under the title Opere Scelte.
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
Renaissance humanist and medical doctor. He wrote about philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, and medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
. He was also a Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and orator. Despite his name, he was not a member of the Carraresi family.
Son of Guido, also a humanist and physician, Michele studied Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
at the University of Padua
University of Padua
The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...
, where he earned the title of doctor physicus. As a physician, Michele ministered to the needs of citizens of Bergamo at a time when it was ravaged by plague. He was a friend of Ermolao Barbaro
Ermolao Barbaro
Ermolao or Hermolao Barbaro, also Hermolaus Barbarus , was an Italian Renaissance scholar.-Education:Ermolao Barbaro was born in Venice, the son of Zaccaria Barbaro, and the grandson of Francesco Barbaro...
, who criticised insufficient knowledge of Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
.
Of Michele's known forty-two works, the Commentaria in Ciceronis Rhetoricam (before 1489) and seventeen others have been lost. In 1457, aged only nineteen, he produced Armiranda, a Latin comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
divided into acts and scenes, classical in form but contemporary political in content. From his university years there are also a series of eighteen epigram
Epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising statement. Derived from the epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on inscribe", this literary device has been employed for over two millennia....
s. From two of these it is apparent that Michele saw fellow humanists Giovanni Antonio Pandoni ("Porcello") and Antonio Beccadelli
Antonio Beccadelli
Antonio Beccadelli , called Il Panormita , was an Italian poet, canon lawyer, scholar, diplomat, and chronicler. He generally wrote in Latin...
("Panormita") as rivals. De Fato et Fortuna, a prose philosophical treatise on fate
Destiny
Destiny or fate refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual...
and fortune
Luck
Luck or fortuity is good fortune which occurs beyond one's control, without regard to one's will, intention, or desired result. There are at least two senses people usually mean when they use the term, the prescriptive sense and the descriptive sense...
, serves as an overview of his early thought and undergirds much of his later poetry. During this early period he also took to medical writing. De omnibus ingeniis augendae memoriae is a didactic treatise on mnemonic
Mnemonic
A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...
devices.
His Ad Gloriosam Virginem Mariam Suarum Calamitatum Commemoratio is an autobiographical poem in rhyming hexameter
Hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...
s, recounting his life from infancy to his early thirties. The six Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
ian eclogue
Eclogue
An eclogue is a poem in a classical style on a pastoral subject. Poems in the genre are sometimes also called bucolics.The form of the word in contemporary English is taken from French eclogue, from Old French, from Latin ecloga...
s of Michele's Bucolicum Carmen are original and authentic, and include one (#2) lamenting the idle dreams which the condottieri
Condottieri
thumb|Depiction of [[Farinata degli Uberti]] by [[Andrea del Castagno]], showing a 15th century condottiero's typical attire.Condottieri were the mercenary soldier leaders of the professional, military free companies contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy, from the late Middle Ages...
induce in rustic youth as they pass by in all their finery. Later he wrote a panegyric
Panegyric
A panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...
for the funeral of the great Bergamasque condottiero Bartolomeo Colleoni
Bartolomeo Colleoni
Bartolomeo Colleoni was a Venetian condottiero, who became Captain-General of the republic of Venice, where there is a famous statue showing him on horseback.-Biography:...
, Oratio extemporalis habita in funere Batholomaei Coleonis. In this oration and another, the Oratio de laudibus Gabrielis Rangoni S.R.E. Cardinalis, Michele provides the historian with useful information about contemporary subjects, a mercenary and a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
, Gabriele Rangoni.
Among his work in natural science, there is De constitutione mundi and the encyclopaedic De choreis musarum sive de origine scientiarum. Michele also wrote a vita
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
of Chiara da Montefalco, whose intercession had helped him in the past and whose intercession he looked forward to in the future. His vita was intended as an improvement upon that of Berengario di Donadio.
Michele's most mature writings are probably the fifteen hexametric Sermones objurgatorii, exhortative sermons. Contra hypocrisin malam deals with hypocrisy
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie....
in the church, most notably the corrupt papal institutions nursed by Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV , born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 1471 to 1484. His accomplishments as Pope included the establishment of the Sistine Chapel; the group of artists that he brought together introduced the Early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpiece of the city's new artistic age,...
. Contra milities segnes is a mocking attack on Roberto Sanseverino
Roberto Sanseverino
Roberto Sanseverino was an Italian nobleman and admiral of the Kingdom of Naples. He was the first prince of Salerno from 1463, as well as the count of Marsica and Sanseverino, baron of Cilento and lord of Agropoli and Castellabate....
and his milities segnes (lazy soldiers), who failed to guard the city of Cividale from the invasion of Matthias Corvinus. De instituenda Filiola was written for the education of his niece Giulia, and De sene alendo on caring for his friend's elderly father. The last is a notable Renaissance work on senility and gerontology
Gerontology
Gerontology is the study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging...
.
Giovanni Giraldi, after two decades of study, published Michele's surviving works save thirteen in 1967 under the title Opere Scelte.