Ambrogio Traversari

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The beginning of the writing De coelesti hierarchia by Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita in the Latin translation by Ambrogio Traversari. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Lat. 171, fol. 1r (15th century)

Ambrogio Traversari (also Ambrosius the Camaldolese , Latin Ambrosius Traversarius ; born September 19, 1386 in Portico di Romagna , province of Forlì-Cesena , Italy; † October 21, 1439 in Florence ) was a Tuscan humanist and theologian. He played an important role as a translator of ancient literature.

Life

Ambrogio entered the Camaldolese order at the age of fourteen , in whose monastery Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence he lived from then on. In a few years he became one of the most respected theologians and Graecists of his time. He may have acquired his knowledge of Greek from Manuel Chrysoloras or Demetrio Scarano, but he pretended to be an autodidact.

In 1431 Ambrogio became a general of the order and in this capacity headed the Congregation for Canon Law at the Curia in Rome. He participated in the Council of Basel as the papal legate of Eugene IV . His main endeavor was the reunification of the churches in West and East. In 1437, on the basis of his recommendation, Pope Eugene IV moved the church assembly to Ferrara . Ambrogio did not live to see the outcome of the council; he died on October 20, 1439. Together with Cardinal Bessarion , he wrote the Union Decree of Ferrara-Florence of 1439, with which the Eastern Schism that had existed since 1054 was formally ended. The background to this agreement was foreign policy developments: The advance of the Turks made the Byzantines, whose empire was about to fall, ready to compromise.

Due to his classical and humanistic education, Ambrogio was a typical representative of a new theology of the 15th century, which was oriented towards science, literature and the arts. He was close friends with Cosimo de 'Medici , promoted the research of ancient antiquities, dealt extensively with the theology of the early Churches and made works by important authors of the Eastern Church ( John Chrysostomos , Basil the Great , Ephraem the Syrians ) accessible to Western theologians . He faced a secularization of the clergy inexorably; He castigated the frivolous activities of the cardinals at the Basel Council as a sin babel .

plant

The beginning of the writing De ecclesiastica hierarchia by Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita in the Latin translation by Ambrogio Traversari. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Lat. 169, fol. 31r (15th century)

Ambrogio's main work is the Hodoeporicon , a prose report on a papal visitation trip to monasteries in Italy. He translated the Vita of John Chrysostom of Palladius , the nineteen sermons of Ephraem the Syrian and the treatise on the virginity of Basil the Great into Italian. A number of his manuscripts are now kept in the library of San Marco in Venice .

From 1431 to 1437 he translated the entire work of the Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita . Nikolaus von Kues reported to the Tegernsee monks that this reliable translation was now available to him; it is the Codex Cusanus 43, which is still in the Cusanus Hospital in Kues today. Nikolaus von Kues also commissioned Ambrogio to translate the Theologia Platonica of Proclus in 1439 , which the latter was unable to complete until his death; Petrus Balbo of Pisa then completed this project.

Ambrogio achieved a strong aftereffect with his Latin translation of the ancient philosopher's biographies of Diogenes Laertios , which was presented to Cosimo de 'Medici in 1433. Ambrogio's translation, first printed around 1472, was eagerly used by humanistic scholars; the first edition of the original Greek text did not appear until 1533.

literature

  • Costanzo Somigli, Tommaso Bargellini: Ambrogio Traversari, monaco camaldolese. La figura e la dottrina monastica. EDB, Bologna 1986, ISBN 88-10-50707-X .
  • Charles L. Stinger: Humanism and the Church Fathers. Ambrogio Traversari (1386-1439) and Christian Antiquity in the Italian Renaissance. State University of New York Press, Albany 1977, ISBN 0-87395-304-5
  • M. Pontone: Ambrogio Traversari Monaco e umanista. Fra scrittura latina e scrittura greca . Aragno, Torino 2010.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Letter 21, ed. by Edmond Vansteenberghe: Autour de la docte ignorance. Une controverse sur la théologie mystique au XVe siècle (= contributions to the history of the philosophy of the Middle Ages. Texts and investigations. Vol. 14, H. 2/4, ZDB -ID 502679-9 ). Aschendorff, Münster 1915.
personal data
SURNAME Ambrogio Traversari
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ambrose the Camaldolese; Ambrosius Traversarius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Order General
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1386
PLACE OF BIRTH Portico di Romagna , Italy
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 1439
Place of death Florence , Italy