Lodovico Antonio Muratori

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Ludovico Antonio Muratori

Lodovico Antonio Muratori (born October 21, 1672 in Vignola , † January 23, 1750 in Modena ) was an Italian scholar and clergyman.

Muratori is one of the most important Italian scholars of the 18th century. He worked tirelessly for almost all areas of the sciences of the time. He is considered to be the father of Italian historiography .

Life

Lodovico Antonio Muratori was born on October 21, 1672 to a peasant family. Already in his childhood he showed great eagerness to learn, as he himself relates in his autobiographical work from 1731. After studying grammar at a Jesuit school, he graduated from the Pubblico Studio at the University of Modena , where he took exams in philology and law in 1692 and in philosophy in 1694 . In 1694 he was ordained a priest. During this period of life he was passionate about literature , history and art . He studied the Greek language and read the Italian, Greek and Latin authors. At the beginning of his studies he lacked texts and tools. He was later supported by the historian Benedetto Bacchini (1651–1721), to whom Muratori owed a great deal in both the scientific and theological fields. Following his sponsor, he dealt with patristic literature as well as general ecclesiastical and religious writings, where he conducted an intensive correspondence with the most important scholars from Bologna and Modena .

In 1695 Carlo Borromeo brought him to the college of the 'Dottori' of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, where Muratori immediately began collecting previously unpublished ancient writings of all kinds. His first book publication was the Anecdota latina ex Ambrosianae Bibliothecae codicibus (2 volumes, Milan 1697–1698), which he later added two more volumes (Padua 1713).

In 1700 Muratori received a job as archivist and librarian from Rinaldo d'Este , Duke of Modena. He held this position until the end of his life.

Various states in Europe were involved in the War of the Spanish Succession at this time . In this context, u. a. the dispute over the Comacchio county , an imperial fiefdom that had been illegally annexed by Pope Clement VIII in 1597, after he had denied duke Cesare d'Este the eligibility for fief and confiscated the county of Ferrara, which was a fiefdom of the Papal States. The Roman-German Emperor Leopold I had already requested the return of the Comacchio county, which at that time was home to one of the largest salt pans in Northern Italy . The county of Parma , which had also been an imperial fief, was also affected by the dispute . Because of such disputes, Muratori was induced to study the relevant historical sources.

On July 30, 1702, Modena was occupied by the French and the entire archive that Muratori had just organized had to be relocated. During this time he also turned to aesthetic subjects. He even thought of setting up a kind of 'Italian Union of Literature'. The plan for this with the title I primi disegni della repubblica letteraria d'Italia he published in 1703 under the pseudonym Lamindo Pritanio . In 1705 he was accepted into the Arcadia Academy in Rome . He then wrote the works Della perfetta poesia italiana (Modena 1706) and Riflessioni sopra il buon gusto intorno le scienze e le arti (Venice 1708). 1707 Muratori stood on the emperor's side as an expert in the dispute over Parma.

Lodovico Antonio Muratori, Annali d'Italia , Roma, 1752, t. I, p. I.

In 1708 the Roman-German Emperor Joseph I got the county of Comacchio back by having it occupied by his troops. A scholarly dispute broke out between two parties, on the one hand Pope Clement XI. represented, who briskly demanded the return of Comacchio, and on the other hand the interests of the Este family and the emperor. Muratori was asked for an expert opinion by the Duke of Modena. He had dealt with the subject for twelve years and in his book Piena esposizione dei diritti dei imperiali ed estensi sopra la città di Comacchio (Modena 1712) came to the conclusion that the claims of the Estonians were justified. He went on to publish unpublished ancient writings, such as the work Anecdota Graeca (Padua 1709). Another result of his previous study of the sources was a book on the genealogy of the Este family, entitled Antichità estensi ed italiane (2 volumes, Modena 1717 and 1740). He had sent the manuscript for the first volume to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , at the time librarian and archivist at the court of Hanover , for assessment because the House of Hanover was descended from the Este family and the British King George I therefore asserted rights in the dispute over Comacchio could do. A division of labor was planned: Muratori was supposed to defend the rights of the Italian side, Leibniz those of the German side.

Under the influence of his friend, Father Paolo Segneri (1624–1694), Muratori began at the beginning of the 18th century to take care of the welfare and pastoral care of the poor. This soon aroused in him the desire for his own parish. In 1716 Muratori became provost of the parish of Santa Maria della Pomposa in Modena , which he looked after with great devotion until 1733. He had the church renovated and he founded a charitable association in Modena, the Compagnia della Carità (Society of Charity), which dedicated itself to caring for the poor. Nevertheless, he still found time for his scientific work.

Muratori statue in Modena.

At the suggestion of friends, u. a. also by the poet Apostolo Zeno , Muratori wrote a monumental work on the history and literature of Italy in the years 1723–1751. The publication took place with the help of the Milan Societas Palatina . The plant was divided into three departments. The first section appeared under the title Rerum italicarum scriptores from anno aerae christianae 500 ad annunm 1500 (Milan 1723-1738). The second section entitled Antiquitates italicae medii aevi (6 volumes, Milan 1738–1743) was a collection of 75 treatises on various historical topics, including etymological studies. These became important sources for the establishment of Romance linguistics by Friedrich Diez . The third volume of this collection contains the famous Muratorian Canon , which is of great importance for the history of the New Testament canon. The third section appeared under the title Novus thesaurus veterum inscriptionum (4 volumes, Milan 1738–1742) and includes a collection of ancient inscriptions; the 4th volume also contains the old inscriptions from Christian times. During the last years of his life Muratori worked on the first comprehensive chronological presentation of the history of Italy from the birth of Christ to the present, the Annali d'Italia (12 volumes, Milan 1743–1749). In order to make his research results available to a broader population, he continued to publish a new edition of his historical work in Italian, under the title Dissertazioni sopra le antichità italiane (5 volumes, Milan 1751).

He also wrote a whole series of works with religious or theological content between 1732 and 1749: De superstitione vitanda (1732–1740), in which he took up the themes of De ingeniorum moderatione again, and the blood vow , in which he went into exaggerated religious cults . In the treatise Cristianesimo felice nelle missioni de 'padri della Compagnia di Gesù nel Paraguay from (1743–1749) he dealt with the social experiment of the Jesuits who had set up a commune in Paraguay according to the principles of community life they assumed in early Christianity . As a free spirit, he aroused suspicion, especially among the monastic orders involved in the Counter Reformation , and he even had to defend himself once against the allegation of being the founder of Freemasonry . None of his numerous books have ever been on the index .

His book Della regolata devozione de 'cristiani is of particular importance ; it is an example of Italian religious studies of the 18th century. The work, valued by Pope Benedict XIV, attempts to create a synthesis between rationality and religion, between cult and the practical life of Christians. His work on the Roman sacraments, which he published under the title Liturgia romana vetus (2 volumes, Venice 1748), is also still of great value today .

Another series of his books referred to a reform and reorganization of university education in all areas of science, including theology and law. These topics are dealt with in the writings La filosofia morale spiegata ai giovani (1735), Dei difetti della giurisprudenza (1742–1743), in Delle forze dell'intendimento umano o sia il pirronismo confutato (1745), and finally in Pubblica felicità (1749 ), in which he clauses and encourages the princes to promote such reforms.

In 1717 Muratori was elected a member of the Royal Society at the suggestion of Isaac Newton .

Works (selection)

Della pubblica felicità , 1749
  • Anecdota, quae ex ambrosianae bibliothecae codicibus , Milan 1697, 372 pages .
  • Della perfetta poesia italiana , Modena 1706, new editions: Venice 1748, Milan 1821.
  • Anecdota Graeca , 1709, 365 pages .
  • Piena esposizione dei diritti imperiali ed estensi sopra la città di Comacchio , Modena 1712, 420 pages.
  • History of Italy - according to the years, from the beginning of the Christian era up to the year 1500 (translated from Italian), 9 volumes, Leipzig 1745–1750.
    • 1st part: From the birth of Christ to 221 , Leipzig 1745, 665 pages
    • Part 2: From the year 222 to 399 , Leipzig 1746
    • 3rd part: From the year 400 to 600 , Leipzig 1746, 652 pages
    • 4th part: From the year 601 to 840 , Leipzig 1747
    • Part 5: From the year 841 to 1000 , Leipzig 1747, pages
    • 7th part: From the year 1125 to 1250 , Leipzig 1748, 612 pages
    • Part 8: From the year 1251 to 1377 , Leipzig, 1749, 662 pages
    • 9th part: From 1378 to 1500 , Leipzig 1750, 543 pages
  • De Jurisprudentiae Naevis Dissertatio , 1753, 389 pages .
  • Preface , 6 pages , to Jordan Simon: Philosophy of Morals - according to Lodovico Antonio Muratori , 1st part, Würzburg 1766, 766 pages , 2nd part: Special and practical reasons for moral teaching , Augsburg 1762, 792 pages .
  • The true devotion of the Christian (translated from Italian), Vienna, Prague and Trieste 1762, 290 pages .
  • Critical treatise on good taste in the fine arts and sciences (translated from Italian), Augsburg 1772, 702 pages. Review in: Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek , Appendix to Volume 13–24, Berlin and Stettin 1777, pp. 433–434 .
  • About the imagination of people , Leipzig 1785, 332 pages , review in the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung , number 289 of Tuesday, December 6th, 1875, pp. 255-256 .
  • Lettere inedite di Lodovico Antonio Muratori scritte a Toscani dal 1695 al 1749 ( Francesco Bonaini , Filippo-Luigi Polidori, Cesare Guasti and Carlo Milanesi, eds.), Florence 1854, 595 pages .
  • On the methodology of theology , in: Journal for Philosophy and Catholic Theology , Volume 5, New Series, No. 2, pp. 54 ff., And Volume 6, New Series, No. 1, pp. 88-96 (conclusion ) .

literature

  • Life of Ludwig Anton Muratori, librarian to the Duke of Modena , in: Italian biography (translated from French), Volume 1, Frankfurt / Leipzig 1769, pp. 185–247 .
  • Georg Hermann Richerz : Preliminary report by the editor , in: Lodovico Antonio Muratori: About the imagination of people (edited with many additions by Georg Hermann Richerz), First Part, Leipzig 1785, pp. 5-14 .
  • Carl-Ludwig Gieseler : Textbook of Church History , Volume 4: Church History of the Eighteenth Century - From 1648–1814 (edited from the estate of CR Redepenning), Bonn 1857, pp. 145–148 .
  • Heinrich Joseph Wetzler, Benedikt Welte (ed.): Encyclopedia of Catholic theology and its auxiliary sciences , 7th volume: Mecheln - Ozias , Freiburg im Breisgau 1851, p. 379 f.
  • Conversations-Lexikon , 11th edition, Volume 10, Brockhaus, Leipzig 1867, p. 495 f.
  • Susan Nicassio: Lodovico Antonio Muratori (1672−1750) , in: Helen Damico, Joseph B. Zavadil (ed.): Medieval Scholarship. Biographical Studies on the Formation of a Discipline. Volume 1: History (= Garland Reference Library of the Humanities , Volume 1350), Garland Publishing, New York 1995, ISBN 0-8240-6894-7 , pp. 33-45.
  • Girolamo Imbruglia:  MURATORI, Ludovico Antonio. In: Raffaele Romanelli (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 77:  Morlini-Natolini. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2012.
  • Luigi Delia: Entre Domat et Beccaria: Muratori et la codification de la jurisprudence , in: Archives de philosophie du droit , n ° 57, 2014, pp. 551-562.
  • Benoît Soubeyran: The "soldiers des guerres diplomatiques", les archivistes de Pierre Dupuy à Ludovico Muratori (XVIIe - début du XVIIIe siècle) , La guerre et la paix dans les sociétés des Suds, IVe journées d'études doctorales LLACS, Montpellier , 2016 , Pp. 13-14, online

Web links

Commons : Lodovico Antonio Muratori  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Lodovico Antonio Muratori  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gesine Goeschel: The 'Bellum Diplomaticum' around Comacchio at the beginning of the 18th century (dissertation), Frankfurt am Main 1974.
  2. ↑ Handbook of Church History (Heinrich Ernst Ferdinand Guericke, ed.), 7th edition, 3rd volume, Berlin 1850, p. 294 .
  3. ↑ Stephan Benz: Historians around Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , in: Leibniz und Niedersachsen - Conference on the occasion of the 350th birthday of GW Leibniz, Wolfenbüttel 1996 (Herbert Berger and Friedrich Niewöhner, eds.), Verlag Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1999, p. 148– 172 .
  4. ^ Life of Ludwig Anton Muratori, librarian to the Duke of Modena , in: Italian Biography (translated from French), Volume 1, Frankfurt and Leipzig 1769, p. 210 .
  5. ↑ Cf. Wolfgang Sykorra : Friedrich Diez 'Etymological Dictionary of Romance Languages ​​and its Sources. Romance Studies and Preliminary Work 47, Bonn 1973
  6. ↑ cf. z. B. Karl Wieseler: The Canon of the New Testament by Muratori (new edition), Göttingen 1847, 45 pages .
  7. ^ Karl Adolf Menzel : Modern history of the Germans since the Reformation , 5th volume, Breslau 1855, p. 359 .
  8. ^ Carl-Ludwig Gieseler: Textbook of Church History . Volume 4: Church history of the eighteenth century - from 1648–1814 (edited from the estate of CR Redenpenning), Bonn 1857, p. 148 .
  9. ↑ vindication Muratori's by Benedict XIV. , In: Journal of philosophy and Catholic theology , No. 25, Koblenz 1838. Pp 209-222 .
  10. ^ Entry on Muratori, Ludovico Antonio (1673 - 1750) in the archive of the Royal Society , London
personal data
SURNAME Muratori, Lodovico Antonio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian scholar and clergyman
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1672
PLACE OF BIRTH Vignola
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1750
Place of death Modena