Tomo Medin, also known as count Tommaso Medini (1725–1788) was a
Montenegrin Serb adventurer and author, translator of
Voltaire's
Henriade
''La Henriade'' is an epic poem of 1723 written by the French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer and philosopher François-Marie Arouet, Voltaire. According to Voltaire himself, the poem concerns and was written in honour of the life of He ...
into Italian. He achieved prominence in high society by rubbing shoulders with
Stefano Zannowich
Stefano Zannowich ( sh, Stefan or Stjepan Zanović, ; 18 February 1751–25 May 1786) was an adventurer from Budva who gained considerable notoriety for posing as royalty. His most important published work was the 1776 "Turkish Letters".
Biograp ...
,
Count of St. Germain
The Comte de Saint Germain (; – 27 February 1784) was a European adventurer, with an interest in science, alchemy and the arts. He achieved prominence in European high society of the mid-18th century. Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel considere ...
,
Chevalier d'Eon,
Alessandro Cagliostro,
André-Robert Andréa de Nerciat
André-Robert Andréa de Nerciat (17 April 1739 – 1800) was a French novelist, best known for his novel '' Le Diable au corps''.
Nerciat was born at Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is ...
and
Giacomo Casanova with whom he had two
duels.
Biography
He was born in 1725 in
Petrovac, near the coastal town of
Budva at the time under the jurisdiction of the
Republic of Venice, today in
Montenegro. Unlike his Montenegrin predecessors, Tomo Medin preferred to study the laws and letters instead of joining a foreign military, a common practice among the young at the time. After a decade of unregulated life (1746-1756), he found shelter in the court of
Maria Teresa
Maria Teresa (born María Teresa Mestre y Batista; 22 March 1956) is the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg as the wife of Grand Duke Henri, who acceded to the throne in 2000.
Early life and education
Maria Teresa was born on 22 March 1956 in Marian ...
in
Vienna, where he remained until 1765, when the empress elected him captain of justice in
Mantua, where he remained until 1768. But the passion of gambling beckoned him again, and perhaps because of his bad habit of gambling and making debts, he had to leave his post, abandoning himself to a stray, frantic and shameful life in
Germany and
Italy.
Giacomo Casanova writes that Tomo Medin (who Casanova calls Count Tommaso Medini) died in London in 1788 in prison, incarcerated for failing to pay his debts. Biographers view it as slander because in the criminal archives of London there is absolutely no trace of him. Casanova himself admits in his memoirs that Count Medini and Zannovich were career gamblers like himself. Furthermore, the "Medini" Casanova mentions in his memoirs was, in fact, an extremely talented man of letters. In fact,
Frances Burney, who was in Vienna in September 1772, that is, while Medin was in Germany, after having spoken of him with
Metastasio, wrote: "Metastasio seems very passionate about the writings of Count Medini; whose poetic compositions are, as far as he claims, superior to those of any other living writer ". It seems like a mockery: but really valuable are the Italian translations made by Medin of
Voltaire's Henriade in 1774 and that of The Abduction of
Proserpina by
Claudian
Claudius Claudianus, known in English as Claudian (; c. 370 – c. 404 AD), was a Latin poet associated with the court of the Roman emperor Honorius at Mediolanum (Milan), and particularly with the general Stilicho. His work, written almost ent ...
, which saw the light only after the death of the author.
Also, Medin wrote: "''Per il felicissimo giorno di nome di sua Altezza Serenissima l'Elittrice di Baviera Principessa reale di Polonia''" (Monaco, 1773).
Medin died in
London in 1788.
See also
*
Stefano Zannowich
Stefano Zannowich ( sh, Stefan or Stjepan Zanović, ; 18 February 1751–25 May 1786) was an adventurer from Budva who gained considerable notoriety for posing as royalty. His most important published work was the 1776 "Turkish Letters".
Biograp ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medin, Tomo
18th-century Serbian writers
1725 births
1787 deaths
People from Budva