Giusto Fontanini on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Giusto Fontanini (30 October 1666 in
A prelate and attentive bibliophile, in 1697 became a stubborn and reactionary defender of the Papal Curia. In 1708, he was a protagonist of a contentious controversy over the possession of the territory of
San Daniele del Friuli
San Daniele del Friuli ( fur, Sant Denêl) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northwest of Udine.
San Daniele del Friuli borders thes ...
– 17 April 1736 in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
) was a Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
and an Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
.
Biography
A prelate and attentive bibliophile, in 1697 became a stubborn and reactionary defender of the Papal Curia. In 1708, he was a protagonist of a contentious controversy over the possession of the territory of Comacchio Comacchio (; egl, label= Comacchiese, Cmâc' ) is a town and ''comune'' of Emilia Romagna, Italy, in the province of Ferrara, from the provincial capital Ferrara. It was founded about two thousand years ago; across its history it was first gover ...
between the Papacy and the Este Dukes of Modena along with their protector, the Austrian Hapsburg empire. In 1597, the then Duke of Ferrara Alfonso II d'Este died without heirs. While the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II recognized as heir to Alfonso, his cousin Cesare d'Este, his dubious legitimacy led the papal states to claim the Duchy of Ferrara, including Comacchio. Cesare and his successors were constrained to the Duchy of Modena. However in 1708, an Austrian army claimed Commacchio by marching an army to occupy the town. While the Papacy gathered an army to confront the imperial garrison, the rival political and legal claims were trumpeted in competing scholarly treatises: the Este claim by the erudite Ludovico Antonio Muratori
Lodovico Antonio Muratori (21 October 1672 – 23 January 1750) was an Italian historian, notable as a leading scholar of his age, and for his discovery of the Muratorian fragment, the earliest known list of New Testament books.
Biography
Born ...
, while Fontanini defended the papal claim. With free access to Vatican papers, Fontanini relied on countless texts and composed equally erudite works such as ''De antiquitatibus Hortae coloniae Etruscorum'' (1708), ''Dissertatio de corona ferrea langobardorum'', ''Delle masnade ed altri servi secondo l'uso dei Longobardi'' and several others. Ultimately, the papacy acquiesed to the occupation for some decades.
Fontanini's most important work is the "Library of Italian Eloquence" (1726), a bibliography of the letters, later corrected and supplemented by Apostolo Zeno
Apostolo Zeno (11 December 1668 in Venice – 11 November 1750 in Venice) was a Venetian poet, librettist, journalist, and man of letters.
Early life
Apostolo Zeno was born in Venice to a colonial branch of the Zeno family, an ancient Venet ...
, historian and poet (1753). The importance of this project is highlighted in the subtitle: ''Where are neatly arranged works printed in our vulgar language over the disciplines and the main subjects''. A classification of knowledge, then, but with a revolutionary linguistic plan: the vulgar, now national language. The disciplines in which he shares his library of eloquence are: grammar, rhetoric, poetry, dramatic (theater), lyricism, history, philosophy, theology. There are, and legitimate, both vulgar works and the vulgarizations of ancient works.
Sharp criticism by the intellectuals of the time for the many omissions and inaccuracies does not diminish the value of this Library, which is recognized as the first step in the arrangement of Italian works.
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fontanini, Giusto 1666 births 1736 deaths 18th-century Italian Roman Catholic archbishops 18th-century Italian historians