Matteo di Marco Palmieri (1406–1475) was a Florentine humanist and historian who is best known for his work ''Della vita civile'' ("On Civic Life"; printed 1528) which advocated civic humanism, and his influence in refining the Tuscan vernacular to the same level as Latin.Giuseppe Flavo, Paul Grendler (ed.). "Palmieri, Matteo" in ''Encyclopedia of the Renaissance'', 1999, volume 3, pp. 376-377. He was sent as Florentine ambassador to the court of Alfonso I of Naples. Vespasiano da Bisticci included him among the illustrious men of his generation whose careers deserved an article in his ''Vite di uomini illustri del secolo XV'' '' vita''.

Biography

Palmieri was born to a middle-class family who held prominent positions in the city. He was educated in Florence and ran a profitable

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...

shop; like his father he pursued a career in civil service, becoming a well known and respected public official between 1432 and 1475 holding many posts and titles. At the end of his life, he commissioned from the Florentine painter Francesco Botticini (1446–1498) a monumental '' Assumption of the Virgin'' for the church of the Benedictine nunnery of San Pier Maggiore in Florence, where the Palmieri had their chapel; in the painting are the kneeling donor portraits of Matteo and his wife Niccolosa de' Serragli. Francesco Botticini - The Assumption of the Virgin

Francesco Botticini - The Assumption of the Virgin

Works

Palmieri firmly believed in the humanist ideal that '' virtù'' was a combination of both learning and political action, and so in concordance with his political life, he was also an author. He wrote in both Latin and Italian. Among his Latin works are ''Liber de temporibus'' (Book of Epochs), a universal chronicle of the world from the time of creation to his present day; the ''De captivitate liber'' (The Capture of Pisa), an account of the Florentine capture of

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

in 1406; and a biography of

Niccolò Acciaioli Niccolò Acciaioli or Acciaiuoli (1310 – 8 November 1365) was an Italian noble, a member of the Florence, Florentine banking family of the Acciaioli. He was the grand seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples and count of Melfi, Count of Malta, Ma ...

, translated into Italian by Donato Acciaioli. In Italian Palmieri wrote a three-book poem '' Città di vita'' ("The City of Life") in 1465, which is an imitation of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...

''. The poem was unpublished in his lifetime, and upon its appearance in print was condemned by the Church as heretical, thus after his death Palmieri's body was removed from the Church of San Pier Maggiore and an effigy of him was burned. Palmieri's best-known work as a humanist is ''Della vita civile'' ("On Civic Life"; printed 1528), composed in 1429 and circulated between 1435 and 1440. It is a treatise discussing the qualities of the ideal citizen. It is written as series of dialogs in four books, set in a country house in Mugello during the plague of 1430, with Agnolo Pandolfini, a rich Florentine merchant, as the main speaker. Depending for the first dialogue upon

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician born in Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quin ...

's ''Institutio oratoria'' and for the last three on

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

's '' De officiis'',Specifics are discussed in Claudio Finzi, ''Matteo Palmieri: dalla 'Vita Civile' alla 'Cittàdi Vita' ''(Rome) 1984. it discusses the physical and intellectual development of children, the moral life of a citizen, and the contrasting tensions between what is useful and what is honest. As well as classic writers such as

and

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, it draws on Palmieri's own personal experiences as a civil servant. His primary emphasis and advocacy is on the need for a good education and taking an active part in the life of the city. Education at an early age he considered crucial to improve the human capacity to do good for others and the community.

Notes

External links

''De temporibus''
by Matteo Palmieri (1459), digitized codex, a
Somni
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmieri, Matteo 1406 births 1475 deaths Writers from Florence Italian Renaissance humanists 15th-century writers in Latin 15th-century people from the Republic of Florence Diplomats from Florence