Pietro Balbi

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pietro Balbi (also Balbo or Barbo , Latin Petrus Balbus ; * 1399 in Pisa , † September 9, 1479 in Rome ) was an Italian humanist and bishop of Tropea .

Life

Pietro Balbi was born in Pisa in 1399. After studying in Padua , he moved to Mantua . There he received a humanistic education from Vittorino da Feltre , which primarily included mathematics, astronomy and Greek studies . After completing these studies, he initially returned to Pisa. Soon afterwards he moved to Rome, where Cardinal Pietro Barbo, with whom he was related, promoted him. Barbo was a nephew of Pope Eugene IV and later became Pope himself as Paul II .

Balbi's scholarship, particularly his command of Latin and ancient Greek, earned him prestige at the Curia . He entered into a close relationship with Cardinal Bessarion , for whom he took on orders. In April 1456 he was first attested as a priest. The humanist-minded Pope Pius II raised him to Bishop of Nicotera in Calabria , according to local tradition on February 15, 1461, but probably not until January 18, 1462. However, it later turned out that the previous incumbent, one in Rome mistakenly believed dead, still alive; thus Balbi's appointment was invalid, and he had to be content with the rank of simple priest. But soon Pius II got him another diocese ; on June 6, 1463 he appointed him Bishop of Tropea . As the shepherd of this Calabrian diocese, Balbi fought for the jurisdiction of his church against the royal governor of Tropea, Francesco Marrades, whom he excommunicated . Later Balbi returned to Rome; he was last attested in his diocese in January 1468. In the last year of his life he still benefited from a connection that he had made in the vicinity of Bessarion: Pope Sixtus IV granted the eighty-year-old scholar on March 27, 1479 free disposal over part of the vacant benefices in the diocese of Tropea. Balbi died in Rome on September 9, 1479. Sixtus had him buried in St. Peter's Basilica .

Balbi's letter of dedication to Ferdinand I for the Latin translation of Proclus' Platonic Theology , 1466. Bergamo, Civica Biblioteca Angelo Mai, MA 490, fol. 1r.

Works

In 1460 at the latest, Balbi made the first Latin translation of Didaskalikos by the ancient Greek philosopher Alcinous ; he dedicated it to Cardinal Nikolaus von Kues . In 1469 it was printed in Rome as an appendix to an Apuleius edition. Thereafter, Balbi translated the Platonic theology of the Neo-Platonist Proclus into Latin on behalf of the cardinal . He completed the first version of this work in 1462. He also worked as a Graecist for Nikolaus von Kues. He let him appear as a conversation partner in several of his dialogues, including De non aliud (“Vom nichtanderen”, 1461/62). Balbi dealt with the question of the relationship between the writings of the Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita and the Platonic theology of Proclus, which also occupied Nikolaus. He knew doubts about the authenticity of the works of Pseudo-Dionysius and seems to have shared them. After Nicholas' death, he dedicated the final version of his translation of Platonic theology in 1466 to King Ferdinand I of Naples , in whose empire his diocese of Tropea was located.

Balbi also provided Latin translations of works by Greek church fathers , including John Chrysostom and John of Damascus .

literature

Overview display

  • John Monfasani: Quality control in Renaissance translations: a note of Pietro Balbi to Cardinal Oliviero Carafa. In: Anna Modigliani (ed.): Roma e il papato nel medioevo. Studi in onore di Massimo Miglio. Volume 2, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, Rome 2012, ISBN 978-88-6372-439-4 , pp. 129-140

Investigations

Remarks

  1. ↑ Alessandro Pratesi: Balbi, Pietro . In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Vol. 5, Rome 1963, pp. 378–379, here: 378.
  2. ↑ Alessandro Pratesi: Balbi, Pietro . In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Vol. 5, Rome 1963, pp. 378-379; John Monfasani: Quality control in Renaissance translations: a note of Pietro Balbi to Cardinal Oliviero Carafa. In: Anna Modigliani (ed.): Roma e il papato nel medioevo. Studi in onore di Massimo Miglio , Vol. 2, Rome 2012, pp. 129–140, here: 132; John Monfasani: Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in Mid-Quattrocento Rome. In: James Hankins et al. (Ed.): Supplementum festivum , Binghamton 1987, pp. 189–219, here: pp. 193–196 and p. 197, note 39.
  3. ↑ See also John Whittaker: Introduction . In: John Whittaker, Pierre Louis (ed.): Alcinoos: Enseignement des doctrines de Platon , 2nd edition, Paris 2002, pp. VII – LXXII, here: LIX f.
  4. ↑ See on this John Monfasani: Nicholas of Cusa, the Byzantines, and the Greek Language. In: Martin Thurner (Ed.): Nicolaus Cusanus between Germany and Italy , Berlin 2002, pp. 215–252, here: 218 f.
  5. ↑ John Monfasani: Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in mid-Quattrocento Rome. In: James Hankins et al. (Ed.): Supplementum festivum , Binghamton 1987, pp. 189-219, here: 198-205.
  6. ^ Henri Dominique Saffrey edited Balbi's letter of dedication to Ferdinand: Pietro Balbi et la première traduction latine de la Théologie platonicienne de Proclus. In: Pierre Cockshaw et al. (Ed.): Miscellanea codicologica F. Masai dicata MCMLXXIX , Vol. 2, Gand 1979, pp. 425-437, here: 430-435.
  7. ^ Paul Oskar Kristeller : A Latin Translation of Gemistos Plethon's De fato by Johannes Sophianos dedicated to Nicholas of Cusa. In: Nicolò Cusano agli inizi del mondo moderno , Firenze 1970, pp. 175–193, here: 187 f .; Alessandro Pratesi: Balbi, Pietro . In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani , Vol. 5, Rome 1963, pp. 378–379, here: 379.
personal data
SURNAME Balbi, Pietro
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Balbo, Pietro; Barbo, Pietro; Balbus, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian humanist
DATE OF BIRTH 1399
PLACE OF BIRTH Pisa
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1479
Place of death Rome