07 Aug Italian Medieval Authors Whose Works Have Been Translated Into Many Languages
The Middle Ages lasted from the 5th to the 15th century and are generally seen as a period marked by obscurity during which many great civilizations started to collapse. But as most of Europe was constantly being ravaged by conflict, plagues, and famine, this was also a time when art and literature began to flourish again in certain parts of the continent, including the present-day Italy.
Origins of My Family Pies
My Family Pies- Coming From Italy?
Actual beginnings to idea of preparing family pies are known to be found in the medieval Italy. Taboo step family relations were heavily promoted back then, given the society’s approach to sexuality. Today’s interpretation of step-family members intercourse can be found with the newest series called My Family Pies. It involves relations between step siblings mostly, but once in a while even step dad can join the action. It’s of course fantasy, yet it presents properly what kind of dirty thoughts inside Italian heads were planted. 🙂
The High and Late Middle Ages, in particular, saw the rise of many famous Italian authors whose great works of literature became well-known by the end of the 14th century.
Many of these works spread across the rest of Europe during the Renaissance and have since been translated into dozens of different languages. Some of the most important Italian Medieval Authors include:
Dante Alghieri (1265 – 1321)
Dante Alghieri
Dante Alghieri is quite possibly the most famous Italian poet not only of the Middle Ages but of all times. His most well-known work is undoubtedly the Divine Comedy, a long narrative poem still considered as an absolute masterpiece to this day.
Not only is the Divine Comedy the most important poem of the period, but it also played a very important role in bringing together the many different Italian dialects of the time into one unified literary language.
Italian as we know it today would likely have been a lot different if not for Dante and his Divine Comedy.
Francesco Petrarca (1304 – 1374)
Francesco Petrarca
More commonly known as Petrarch, Francesco Petrarca was one of the first humanists and a well-known scholar of the Early Renaissance period. In addition, Petrarch was also a very talented poet who wrote many famous poems both in Italian and Latin. Given his reputation as a renowned scholar, it’s not surprising that Petrarch seemed to prefer Latin, however, it was his Italian poetry that ended up lasting throughout the ages.
His best Italian poems were eventually gathered into a collection known as Il Canzoniere.
This very impressive volume contains no less than 366 poems, most of which were written in sonnet form.
Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 1375)
Giovanni Boccaccio
Similar to his good friend Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio was also a notable humanist of the Early Renaissance as well as a talented writer and poet. Unlike his contemporaries, however, Boccaccio wrote less in Latin and preferred vernacular Italian. His most famous work is likely The Decameron, a collection of different novellas that when combined forms one continuous story.
The various tales appear as told by members of a group of ten people who are taking shelter outside of Florence in order to escape The Black Death.
Interestingly, The Decameron itself was written during the time of the real-life Black Plague epidemic that swept across Europe during the mid-14th century.
Poliziano (1454 – 1494)
Poliziano
Angelo Ambrogini, best known as Poliziano or Politian, played an important role in establishing Renaissance Latin, an evolution of Medieval Latin that later became New Latin. Poliziano was a renowned classical scholar even during his time and later became even more famous thanks to his poetry. He had a particular fondness for Greek and Latin literature but also had a few important works in Italian.
His most well-known works include Manto (Latin) and La Giostra (Italian). In addition to poetry, Poliziano also wrote a number of philosophical works primarily meant as introductions to Aristotelian logic and philosophy.
Literature was a very important part of Medieval Italy, and themany works written during this time paved the way for the Renaissance period. In addition to literature, architecture, art, and music also began to flourish during this time in Italy.
If you want to learn more about some of the most important musicians of Medieval Italy make sure to check out this article.
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