Petrarch - Francesco Petrarca

Japanese: ペトラルカ - ぺとらるか（英語表記）Francesco Petrarca

Italian poet and pioneer of Renaissance humanism. Born in Arezzo in Tuscany as the son of a notary who was exiled from Florence in 1302, just like Dante, he spent his childhood in Incisa in the same region, then went to Pisa, and when he was eight years old, his family moved to Avignon in the south of France, shortly after the Papacy had been relocated there, and settled in nearby Carpentras. After receiving his primary education in Latin, he followed his father's wishes to study law in Montpellier and Bologna, but he also became fascinated with the Roman classics such as Virgil and Cicero, and in Bologna he encountered vernacular (Italian) poetry, which opened his eyes to new literature. In 1826, upon his father's death, he abandoned his law studies and returned to Avignon. On Good Friday, April 6, 1827, he saw Laura, the woman who would become his lifelong source of poetic inspiration, at St. Clare Church, and fell in love with her. Thus was born the lyric poet who sang of his love for Laura.

[Kazuhiro Hayashi]

Towards a revival of classical culture

Petrarch became a priest around 1330 for economic reasons, and soon after began serving Giovanni Colonna, a cardinal from a distinguished Roman aristocratic family, under whose protection he would remain for many years. In 1337, he took up residence in the Vaucluse Valley on the outskirts of Avignon, and, likening the place to the springs of Mount Helicon, he devoted himself to poetry and classical studies. The following year, he began work on his ambitious work, "Africa" (unfinished). This Latin epic poem, which attempted to succeed Virgil's "Aeneid," was a success as expected, and as his reputation as a pioneer of the revival of classical culture grew, in 1341, he declined an invitation from Paris, the center of medieval culture, to receive his long-desired laureateship at the Capidoglio Hill in the eternal city of Rome. In addition, his enthusiastic support for his close friend Cola di Rienzo, who attempted to restore the ancient Republic in Rome in 47, without fear of being shunned by the Colonna family, and his repeated insistence that the Papacy should return to Rome, were also motivated by the ideal of a new culture rooted in the traditions of Latin culture.

After his coronation, he was invited by many lords to stay in Parma and other parts of Italy, but finally, in 1353, after falling out with the new Pope, he decided to settle in Italy and accepted an invitation from the Visconti family, the despots of Milan. During his stay in Milan, he served as a diplomatic envoy several times while living a peaceful life as a writer. After that, fleeing the plague, he moved to Padua in 1361, then to Venice the following year, and finally to Arqua, a suburb of Padua, where he retired in 1370, and died there.

[Kazuhiro Hayashi]

The work

Petrarch left behind more than twenty works, including some that were incomplete, but the majority of them were Latin works that revived the tradition of Latin literature in a variety of genres and built the foundations of Renaissance humanism. Most of the works underwent long-term revision and refinement.

His main Latin works include the poems "Africa" and "Edycho" (1364), the biographies "Lives of Notable Men" (1351-53), and a series of works that explore ethics, such as "The Secret" (first draft 1342-43), in which he attempted ruthless self-examination in the form of a dialogue with his spiritual mentor Augustine, "On the Solitary Life" (first draft 1346) and "On Religious Inaction" (first draft 1347), which praised the solitude of both men of letters and monks, as well as collections of letters such as "Letters of Friendship" (1366), "Letters of the Last Years" (unfinished), and "Anonymous Letter" (1360), the addressee of which is withheld because it criticizes the Papacy, and polemical works such as "A Derogation to a Physician" (1355), which argued for the superiority of poetry over natural science.

On the other hand, Petrarch's Italian works consist of only two works, the lyric poem collection "Canzoniere" (1374) and the poem "Triumph" (unfinished), which develops the same theme in a narrative style. During the heyday of humanism, his works tended to be overshadowed by his Latin works, but from the 16th century onwards, the reputation of "Canzoniere", which sings of his love for Laura, became established as Petrarch's masterpiece. Based on the concept of love that Dante elevated to the light of God based on the unified worldview of medieval Christianity, and sensing the arrival of a new era, Petrarch sings of a faint light in his memories. In other words, Petrarch saw an afterglow in Laura.

[Kazuhiro Hayashi]

[Reference] | Canzoniere

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

イタリアの詩人、ルネサンス人文主義の先駆者。ダンテと同じく1302年にフィレンツェを追放された一公証人の子として、トスカナ地方のアレッツォに生まれた。ついで同地方のインチーザに幼年期を過ごしたあと、ピサを経て、8歳のとき一家は、教皇庁が移し置かれてまもない南フランスのアビニョンへ渡り、近郊のカルパントラに落ち着いた。ラテン語の初等教育を受けたのち、父親の意志に従いモンペリエ、ボローニャに留学して法律を学ぶが、かたわらウェルギリウス、キケロなどのローマ古典に心酔し、またボローニャでは俗語（イタリア語）の詩と出会い、新しい文学へも目を開かされた。26年、父親の死を機に法律の勉強を放棄してアビニョンへ帰る。そして翌27年4月6日の聖金曜日に、聖女クララ教会で、生涯にわたり詩的霊感の源泉となる女性ラウラLauraを見て、決定的な愛にとらえられたという。ここに、ラウラへの愛を歌う叙情詩人が誕生した。

［林　和宏］

古典文化復興へ

1330年ころ経済的理由から聖職についたペトラルカは、まもなくローマの名門貴族出身の枢機卿(すうききょう)ジョバンニ・コロンナに仕えて、以後長くその庇護(ひご)を受けることになる。37年、アビニョン郊外ボークリューズの谷に庵(いおり)を結び、この地をヘリコン山の泉になぞらえて詩作と古典研究に励んだ。翌年、野心作『アフリカ』（未完）の執筆に着手する。ウェルギリウスの『アエネイス』を継承しようとしたこのラテン語叙事詩は予想どおりの成功を収め、いまや古典文化復興の立役者としての名声が高まるなか、41年、中世文化の中心地パリの招請を断って、永遠の都ローマのカンピドリオの丘で念願の桂冠(けいかん)を戴(いただ)いた。なお、47年にローマで古代共和政の復活を図った親友コーラ・ディ・リエンツォに、コロンナ家との絶縁を恐れず熱烈な支持を寄せたのも、また教皇庁がローマへ戻るべきことを繰り返し主張したのも、同様に、ラテン文化の伝統に根ざした新しい文化の理想に発していた。

　戴冠(たいかん)以降、諸侯に招かれて、パルマをはじめイタリア各地に滞在することが多くなっていくが、ついに1353年、新教皇との不和を機にイタリア定住を決断し、ミラノの専制君主ビスコンティ家の招きを受け入れた。このミラノ滞在時代には、平穏な著述生活のかたわら外交使節の大任を幾度か果たしている。その後、ペストを逃れて61年にパドバへ、翌年にはベネチアへと移り住み、そして70年に隠棲(いんせい)したパドバ郊外のアルクァが終焉(しゅうえん)の地となった。

［林　和宏］

その作品

ペトラルカが後世に残した作品は未完のものも含めて二十余編に上るが、ラテン文学の伝統を多様なジャンルにわたりよみがえらせて、ルネサンス人文主義の基礎を築いたラテン語の著作が大部分を占める。なお、ほとんどの作品が、長期に及ぶ改変、推敲(すいこう)を受けている。

　まず、ラテン語の著作のおもなものは、詩作品に『アフリカ』、『牧歌』（1364）、伝記に『著名人列伝』（1351～53）、さらに、倫理について考究した作品群に、魂の師アウグスティヌスとの対話形式で仮借のない自己検討を試みた『秘密』（初稿1342～43）、文学者と修道士のそれぞれの孤独を賞揚した『孤独な生活について』（初稿1346）と『宗教的無為について』（初稿1347）、書簡集に『親交書簡』（1366）、『晩年書簡』（未完）、教皇庁批難の内容ゆえに宛名(あてな)を伏せた『無名書簡』（1360）、さらに、自然科学に対する詩の優位を主張した『ある医者に対する嘲罵(ちょうば)』（1355）などの論争文がある。

　一方、イタリア語の作品は、叙情詩集『カンツォニエーレ』（1374）と、その主題を叙事的に展開させた詩『凱旋(がいせん)』（未完）の二作にすぎず、人文主義全盛の時代にはラテン語作品の陰に隠れがちであったが、16世紀以降、ペトラルカの代表作としてラウラへの愛を歌う『カンツォニエーレ』の声価は定まった。ダンテが中世キリスト教の統一的世界観に拠(よ)って神の光にまで高めた愛の概念を踏まえつつ、新しい時代の到来を予感するなかで、ペトラルカは追憶のなかの淡い光を歌う。つまり、ペトラルカはラウラのうちに残光を見ていたのである。

［林　和宏］

[参照項目] | カンツォニエーレ

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