The ' (''The Book without a Name'') is a collection of nineteen personal letters written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

by the fourteenth century

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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited ...

. The letters being harshly critical of the

Avignon papacy The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon – at the time within the Kingdom of Arles, part of the Holy Roman Empire; now part of France – rather than in Rome. The situation a ...

, they were withheld from the larger collection of his ''

Epistolae familiares ''Epistolae familiares'' is the title of a collection of letters of Petrarch which he edited during his lifetime. He originally called the collection ''Epistolarum mearum ad diversos liber'' (''"a book of my letters to different people"'') but t ...

'' (''Letters to Friends'') and assembled in a separate book. In this fashion, Petrarch reasoned, a reader could throw away this collection, and the other letters to friends could be preserved for posterity.

Correspondents

These letters were sent to his closest friends, who many times were well known figures to the public. So that he would not divulge their identities, he withheld these particular 19 letters and published this book "without a name" on any letter. Among these public figures were Philippe de Cabassoles,

bishop of Cavaillon The former French diocese of Cavaillon (''Lat.'' dioecesis Caballicensis) existed until the French Revolution as a diocese of the Comtat Venaissin, a fief of the Church of Rome. It was a member of the ecclesiastical province headed by the Metropol ...

;

Cola di Rienzo Nicola Gabrini (1313 8 October 1354), commonly known as Cola di Rienzo () or Rienzi, was an Italian politician and leader, who styled himself as the "tribune of the Roman people". Having advocated for the abolition of temporal papal power a ...

, a political leader; Francesco Nelli, secretary to the bishop Angelo Acciaioli I; Niccola di Capoccia, a cardinal; Lapo da Castiglionchio of Florence; Rinaldo Cavalchini, the son of the notary Oliviero; Stefano Colonna the Elder, the son of Giovanni Colonna who was one of the most important political figures in Rome; and Ildebrandino Conti, a bishop of Padua. The final letter also included an appendix, addressed to Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor.Zacour, p. 96

Cultural references

Several other works have used the title ''Book without a name'' including those by *

Lady Morgan Sydney, Lady Morgan (''née'' Owenson; 25 December 1781? – 14 April 1859), was an Irish novelist, best known for '' The Wild Irish Girl'' (1806)'','' a romantic, and some critics suggest, "proto-feminist", novel with political and patriotic o ...

and Thomas Charles Morgan (1841) * Theodore Annemann (1931) *

Kit Williams Christopher "Kit" Williams (born 28 April 1946) is an English artist, illustrator and author best known for his 1979 book '' Masquerade'', a pictorial storybook which contains clues to the location of a golden (18 carat) jewelled hare created ...

(1984)

Bibliography

* Norman P. Zacour's trans. ''Liber Sine Nomine'' titled: ''Petrarch's Book Without A Name'', Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, Canada (1973); * Kirkham, Victoria, ''Petrarch: a critical guide to the complete works'', University of Chicago Press, 2009, * M.E. Cosenza, ''Francesco Petrarca and the Revolution of Coli di Rienzo'', (Chicago University Press 1913) * Paul Piur, ''Petrarca 'Buch ohne Namen' und die papstliche Kuri'' (Halle/Saale: Max Niemeyer, 1925). * John E. Wrigley ''A Papal Secret known to Petrarch'', Speculum, XXXIX (1964), pp. 613 – 634. * E. H. Wilkins, ''Petrarch's Correspondence'', (Padue: Editrice Antenore, 1960). * E. H. Wilkins, ''Petrarch at Vaucluse'', (University of Chicago Press 1958). * J.H. Robinson, ''Petrarch, First Modern Scholar'', (New York 1898). * V. Rossi, ''Epistolae Familiares'', volume 4, (Florence 1926) * Francesco Petrarca: Cím nélküli könyv - Liber sine nomine, Hungarian translation by Péter Ertl, Lazi Könyvkiadó, 2018, Szeged.

References

External links

''Liber Sine Nomine'' in Latin
*

{{Authority control Letters (message) 14th-century Latin books Books critical of Christianity Petrarch Avignon Papacy 14th-century Christian texts