Antonio Brucioli (born about 1498, died 6 December 1566) was an Italian humanist, religious thinker, publisher, and writer best known for his translation of the Bible into Italian. He was the first to publish an Italian translation of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

's ''Politics''. It became mandatory reading in the academies of

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

not long after. In 1555 his Italian translation of the Bible was placed on the

Index of Forbidden Books The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbidde ...

Pope Paul IV Pope Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa, C.R. ( la, Paulus IV; it, Paolo IV; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death in August 1559. While serving as pa ...

. He was tried for

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

, convicted, and forced to recant.

Life

Brucioli was born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

at an unknown date. In his youth, Brucioli was a frequent attendee and contributor to the circle of humanists and scholars who met in the Orto Oricellari, a large garden in Florence. Among the distinguished thinkers with whom Brucioli developed relationships there, the names of Francesco Cattani da Diacceto, Luigi Alamanni, and

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...

stand out. In 1522 Brucioli, along with several other of the members of the Orto Oricellari, was implicated in a plot to assassinate Cardinal Giulio Medici. Fleeing the city, Brucioli took refuge in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, where he began work on a collection of tracts on moral philosophy, a collection published in Venice in 1526. This body of works formed the core of his ''Dialogi'', which he would expand over the course of the next two decades. During his stay in Lyons, he seems to have absorbed many of the religious ideas of the German reformers, adopting moderately

Lutheran theology Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

in his translation of the Bible, a work which some said relied heavily on Martin Bucer. After the Sack of Rome and the flight of the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

from Florence in 1527, Brucioli returned to his native city to take part in establishing the

Republic of Florence The Republic of Florence, officially the Florentine Republic ( it, Repubblica Fiorentina, , or ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Flo ...

. However, as a political moderate and strict believer that the

Dominican friars The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

San Marco San Marco is one of the six sestieri of Venice, lying in the heart of the city as the main place of Venice. San Marco also includes the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Although the district includes Saint Mark's Square, that was never admin ...

should keep out of state affairs, he quickly fell afoul of the dominant

Savonarola Girolamo Savonarola, OP (, , ; 21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498) or Jerome Savonarola was an Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence. He was known for his prophecies of civic glory, the destruction o ...

n faction, being exiled from the city in 1528. Brucioli spent much of the rest of his life in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, where he was twice tried for

. Having been first denounced in 1548 and found guilty of disseminating heretical materials (but not of heresy), he fled to the tolerant court of Ferrara and the protection of the duchess,

Renée of France Renée of France (25 October 1510 – 12 June 1574), was Duchess of Ferrara from 31 October 1534 until 3 October 1559 by marriage to Ercole II d'Este, grandson of Pope Alexander VI. She was the younger surviving child of Louis XII of Fran ...

. From this point to the rest of his life, strictures on his ability to publish caused him great poverty. In 1549, we find him directing overtures to Cosimo I de Medici hoping to be granted a stipend in exchange for regular reports on political activities. In 1555 his Italian translation of the Bible was placed on the

. While in Venice he was again tried for heresy, convicted, and forced to recant. He spent most of the remainder of his life under house arrest and in extreme poverty.

References

*Spini, Giorgio. ''Tra Rinascimento e Riforma.'' Florence, 1940. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brucioli, Antonio 1566 deaths Italian male writers Translators of the Bible into Italian Italian Renaissance humanists Year of birth unknown 16th-century Italian writers People convicted of heresy 16th-century people of the Republic of Florence