Gregorio Leti
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
historian and satirist
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
from Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, who sometimes published under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Abbe Gualdi, L'abbé
Abbé
Abbé is the French word for abbot. It is the title for lower-ranking Catholic clergymen in France....
Gualdi, or Gualdus known for his works about the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, especially the papacy
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
. All of his publications were listed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
Index Librorum Prohibitorum
The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church. A first version was promulgated by Pope Paul IV in 1559, and a revised and somewhat relaxed form was authorized at the Council of Trent...
.
Life
The nephew of the Bishop of Acquapendente in UmbriaUmbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
, Leti was educated in a Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
school, but later became a Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
. He resided in the court of Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
and in 1680 that of Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, who commissioned him to write a history of England. Leti had access to the library of the Earl of Anglesey
Earl of Anglesey
The title of Earl of Anglesey was created twice in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1623 when Christopher Villiers was created Earl of Anglesey, in Wales, as well as Baron Villiers. He was the younger brother of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham and the elder brother of John...
, which numbered over 5,000 volumes, as well as that of Bishop Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet was a Scottish theologian and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was respected as a cleric, a preacher, and an academic, as well as a writer and historian...
. He wrote the first ever proper life
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, which includes many romantic embellishments about her youth and her mother, Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
. Nevertheless, he may have used documents he found in the English libraries. Leti was also elected a member of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
.
After the publication of a collection of anecdotes which offended Charles II, Il Teatro Britannico, Leti fled England in 1683 for Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, where he became the city historiographer in 1685. He died in Amsterdam in 1701.
Leti's biography of Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V , born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Pope from 1585 to 1590.-Early life:The chronicler Andrija Zmajević states that Felice's family originated from modern-day Montenegro...
has been translated into many languages, and contains an anecdote similar to the infamous "pound of flesh" from William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
. The Catholic Encyclopedia
Catholic Encyclopedia
The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
calls Leti "mendacious and inexact" and is also critical of works describes as derivative of Leti's "anti-papal histories." Mosheim
Johann Lorenz von Mosheim
Johann Lorenz von Mosheim or Johann Lorenz Mosheim , German Lutheran church historian, was born at Lübeck on 9 October 1693 or 1694.- Biography :...
, a Lutheran church historian, called Leti "inaccurate and unfaithful." According to Thomas Trollope, "his inexactitude as an [sic] historian is notorious." Even secular writers have characterized his biography of Sixtus V as "resting on very slight authority." Among his critics, Leti is sometimes referred to as the "Varillas of Italy
Antoine Varillas
Antoine Varillas was a French historian, best known for his history of heresy.-Life:He was born in Guéret and made a troubled way as a man of letters in Paris. He worked as a historian for Gaston, Duke of Orléans. Then through an introductions from Pierre Dupuy he was able to have library access,...
."
Leti was the father-in-law of the theologian Jean Leclerc
Jean Leclerc (theologian)
Jean Le Clerc, also Johannes Clericus was a Swiss theologian and biblical scholar. He was famous for promoting exegesis, or critical interpretation of the Bible, and was a radical of his age...
.
Works
- 16661666 in literatureThe year 1666 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*2 September - Samuel Pepys begins recording details of the Great Fire of London in his diary.*Aphra Behn goes to Antwerp to work as a government spy.-New books:...
. Histoire de Donna Olimpia Maldachini. - 16671667 in literature-Events:* The Roman Catholic Church places the works of René Descartes on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.* Molière's play, Tartuffe, is banned.* Edmund Castell is imprisoned for debt....
. Il Nipotismo di Roma, o vero relatione delle ragioni che muovono i Pontefici all' aggrandimento de' Nipoti ("Papal Nepotism, or the True Relation of the Reasons Which Impel the Popes to make their Nephews PowerfulCardinal-nephewA cardinal-nephew is a cardinal elevated by a Pope who is that cardinal's uncle, or, more generally, his relative. The practice of creating cardinal-nephews originated in the Middle Ages, and reached its apex during the 16th and 17th centuries. The word nepotism originally referred specifically to...
") - 16681668 in literatureThe year 1668 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler goes into its fourth edition.*John Dryden signs a contract to produce three plays a year for the King’s Company.-New books:...
. Il Cardinalissimo di Santa Chiesa. - 16711671 in literatureThe year 1671 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Nell Gwyn retires from the stage.*On November 9, the Duke's Company open their new venue, the Dorset Garden Theatre.-New books:...
. Le visioni politiche sopra gli interessi più reconditi di tutti i principi e repubbliche della Cristianità. - 16821682 in literatureThe year 1682 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* In London, the King's Company and the Duke's Company join to form the United Company.-New books:*John Bunyan - The Holy War...
. La Vita della Regina Elizabetta. - 16851685 in literatureThe year 1685 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Antoine Furetière is expelled from the French Academy.* in London, the year sees one of the major theatrical flops of the Restoration era: Albion and Albanius — an allegorical drama in praise of Charles II, with text by...
. L'histoire de la vie du Pape Sixte CinquièmePope Sixtus VPope Sixtus V , born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Pope from 1585 to 1590.-Early life:The chronicler Andrija Zmajević states that Felice's family originated from modern-day Montenegro...
. - 1685. Il ceremoniale historico e politico, opera utilissima a tutti gli Ambasciatori.
- 16861686 in literatureThe year 1686 in literature involved some significant events.-New books:*John Bunyan - A Book for Boys and Girls, or, Country Rhymes for Children...
. Historia Genevrena. - 16931693 in literatureThe year 1693 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* July 29 - Anthony Wood is condemned in the vice-chancellor's court for certain libels against Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon; he is fined, banished from the university until he recants, and the offending pages are burned.*...
. Historia overo Vita di Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra. - 16971697 in literatureThe year 1697 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* George Farquhar arrives in London from Dublin.* Thomas Corneille publishes his translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses into the French language....
. Critique historique, politique, morale, économique, & comique sur les lotteries.
Further reading
- Krivatsy, Nati. 1982. Bibliography of the Works of Gregorio Leti. Oak Knoll Books New Castle. 8 vols.