Chiesa di Santa Maria del Giglio Venezia - Francesco Barbaro

Francesco Barbaro (1390–1454) was an Italian politician, diplomat, and humanist from

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

and a member of the patrician

Barbaro family The Barbaro family was a Patricianship, patrician family of Venice. They were wealthy and influential and owned large estates in the Veneto above Treviso.Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance & Mannerist art, Volume 1', Jane Turner, New York, 200 ...

. He is interred in the Church of the ''

Frari The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, usually just called the Frari, is a church located in the Campo dei Frari at the heart of the San Polo district of Venice, Italy. The largest church in the city, it has the status of a minor basil ...

'', Venice.

Family

Francesco Barbaro was the son of Candiano Barbaro, uncle of

Ermolao Barbaro Ermolao or Hermolao Barbaro, also Hermolaus Barbarus (21 May 145414 June 1493), was an Italian Renaissance scholar. Education Ermolao Barbaro was born in Venice, the son of Zaccaria Barbaro, and the grandson of Francesco Barbaro (politician), Fr ...

, grandfather of the younger

, and great-great grandfather of

Marcantonio Barbaro Marcantonio Barbaro (1518–1595) was an Italian diplomat of the Republic of Venice. Family He was born in Venice into the aristocratic Barbaro family. His father was Francesco di Daniele Barbaro and his mother Elena Pisani, daughter of the banke ...

and

Daniele Barbaro Daniele Matteo Alvise Barbaro (also Barbarus) (8 February 1514 – 13 April 1570) was an Italian cleric and diplomat. He was also an architect, writer on architecture, and translator of, and commentator on, Vitruvius. Barbaro's fame is chief ...

. Francesco's father died in 1391 and Francesco was raised by his older brother Zaccaria. In 1419, Franceso married Maria Loredan, daughter of

Procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title of ...

Pietro Loredan Pietro Loredan (1372 – 28 October 1438) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian nobleman of the House of Loredan, Loredan family and a distinguished military commander both on sea and on land. He fought against the Ottoman Empire, Ottomans, winning t ...

. Francesco and Maria had five daughters and one son, Zaccaria, who was born in 1422.

Education

Francesco Barbaro was a student at the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

and studied under John of Ravenna, Gasparino Barzizza,

Vittorino da Feltre Vittorino da Feltre (1378February 2, 1446) was an Italian humanist and teacher. He was born in Feltre, Belluno, Republic of Venice and died in Mantua. His real name was Vittorino Rambaldoni. It was in Vittorino that the Renaissance idea of the com ...

Guarino Veronese Guarino Veronese or Guarino da Verona (1374 – 14 December 1460) was an Italian classical scholar, humanist, and translator of ancient Greek texts during the Renaissance. In the republics of Florence and Venice he studied under Manuel Chrysolor ...

, and

Giovanni Conversini Giovanni Conversini, also known as Giovanni di Conversino or John of Ravenna (Buda, 1343 – Muggia, 27 September 1408), was an Italian educator, whose students included Vittorino da Feltre and Guarino da Verona. He is one of two individuals of t ...

Career

In 1419, Barbaro was appointed senator of the Republic of Venice. He was elected governor of

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

in 1421, though he declined the post. Later that year he accepted the governorship of Trivigi. He served as governor of

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

in 1423, of

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

in 1430, and of

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

in 1434. In 1426 Barbaro was sent as a special envoy to the Papal Court to try to persuade Pope

Martin V Pope Martin V ( la, Martinus V; it, Martino V; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Otto (or Oddone) Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. Hi ...

to ally with Venice against

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. In 1428, the Pope assembled a congress at Ferrara, which ended the war, with Francesco Barbaro being one of Venice’s representatives there. That year Barbaro also served as ambassador in

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

and

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

. In 1433, Barbaro represented Venice at the court

Emperor Sigismund Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was a monarch as King of Hungary and Croatia ('' jure uxoris'') from 1387, King of Germany from 1410, King of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in ...

in Bohemia, where he and the other envoys were knighted by the Emperor. At Emperor Sigismund’s request, Francesco Barbaro attempted to soothe relations between the Emperor and the

Hussites The Hussites ( cs, Husité or ''Kališníci''; "Chalice People") were a Czech proto-Protestant Christian movement that followed the teachings of reformer Jan Hus, who became the best known representative of the Bohemian Reformation. The Hussit ...

Eugenius IV Pope Eugene IV ( la, Eugenius IV; it, Eugenio IV; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 March 1431 to his death in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and ...

also employed Barbaro in his negotiations with the Emperor. Barbaro served as Venetian ambassador to

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

in 1443,

in 1444, and

in 1446. As governor of

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

, from 1437 to 1440, Francesco Barbaro was able to reconcile the two rival factions of Avogadri and Martinenghi and he attained a great reputation in his defense of the city against the forces of the

Duke of Milan The following is a list of rulers of Milan from the 13th century to 1814, after which it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia by the Congress of Vienna. Before elevation to duchy Until 1259, Milan was a free commune that elect ...

, led by

Niccolò Piccinino Niccolò Piccinino (1386 – 15 October 1444) was an Italian condottiero. Biography He was born in Perugia, the son of a butcher. Piccinino was introduced in the guild of Perugia's butchers. He was later scornfully called "son of a butcher" by ...

. Barbaro's success was commemorated by

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an impo ...

in his painting ''The Glorification of the Barbaro Family''. Barbaro was governor of Verona again in 1441, and later was appointed governor 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 ...

and Governor General of

Friuli Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...

in 1445. In 1444 he arbitrated a border dispute between the cities of

and

. He finally returned to Venice as a state councilor and was elected

Procurator of St Mark's The office of Procurator of Saint Mark ( Venetian: Procurador de San Marco) was one of the few lifetime appointments in the government of the Venetian Republic and was considered second only to that of the doge in prestige. Da Mosto, ''L'Archivio d ...

in 1452. Francesco Barbaro also served as

Luogotenente The Italian word ''luogotenente'' (; plural ''luogotenenti'') is an etymological parallel to lieutenant, deriving from the Latin ''locum tenens'' "holding a place", i.e. someone who fills a position instead of another, as a substitute, deputy, et ce ...

from 1448 to 1449. In 1453, Barbaro's friend,

Filippo da Rimini Filippo Morandi (c. 1409 – 1497), usually known as Filippo da Rimini, was a humanist, teacher, writer and administrator in the Republic of Venice. Filippo was born at Rimini probably between 1408 and 1410, since Bernardo Bembo noted that he was a ...

, serving as chancellor of Venetian Corfu, sent him an account of the

fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople, also known as the Conquest of Constantinople, was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire. The city fell on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 53-day siege which had begun o ...

. When Barbaro died the following year, da Rimini delivered a funeral oration.

Writings

Barbaro engaged in research, collection and translation of ancient manuscripts and served as a patron to

George of Trebizond George of Trebizond ( el, Γεώργιος Τραπεζούντιος; 1395–1486) was a Byzantine Greek philosopher, scholar, and humanist. Life He was born on the Greek island of Crete (then a Venetian colony known as the Kingdom of Candia), an ...

and

Flavio Biondo Flavio Biondo (Latin Flavius Blondus) (1392 – June 4, 1463) was an Italian Renaissance humanist historian. He was one of the first historians to use a three-period division of history (Ancient, Medieval, Modern) and is known as one of the f ...

. Early in his career, he translated two of '' Plutarch’s Lives'', those of

Aristides Aristides ( ; grc-gre, Ἀριστείδης, Aristeídēs, ; 530–468 BC) was an ancient Athenian statesman. Nicknamed "the Just" (δίκαιος, ''dikaios''), he flourished in the early quarter of Athens' Classical period and is remember ...

and Cato from Greek texts into Latin and dedicated them to his older brother Zaccaria. He wrote a treatise on marriage, ''De re uxoria,'' in 1415 to celebrate the marriage of

Lorenzo de' Medici Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...

and

Ginevra Cavalcanti Ginevra may refer to: * Ginevra (given name), a variant spelling of the given name Juniper * Ginevra, the Italian form of Geneva * ''Ginevra'', an 1882 poem by Samuel Rogers relating the Legend of the Mistletoe Bough * ''Ginevra'', a lyric drama w ...

. It was inspired by ancient Latin and Greek sources, and he wrote it in just 25 days. In 1513, the treatise was published in Paris by Badius Ascensius, a transcription having been made in

André Tiraqueau André Tiraqueau ( la, Andreas Tiraquellus) (1488–1558) was a French jurist and politician. He is known also as a patron of François Rabelais, and the character Trinquamelle in ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'' is traditionally identified with Tiraqu ...

at the house of Guarino Veronese.Carole Collier Frick, ''The Downcast Eyes of the Women of the Upper Class in Francesco Barbaro's De Re Uxoria'', p. 26 note 3, in UCLA Historical Journal vol. 9 (1980)
archive.org
A French translation was made by Martin du Pin in 1537. The work was translated into Italian by Alberto Lollio in 1548. The Latin version was reprinted in Paris in 1560 and again in Amsterdam in 1639. In 1667, another French translation was made by Claude Joly under the title ''L'Etat du Marriage''. Another Italian translation was made in 1785 as ''A Scelta Della Moglie''. Some of his letters and speeches were published for the first time in

in 1728 under the title of ''Evangelistae Manelmi Vicentini Commentariorum de Obsidione Brixiae ann. 1438''. Among the people he corresponded with were Alberto da Sarteano,

Guarino Guarini Camillo Guarino Guarini (17 January 1624 – 6 March 1683) was an Italian architect of the Piedmontese Baroque, active in Turin as well as Sicily, France, and Portugal. He was a Theatine priest, mathematician, and writer.. Biography Guarini wa ...

, and

Ludovico Trevisan Ludovico Trevisan (November 1401 – March 22, 1465) was an Italian catholic prelate, who was the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Patriarch of Aquileia and Captain General of the Church. He succeeded his rival Giovanni Vitelleschi, a fellow ...

. Many of his letters were published by Bernard Pez in Brescia in 1753. He may have been the author of a history of the Siege of Brescia.

References

Sources

* * * Giovanni Battista Gerini, ''Italian Writers of the Fifteenth Century'', Paravia, 1896 * Attilio Hortis, ''Miscellaneous Studies of Attilio Hortis'', Caprino, 1910 * * Tibor Klaniczay, ''Reports Veneto-Hungarians at the Time of the Renaissance: Acts, Venice'', Akadémiai Kiadó, 1975 * * * Giuseppe Ignazio Montanari, ''Biography of Venetian Francesco Barbaro'', 1840 * * Giovanni Ponte, ''The Fifteenth century'', Zanichelli, 1996 * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbaro, Francesco 1390 births 1454 deaths 15th-century Venetian writers Italian antiquarians Italian essayists Male essayists Italian male writers Republic of Venice military personnel Italian translators Italian Renaissance humanists University of Padua alumni

Francesco Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...

Republic of Venice politicians Republic of Venice diplomats Medieval Italian diplomats Procurators of Saint Mark 15th-century diplomats Italian male non-fiction writers Burials at Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice to the Duchy of Milan Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice to the Holy See