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Medieval cademy of merica
A Papal Secret Known to PetrarchAuthor(s): John E. WrigleySource: Speculum, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Oct., 1964), pp. 613-634Published by: Medieval Academy of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2854748.
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2/23
SPEC
u
L
UMlPl
A JOURNAL OF MEDIAEVAL STUDIES
Vol.
XXXIX
OCTOBER
1964 No. 4
A
PAPAL
SECRET KNOWN
TO PETRARCH
BY JOHN E. WRIGLEY
FOR
twohundred earsmostPetrarchan cholars ave acceptedDe Sade's identi-
fication f the dyingpope in Sine nomine
as BenedictXII (+1342).' Recently
theworld's hief iving
uthority n theworks fPetrarch, rnest
Hatch Wilkins,
suggested
hat
Pope
ClementVI might e the subject of "Quid
Agis," Sine nom.
1.2
The first edaction of the Sine nomine,
r Sine titulo, ollectionplaced the
letternow known
as Sine nom. 1 after hat now entitledSine
nom. 12. These
letters henhad second
and thirdplace in
the first ollectionwhichopened with
the etter ow known
s Sine nom. . SinceSine nom. and 12 clearly
elate o the
pontificate f Clement
VI, Wilkins easons
hat this ooks as if Sine nom.
1
were
associated nPetrarch'smindwith etterswrittenate in 1352or soon thereafter,
and
would therefore,
eem
to
suggest hat Sine nom.
1 was Clement
+1352)
rather hanBenedict + 1342).3Wilkins'
uspicion greeswith
he earlier pinion
ofTatham who wrote, I cannotpersuade
myself hatS. T.
1 was writtenn
1342
and
refers
o
Benedict."4
atham concluded
hat
the etter
was written
n 1352
and
applies
to
Clement.However,he gave
ittle
r
no proof
or
his
statement.
The datingof this
etter n
1342
and the dentificationf
Benedict originated
with
De
Sade,
for arlier
cholars
aw Clement
s
the subject
ofthis
composition.
Paul Piur, editor
of the critical dition
of the Sine nomine ollection
nd their
most
horough tudent,
dmitted hat
erious ifficultiesxist
n
the dentification
ofthe subjectofSine nom.1. He concludedhisanalysisbydating t in 1342 and
identifyingt withBenedict.5
The question
f
the date
is
another
matter.
iur
offers
solid
argument
or
he
1
J. P. F. A. de Sade,
M4moires our
a
vie de
Frangois
Petrarque,
vols. (Amsterdam:Arskee
t
MVercus,
764-1767),
I,
39-41; note xv,
pp. 13-16.
2
Ernest
Hatch Wilkins, tudies n the
Life and
Works
of Petrarch Cambridge,
Massachusetts:
Mediaeval Academy f America, 955), pp. 146-147,n. 72.
3
Wilkins,
tudies,pp. 146-147. Cf. pp. 179-180 for the
order of the
two redactions nd
their
import.
4
Edward H. R. Tatham,
Francesco etrarca, vols.
(London: Sheldon
Press,1925-1926), , 412,
n. 4.
5 Paul
Piur,
Petrarcas Buch ohne
Nahmen"
und die pdpstliche
urie (Halle:
Niemeyer,1925),
pp. 165-166; 315-325.
613
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3/23
614
A
Papal
Secret
Knownto
Petrarch
composition f the etter
ong
before
Clement'sdeath.6The
argument riginated
by De Sade,
and
followed
lmost
blindly y
most
uthors,
s that
since
Sine
nom.
1
concerns dying ope, and owing
o
certain imitations
f
time,
t
must
pply
to
Benedict.Few scholars ave tried ounravel his angle.Most have been satisfied
to
declare1342 the date and Benedict he pope.7
The greatest etrarchan cholar
of
the nineteenth enturywas morecautious.
Fracassettiwas obviouslypuzzled
by this
etter
or
n the
prologue
o
his
edition
of
the
Familiares
he dates
"Quid
Agis"
in
1342
but failsto mention
he name
of
the
pope.8
Fracassetti's
aution s
ustified. ontrary
o
the
almost
universal tatement
f
modern
cholars,
he
earliest
pinion
favors he
suggested ypothesis
f
Wilkins
and
the
suspicion
f Tatham
as
to
the
dentity
f
the
pope,
f
not
the
date 1352.
An
annotatedmanuscript
f
the Vatican
Library dentifieshe nauta
of
Sinenom.
1
withClement,
nd
adds that the
ploughboy
f
the etter s Pierre
Roger.9
An-
othermanuscriptftheStaatsbibliothek, unich,bears the note "alludit nomini
pape
qui
vocabatur
ClemensVI.""
More
than
fifty ears
ago
it was
discovered
hat
Pope
Clement
VI
had
been
seriously
ll
early
n his
pontificate,specially
during
343.1" t
is, therefore,
he
purpose
of this
paper
to
showthat Sinenom.
refers
o
Pope
ClementVI not
on
the occasion
of
his
fatal
llness
n
1352
but
at an earlier
date, probablyMarch-
December
1343.
"Quid Agis"
cannot
be understoodwithout
ecourse o its iterary enre, r to
Petrarch's
urpose
n
its
composition. he
problem
f
Sine nom.
1
is furtherom-
plicatedbyPetrarch's onstant
evision
f
material nd his
description f events
which
may
havetaken
place
sometime
before e was moved
to
write bout
them.
Any
historical
ocument
may containmaterial onsiderably lder
than the docu-
ment tself.
he date
of
composition,
herefore,
nd
the
date
of
events
described
in a document
re not
necessarily dentical.Sine nom.
1
must be
interpreted n
the basis of
ts
content nd
of
ts
stylenot,
s
heretofore,n thebasis of its sup-
posed
date
of
composition.
Petrarch
nnounces n the
preface
f
his
collection
f
Sine
nomine etters hat
he
intends
o
confuse nd to
deceive.This factmustbe borne n
mind. f Benedict
XII is the subjectof
Sine nom.
1
in
1342,
or
ClementVI thesubject n
1352,
then
the composition nd interpretationf Sine nom.1 are at odds with Petrarch's
announced
iterary
ntention. he critical
llness
of
either f
these
two popes
at
8
Ibid., p. 321, no.
2.
7
Cf.Fortunato
Rizzi,
Francesco
etrarca
il
decennio armense
Turin:Paravia,
1934), pp.
88-90.
Brizzolara
drew this
same
conclusion:G.
Brizzolara,"Le 'Sine
Titulo' del
Petrarca,"Studi
Storici,
iv
(1895), 14-32.
G.
Brizzolara,
II
Petrarca
Cola
di
Rienzo,"
Studi
Storici, III
(1899),243. Cesareo
closely
olloweduit: G.
A.
Cesareo,Su le
Poesievolgari' el
Petrarca:nuove
icercheRocca S.
Casci-
ano:
Cappelli,
1898), p.
90.
8 Francisci Petrarcae
epistolaede rebus
familiaribus
et variae,
ed. Joseph
Fracassetti,
3
vols.
(Florence,
1859-1863), , cxxxix.
Piur,pp. 284-285;Rom. Bibl. Vat. Ottobon. at. 1352:"rusticus uit rigine evera etrus ogerii."
10
Piur,
pp.
285-286;Munich,
Staatsbibliothek
in.
15772.
11
H.
Waquet, "Note
sur es medecins
de
ClementVI,"
Melanges
d'arcHIologiet
d'histoire,
xxii
(1919), 45-48.
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A Papal
SecretKnownto
Petrarch
615
the end
of relatively ormal pan
ofpontifical
ule s inconsistent
ith he most
obscure
nd secretive
tyle ffectedn this
collection. he letter acks
force
nd
impact f uch s its
nterpretation.et the
factthatPetrarch
hooses o open
his
collectionwith his etterndicates hat t sof pecial ignificance.etrarch hows
deliberation nd artistic
urpose n the arrangementf all his works.He chooses
to open this collection
with
"Quid Agis" because it forcefully
nd
dramatically
fulfillshe ntention
whichhe announces
n his preface
o the Sine nomine ollec-
tion:
Truth,which lways
has beenhated, s now
deadly.As
the vices f men ncrease
he
hatred f
truthncreases,
ndGovernments given
ver o flatteriesnd
ies. remember
that
have
oftenaid that, nd that
have venwrittent several imes, ut t sneces-
sary
o say t and write
t without ease.The
groanings illnot stop
before hepain
ends.This thought
ademe decidenottoo ong
go to compose
omebucolic erse, n
thenature f mbiguousoetry,
hich nderstoody few
would lease, erhaps,
many.
1ndeed,many ave uch corruptaste or hingsf he pirit hat knownavor, gree-
able
though
t
maybe,
displeaseshem, nd
only hatwhich
hey annot nderstand,
although
epulsive,harms
hem. t is an astonishing
hing, eak houlders
ften
ove
to
carry
eavy
urdens.
This same
onsideration
ademe determine
nly oday o reaffirm,
n these etters,
certain
ruths
speciallydious o
evildoersecause
hey retrue, utwhich,
f am not
mistaken,
ill e agreeableo the
good. have
broughtogethern onecollection
everal
letters ritteno my
friends,or
iversmotives nd at different
imes, rom ear hat
being catteredbout
heymight
ecome bloton the ntire
ody fmy ettersnd
so
renderhem
atefulothe nemies
f ruth. his
way, hosewhowish o
read hem an
find hem,
nd thosewhodo not
wish o read
themwillknowwhathappened,
nd if
anyone ishes otear hem ut ndthrow hem wayhe canmore asily estroypart
of
hework
without
eforminghewhole. have
wished,nthis, o be useful
oth o
the
reader nd
to myself.n this ittle
work,s well s inthepastoral
oem,
fwhich spoke,
I am
concealed n
one handby a certain bscurity,
nd onthe other
y
the
mysteries
and silence f
the
composition.alone m not
hidden, utalso those
o
whom
have
written.
have
deliberatelyoncealed
heir
ames or ear hat f, y
chance, heymight
become nown
hey
e
exposed
o njury,
f
hey e alive;
orhatred
f
hey
e
dead,
s
if
I had
addressedhese etters y
preferenceo thosewho
knewwould
more
willingly
read hem.
Thisbookhas happened o fall
ntothe
handsof menof considerable
mportance
while
was
present.
When hey
ead hatpartwhich pplied
irectly
o
them,
recall
that
hey
skedmewhat meant
ythis assage,
nd recall hat deliberately
hanged
theconversation.ince hesewere nly ightlyeiled, havetaken are hat hisbook
shallnot
fall nto hehands f uch
menwhile am iving.
f
do not
mistake
myhope,
I
shall
not
tand
n
fear fhatred
roused y the
oveof ruth,nd
shall ount mong
my itles
o glorynmity
cquired romervice
endered.f the ontrary
e true,
his ook
shall
emain idden ntirelyntil
uch ime s I shalldie.
Whatdifferenceill t make o
methen ow t rritateshem,
ow hey
hunder,
ow
they ightning,ow hey
se it as theywish?
Certainlyf,
s the Satirist
maintains,
living
manhas
nothing
o
ear n speaking
f he ead, ow
much
ess
does
dead
man
have
to
fear
n
speaking f the iving;
ecause n thefirst ase
an avenger
might ppear;
n
the
econd,
heobject fvengence
s no ongeriving. o
matter owdangerous,
ateful
and
odious ruth
may
e for im,t doesnot
matter,or
n
thewords
f he
omic,
e
has
sailed nto ort nd s safelyocked. aving assed hroughhemost erriblerdeals, e
thus
espisesmortal hreats.f,therefore,
hey hen lananything
gainstme,
et
them
have t
once or nswer
hat lever hrase f he
rator lancus gainst
sinius ollio,
No
one,
xcept
aggots,
akes ar n
he ead.
f
onthe ontrary,
hey
rm hemselves
gainst
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616
A
Papal
SecretKnown to Petrarch
my
therworks,
n
whichmy ndignation,r
theirndignity,as thrown
hem
nder
my
pen, et them
now
hat t
is
not
with
me
that
hey uarrel
ut with
ruth,
s God s
my
Judge ndtheworlds mywitness.'2
"Quid Agis" describes shipwreck,lludingto thebark ofPeter in distress.
The blame for
his
errifyingatastrophe
s
firstaid at
thefeet
f
group
f
nex-
perienced
ardinalswho man the
ship
during
he
ncapacity
f
the captain.
The
phrase "remos gunt"
clearly pplies to the collegeof
cardinals.13etrarchuses
this
metaphor
n
Fam.
xi, 11,
to thank
Philippe de Cabassoles for
commending
himto
two cardinals: I have
read carefully, ather,what you
have said ofme
to
thosetwo
great
oarsmen
f
the
apostolic
vessel."'4The addition
f
"inexperti"
o
the
phrase
ndicates
hat the men
n
control
re recent
ecipients
f
the red hat,
and, perhaps,young.Clement's irst reation f
cardinalswas 20
September 342,
and if this
etterbe
correctly
ated 1343
the forcefulnessf Petrarch's
ament
s
madeclear.15 llthe newcardinalswereFrench xceptAndreGhinideMalpighi,
also
called Andrea
di
Firenze, whose promotionwas applauded
by
his
fellow
townsman
Giovanni
Villani
ven
though
e saw thehonor s a
favor
o
the
king
f
France.16
Much
less enthusiastic ver all cardinals
elevated
by Clement was
Matteo Villani,who
criticized
hem
for
theiryouth,
dishonesty, issolute ives,
relationship
o
the
pope
or
king
f
France, nd for
ausing
bominable vils n the
Church."7
The pope
in
Sine
nom.1 is
characterized s worldly,
erram mat, nd despises
the
precepts
f
nautical rt.18
lement's
eputation
o
completely its
his
descrip-
tionthatthe textbarelyneedsproof. ierrede Herenthals ecalls that Clement
replied
to
criticism f his
conduct
n
comparison
o
previouspopes by saying,
"My predecessors
id not
know how
to
be pope."'9 The same
author, eporting
both
what
he
saw
and
heard, says
that
Clement ived
in
"a
most sumptuous,
pompous
and
secular fashion."20
atteo Villani
also criticizes
lementfor ur-
rounding
imself
ith
courtiers fboth
sexes after he style f
royalty.2'
12
The Latin text
may
be
found
n
Piur, op. cit.,p.
163.
13
Piur, . 165,
1.9.
14
ErnestHatch
Wilkins,
etrarch t Vaucluse
Chicago:Universityf
Chicago
Press,1958),p. 85.
15
StephanusBaluzius,
Vitae
paparum avenionensium oc est
Ihistoria
ontificumomanorum
ui
in Galliasederuntb annoChristiMCCCV usque d annumMCCCVCIV, ed. G.
Mollat,
4
vols.
Paris:
Letouzey
et
Ane,1914-1927),
, 242; i, 343-368.The ten
clerics levated
to the
college of cardinals
on that date were Helias de
Nabilanis,
Gui de
Boulogne,
Aimericde
Chatelus, Andre Ghini
de
Malpighi,
tienne
Aubert,Hugh
Roger,
Adhemar
Robert,Geraud
de
la
Garde,Bernardde Turre
nd
Guillaume
de la
Jugie.
16
Giovanni
Villani,Cronica,
12
vols.
in
8
(Florence,1823)
xii,
ch.
vii, p. 19.
17
Matteo Villani,
storia
Vol. XIV
of
L.
A.
Muratori, d., Rerum
talicarum
criptores,Milan,
1729),
Bk. iII,
ch.
43,cols.
186-187:
"La
chiesa riforni
i
piiX ardinali uoi
congiunti, fecene
de
si
giovani,
de
si
dishonesta
dissoluta
vita,
che
n'uscirono
ose
di
grande
bbominazione, certi
ltri
fece a
richiesta
del
Re
de
Francia,
fra
quali anche
hebbe de'
troppo
giovani.A quella
tempo
non
s'havea
riguardo
lla
scienzia,
o
alle
virtiX."
18
Piur, p. 165,1. 10.
19
Baluze, ,
298.
20
Ibid.
21
Matteo
Villani,
Vol.
xii,
ch.
viii,p.
19.
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A
Papal
SecretKnown to Petrarch
617
The cardinals re referred o
as "misguiding tars."22 herefore
he pope in
question s neglecting he counsel
of a previouslymportant ardinal
who is hid-
den underthe name of Arctos, he
nfallible uideof ships, he North
Star. The
use of this ymbol s a deliberate ttempt o confuse. he firstmeaning f Arctos
is the constellation rsa, which,
however, s not a fixedguide for
mariners. e-
spitethis, here
s a strong emptation o see here
CardinalNapoleone
Orsini, he
"Tu pre
omnibus,Urse" of Dante's
letter o the Italian cardinals
who were re-
sponsible or he election f Clement
V in 1305.23 owever,Cardinal
Orsinidied
23
March 1342. The then
Cardinal
Pierre
Roger
preached he eulogy
t
his
Re-
quiem
Mass
on
Monday
of
Holy Week.24 enedict
died 25 April
he same year.25
Therefore,
rctos annotmean
Orsini.Arctoshas a secondarymeaning
f north.
In Sine
nom.
1
"Arctos"
is
modified y
"stabilis"
and
cannot refer
o Cardinal
Napoleone,
whose nfluencewas
so small that
he had been
out of ecclesiastical
orbitfor even years beforehis death.26 ardinalGiovanni Colonna was the ac-
knowledged
eader of the Italian factionduring
Benedict's pontificate. rctos
must mean Cardinal
Colonna. In 1343 Petrarch
was on intimate erms with
Giovanni
Colonna and he, more han any other ardinal,
would merit etrarch's
highregard.27
he content f "Quid Agis" supports
he view that
Clement s the
pope
in
question.
n
Sine
nom.1
Petrarchwrites:
What re youdoing, oodman?
What re youdoing,most xcellentather?
hat re
you doing?
ask
you.
What re
you thinking?
hat
outcome
o
you
expect f these
events?
What
hall
e
the
nd
of the
present hipwreck?
hallwe reach
ort,
r
shallwe
sink
n themidst
f
the storms? he bark
s
powerlessgainst
he
angry
waves
of
the
ocean, violent ind asblown way he ails, hekeelplunges eepunderts oad.Un-
skilled
andsman heoars.He
who teers,
s
you ee,
despisinghe
rules fnautical ci-
ence,
oves he
arth,
hich
s
always great anger
or
avigators.
e follows
isguiding
stars.
He disdains he
unchangeable
orth
tar,
he nfallibleuide
f
hips.Meanwhile,
drunk,
vercome ith
ge,
drowned
n
soporific
rink,
e
falters,
e
nods,
nd
dozing
heavy
with
leep,
e s
falling.
Would
o
God that
he
alone
might
all.
Already
e have
seen
he
pallor
fhis
downfall,lready
we haveheard he
amentableries
f
the
ship-
wrecked,lready
he
yawning
essel
as broken
n
two, lready
he
rigging
loats
n the
sea.
Ah, may
our
heavenly
ather
eeing
his
bark
floating
ithout
pilot, eign
o
directt
himselfver
he
waves
during
he
night
nd
not
et that
ink
which
e has so
dearly
natched
rom he
enemy.
therwise
here s
great anger
hatwe
mayperish
n
themidst f thepiratesnd the rocks ecause fthe violencef thestorm. ee wherethe gnorancefourpilothas edus;the erms toomild,etusratherayhisblindness.
Even
this
s excusable.
t
is
necessary
o
speakproperly
nd
to
give hings
heir wn
names.
hat
which as caused
his
s
insanity,
adness, isgracefulnertia,
nd ardent
loveof
arth,
herule
f
reason
bandoned
o
chance,
nd an
infamous
oad
assumed n
the
dvice
fbase
ambition.
Oh, howmuch etter
t would ave
been
o
till he andwith
he
paternal
low
han
to
board hedeck
f
hefisherman's
ark.What
hall
say?
well
know
hat
particular
chastisement
oes
not
uffice
or
universal
ffense;
ut
what
more an be done?He
is
22
Piur,p.
165,
footnote
oncerning
extof
ine
12.
23
Wilkins,
tudies,
pp.
49-51.
24
Baluze, ii, 70-71.
25
Baluze,
i,
232.
26
Wilkins,
tudies,
pp.
49-51.
27
Wilkins,op.
cit.,
pp.
5-6,
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618
A
Papal Secret
Known to Petrarch
going
to
receive the rewardthat
he
deserves
by becoming
food for
dog-fish.
e
shall
forever
e a
legendto all those
who
sail this
sea, pointed
at
by all, object
of
everyone's
jeers, aughing-stocknd
joke
of
everybanquet
table.
But what about
us?
Certainly,
f a similar
pilot gain
the
helm,
Salvation itself
would
scarcelybe able to save us
if
he wished." Our only hope
of
salvation
n
the
midst
of
so
many terrorss that never was there n equal beginning. ook about you then to see if
there
s
any savingplank, whichwe might eize and whichmight
onduct
us
to
shore. f
you ask my advice, we best remain, f possible, n your
countryretreat.
There is
my
earnestly esiredhermitage nd my most tranquilport. Turn your
attention way
from
thisthing nd keep well.28
The dying pope of
"Quid Agis" is described as drunk with wine.29This weighs
heavily with De Sade and with
Piur because Benedict enjoyed the reputation,
unfairly,
f
being addicted
to
wine.30Clement's
reputation
in this
respect
is
better
established than
Benedict's.31
It would
seem impossible
to
distinguish any
two
Frenchmen solely on the basis of their taste, or capacity, forgood wine. However,
the
evidence used
to
identifyBenedict is collected
from
sources
other than
Pe-
trarch.
Nowhere does Petrarch attack Benedict for this
vice.32The contrary is
true
of
Clement. Petrarch
in
his Sixth Eclogue, written
in
1347, reports
an
alle-
gorical dialogue between Pamphilus, representingSt Peter,
and Mitio, represent-
ing Clement.33Peter accuses Clement of failure to fulfill
his pontifical duties be-
cause
of
wine.
Peter commands:
"Lumina
tolle immodico
depressa mero."34
To
this day Clement's name is
enshrined
on the label of a
rich,
red burgundy known
as
Chateauneuf
u
Pape Cle'ment
I.
The
question
in
Sine
nom.
1
is, whom does
Petrarch calumniate.
Petrarch repeats his calumnies in the Sonnets.35 n Sonnet
136 Petrarch attacks Clement's Avignon with these words:
Nest of
betrayals
where
onspires
nd broods
Whatever vil through he world s blown,
The slave of wine,of beds of various
foods,
Where
echerousnessomes nto
ts
own.36
Sonnet
137 continues the
refrain:
The
greedyBabylon has filled
er
bag
With
the
angerof God and
her
foulvices,
So
that t
bursts,
nd
in
gods' place
entices
Not Pallas, Jove,but Venus', Bacchus' tag.37
28
The
Latin textmay be found n
Piur, pp.
165-166.
29
Piur,p. 165,1. 13.
30
De Sade,
I, notexv, pp.
13-16. Piur,pp. 317-319. n defense
fBenedict ee Benoit
XII, Lettres
closes, atentes
t
curiales, d. Georges
Daumet
(Paris: Thorin,
1899-1920),p. vi.
31
Piur, p.
320.
32
Piur,pp.
317-321.
33
Wilkins,
tudies,p. 48.
34
Domenico
Rossetti, Delle poesie atinedel
Petrarca, vols. (Milan:
Societh
Tipografica,
829-
1834)
,
104,
ine
23. Cf.
Piur, p. 320.
35
Piur, p. 320.
3 Petrarch, onnets ndSongs, rans.AnnaMaria Armi NewYork:Pantheon, 946), pp. 226-227.
The
Italian
text
may
also be found
here.
37 Ibid. Cf. Piur,p. 320. On the
relationof these sonnets
o
the
Sine nomine etters ee Ruth S.
Phelps, The Earlier and Later
Forms f Petrarch's
anzoniereChicago:
University
f
ChicagoPress,
1925),
pp.
133-140.
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A
Papal SecretKnown to Petrarch 619
The sick pope of Sine nom.
1
is
described
s
overcomewith ge.38
or
the pur-
poses ofthis rgumentt s not
necessary
o
prove
hat the
phrase burdenedwith
age" applies exclusively o
Clement. t is only necessary
o
prove that
it can
apply to Clement. Piur rules
out the possibility
f
identifyinghe "senex ille
piscatus" of Sine nom.19,Clement,with he old fishermanf Sine nom.
.39
He is
in error. e argues hat enex lle
piscatus s
a
generic ppellation pplicableto any
pope.
It shouldbe noted that
Sine
nom.1
immediately receded ine
nom.
12 in
thefirst edaction.40
iur
has failed
o
see
the
relation
f
the entire iterarydea of
Sine
nom. 1 to the
description
f the
"senex lle
piscatus"
in
Sine nom. 12.
The
complete hrase
n
Sine
nom.12 is:
"Speravimus
nim n te
quod
motum
luctuum
nostrimaris,
n
quo feliciter enex
lle
piscatus tandem periit,
radita
successori
naviculamitigares....
"41
Sine nom. 12
records he ill
fate
prophesied
or
the
pope in Sine nom.
1.
The metaphorical
dea
contained
n
the
phrase,which
n-
cludesthewords senex llepiscatus," s identicalwith he theme fSine nom.1.
It proves hat
the
pope described n
both
etters
s
the
same.
The
objection might
be raised that in late 1343
Clement
was
no
more
than
fifty-threeears
of
age.42
n the fourteenth
entury,
nlike biblical or
modern
times, ifty-three
as advanced
age.
At all
stages
of
history
he abels
appliedto
age have
been
relative.When
Petrarch eached he
age
of
fifty-six,
nd had
been
ill
for year,he complained hat his agingdays werefilledwithdoctors, iscom-
forts, ains,
and
fomentations.43
uring
this ame
year
he
felthimself
o
heavily
burdened
with
age
that he
feared he
might
never
again
see
Philippe
de
Cabas-
soles.44
he
dyingpope
described n Sine
nom.
1
did not
have
youth
on his
side in
his strugglewith death. Petrarchwas thirty-nine earsold whenhe wroteSine
nom.
1.
To him
fifty-three
as advanced
age.45
In
"Quid Agis"
Petrarch alternatesbetween
cutting
criticism nd
hesitant
sympathy
or the
dyingpope.
He
describes
him
as
insane, vacillating,dozing,
falling, ale
as
death,
enseless
nd
blind.46 etrarch
ollows his ad
picture
with
the double meaning tatement Even
this s excusable." This seems
o
mean
that
his
anguage
s
excusable
despite
ts
harshness,
nd that theactions
f
the
pope
are
excusablebecause
ofthe
nature
fhis
llness.
etrarch
ays
that these vilsare
the
result
f
uror, abies, urpis
nertia,
nd
the ruleofreason bandonedto
chance.47
The compound ffectfthisportraits thepicture f a pope incapableofrational
action
due to
illness.
Petrarch's
fear that this
pontiff
will
become
a
joke,
a
laughing-stock,
he
object
of
eers,
the
talk
of
every banquet table,
an
eternal
legend
corroborates
his
nterpretation.48
38
Piur, p.
165,11.
13
and 14.
31
Piur, p. 321,
no. 5.
40
Wilkins,Studies,pp. 146-147,
n. 72.
41
Piur, p. 207,1.22.
42
Cf. G. Mollat,
Les Papes d'AvignonParis: Letouzey
et
Ane, 1949), p.
84. Cf. Baluze,
II,
341.
43
Wilkins, ife
of Petrarch Chicago:University f Chicago
Press, 1961),
p. 1; pp. 169-170.
44
Ibid.
45
Cf. Phelps,p.
65, p. 101. SonnetsCXXIV, LIV,
CXXXVII, CCCII.
41
iur,pp. 165-166,11. 4 to 16.
47
Piur, p. 166, 11.
2
and 13.
48
Piur, p. 166,11.17-21.
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9/23
620
A
Papal
SecretKnown
to Petrarch
In
sadness
Petrarch
xclaims, Oh,
how muchbetter t would have
been had he
tilled the land with the paternal plough
than to
have boarded the deck
of
the
fisherman's ark."49
iur is
in
error
whenhe associates these ines
withBenedict
rather han withClement, he atterbeing,he states,of an illustrious amily.50t
was PierreRoger's
success
whichmade the
family
ortune. ustre
and
titles ame
to
the family
name
of
Roger
only
after
Pierre's
elevation
o
the
papacy. Before
his election he familywere
mall
andowners f
the
minor
nobility." t is true
thatJacques
Fournier
was of humble
rigin,
ut his
fatherwas
either baker or a
miller.52he plough
fits
Pierre's
hands
better
han it
fits
he
hands of
a
baker's
son.
The dyingpontifffSine nom.
1
is newly lected, ince the disasters
befalling
the Church re described s unique
in
the beginning
f a
pontificate.3
lement
was elected
7
May
1342 and enthroned welve
days
ater.4Benedictcannotfulfill
thedefinitionf new popein1342,forhe was elected16December1334.55f this
letter
s
dated 1342
or aterthe
pope
must
be
Clement.
Students
of the Sine nomine ollection
dmit a
vague
chronological
rder n
Petrarch's rrangement f the nineteen
etters.6
f
Sine
nom.
1
does not concern
events
whichtook
place
before
347,
then ts
relationship
o the
other
etters
f
the collection s
unique.
t alone
of the
nineteen etters
s
seriously isarranged.7
Following
XYilkins'
easoning,
rom
he first
edaction,
hat
Sine
nom.
1
was
con-
nected
n Petrarch's
mind with
Clement
VI,
the letter's
ocation n the
second
redaction uggests
ts
composition
efore
347.58
Sine nom.1 is written gainstthebackground fa violent torm nwhich he
bark of Peter
is
seriously ndangered y
the
incapacity
of
her
captain.
On
26
November1343
Petrarch
wrote o Cardinal
Giovanni
Colonna
a
graphicdescrip-
tion of the
hardships
he had
undergone
n
his
journey
to
Naples.
About
mid-
September
etrarch
went
by
land to
Nice where
he
took
ship.
That
evening
he
vesselput
nto
the
harbor fMonaco for
he
night.
he next
day
the
storm
was
so
violent
hat the
ship
did
not
venture
o
leave
the harbor.
Although
he weather
the
following ay
was
still
bad,
they
ailed
on
as far
s Porto
Maurizio. Petrarch
was
disgusted
nd
decided
to
travel
by
land.
However,
he
was
forced
o
take
to
the
sea
again
for
he
short
tretch rom
erici
to a
port
near Pisa.59This
experi-
encesodisturbed etrarch hathenever gainmadea voyagebysea.60
49Piur,p. 166,1. 14.
50
Piur,
pp.
321-322.
61Baluze, ii,
335-341.
During
the summer
f 1960
I
visited
Pierre
Roger's
ancestralhome.
t
is a
rural area with the
local tradition
hat
Clement's
progenitors
ere warrior armers f
modest
rank.
52
Piur,
p.
3922,n.
3.
53
Piur, p.
166:
"
. .
. tale
nusquam
esse
portentum."
Cf.
Piur,p.
316:
"Zwar
spricht
.
.
bereits
von dem
neuen
Steuermann,
.
h. dem neuen
Papst.
54
Baluze, iI, 341.
5
Baluze,
i,
195.
56
Cf.
Ernest latch
Wilkins,
The
Prose Letters
f
Petrarch:
A Manual
(New
York:
Vanni, 1951),
pp. 90-93.
57
Cf. Piur, pp. 316, 326, 327, 328, 335, 340, 344, 348, 351, 363, 368, 371, 376, 380, 385, 389, 397,
401, 404.
68 Cf. Wilkins,
tudies,pp. 146-147, n. 72.
59Fam. V, 3. Cf. Wilkins,Life of
Petrarch, p.
39-40.
60
Arnaldo
Foresti,Aneddoti
ella
vita
di Francesco
etrarco
Brescia:
Vanni, 1928), p. 6,
n. 1.
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10/23
A
Papal Secret
Known to Petrarch
621
DuringPetrarch's
tay n Naples hehad plenty ftime o
write. he experience
at sea duringhis
ourney o Naples was certainly rightening
nd may well have
been the genesis f Sine nom.1.61 Quid
Agis" has usuallybeen dated in Aprilor
May 1342becauseBenedict died 25
April
that
year.
The letterhas always been
assignedto the secondperiod of Petrarch's
residence
t Vaucluse for the same
reason.Also Petrarch
nds the etterwith hesuggestion o
Philippede Cabassoles
that in
the face
of such dread happenings
. .
. we best remain n your rustic
retreat." The implicationhas been
understood o mean
that Petrarch was in
Vaucluse
at
the
time he wrote ine nom. 1. This
is not necessarily he meaning.
In the following
hrasePetrarch ays, "There s my earnestly
esiredhermitage
and mosttranquil
port." These wordsprovethat "Quid
Agis" was not written t
Vaucluse,but that the poet was most
nxious o return
nd to remain here.This
state of
mind
pecificallyccordswith
Petrarch's ttitude
n
Naples late
in
1343.
Piur has rightly bservedthat Sine nom.1 had to be writtenwell before1352.
Were
it first omposed
n
that year it should
contain
a
reference
o Petrarch's
plan for eaving
Vaucluse never o return.
n the contrary e refers o the quiet
solutudeof Vaucluse wherehe suggests
hat he
and
Philippe
best remain.62
The illness fClementVI was a topic
ofgreat nterest oPetrarch.Clementwas
frequentlyll during
is pontificate.he earlier llnesses
f
the pope should, here-
fore, e reflectedn Petrarch's etters
s well
as
the
ater
llnesses.
Clement
was
seriously
ll
during
he
whole
month of December
1351. Ademar
Barrani,
the
papal apothecary,
noted
in
his accounts
the
expenditure
f
fifty-five
lorins
n
medicine orClement during he entiremonth fDecember."63
n
a
letter
writ-
ten to Louis
of Taranto on 17 December
1351 Clement
ays,
"A
tumor
esulting
from gathering
f humors,which
caused a febril ondition,
as
seriously
is-
torted ur face and has afflicteds
for everaldays past."64
n a
letter
f
13
Janu-
ary 1352 Petrarch
reported o Nelli
that the
sovereign ontiff
as
gravely
ll.65
The poet also observed
hat the pope's sickness mpeded
he
solution
f
personal
affairs
nd
the negotiations
f
kings
nd
emperors.66
few
days ater,
18
January
1352, he remarked hat step by step
the pope
was
slowly returning
rom
he
threshold
f
death.67
By 1 February etrarch
was able
to
report
o
his
friend,hilippe
de
Cabassoles,
that thepopewas outofdanger.68hese letters re dated 1359.They have,how-
ever,
nfluenced
he
dating
of otherPetrarchan
ompositions
whichrefer
o
the
61
Cf. Sonnet
CXX, "Quelle
PietoseRime"
written
n
1343 at
Naples
concerning dangerous
llness
the subject of which s uncertain.
ee Phelps, pp.
98-100.
This sonnet
n
my opinion
refers
to
Clement's illness.
62
Piur, p. 321, no.
2.
3
K.
H. Schafer,
ie Ausgaben erApostolischen
ammerunter enediktXII., KlemensVI., und
InnocenzVI. (Paderborn,
914), p.
473.
15
mile
G.
Leonard,La Jeunesse
e Jeanne
Premiere,
vols.
(Paris: Picard,
1932-1937),
i,
328.
Cf. Wilkins, tudies,p. 108.
65
Fam. xii, 4. o Ibid.
67
Fam. xii, 5.
Cf. Wilkins,TheMaking of
the Canzoniere" nd
other etrarchan
tudies
Roma:
Storia
e
Letteratura, 951), pp.
331-333,
for
he dating
of
Fam.
xii,
4
and
5,
68
Fam.
xii,
6.
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11/23
622
A
Papal
Secret
Known
to Petrarch
illness f
Clement
t
earlier ates. The
subsequent
eath
of
Pope
Clement n
1352
and the
known act
of
his llness
n
1351
have
influenced
he
dating
f
Fam.
v,
19,
as well as
Sine nom.1.
Several
scholars
ave observed
hat
Fam.
v,
19,
s
anachro-
nisticallyocatedas the astletter f BookFive.69 racassetti tatedthatFam. v,
19, should
be
put
properly
n
Fam.
xii
or
XIII
because it is so
easily
referredo
1352.70
he
only exception
o
the
chronology
f
all
letters
rom
am.
v,
13,
to
Fam.
vi,
4, is
this
one letter o
the
ll
pope.7"
hese
letters,
he one
excepted,
all
between 30
November1341
and
September
1343.72Billanovich
remarks
hat
every
cholarwho
has considered
he Petrarchan
ollection
with
microscopic
are
has
beenaware
of
this
nomaly,
lthough one has
discovered he
reason.73
If ClementVI is
the
pope
described n
Sine nom.
1,
then
Fam.
v, 19,
s
related o
it, as both
etters oncern
he
same sick
man.
"Febris
tue
nuntius"
an,
probably,
be
dated
13
March
1343.
t is certain
hat Clement
was
seriously
ll n
that
month
and in thatyear.DuringMay 1343 thepapal apothecary xpended wenty-six
florinsfor everal
medicinal
hings eceived
y
the
pope
at
divers
imes."74
hese
accountsare itemized
xpenses
or
he
previous
ight
weeks,
nd
establish
Clem-
ent
as ill
during
March
1348,
the occasionof
Fam.
v,
19.
A
modern
ouch to
this
expense
account s the
bookkeeper's
emark hat
these
expenses
were "all
esti-
mated
by
the
physicians
f
the
pope."75This
perhaps
mplies
hat
the crisis
was
sufficientlyrave
to
ignore,
momentarily,
rdinary
rocedures or
disbursement
of
funds.
"Febris tue
nuntius"
requires
wo
things or
verificationf
ts date
of
composi-
tion.ClementVI mustbe illwith fever ndhisbedmustbe besiegedbyphysi-
cians. Both
these
conditions
re fulfilledn
1343.
After
May
1349
Giovannidi
Parma
is the
only
physician
whose
name
appears
n the
papal
accounts
during he
remainder f
Clement's
pontificate.76
aquet,
independent
f any
reference o
Petrarchan
roblems,
olely n
the
basis of
records n
the
Vatican
Archives,
ame
to
the conclusion
hat
Clement
was
seriously
ll
mostof
1343.77
herewere
never
fewer
han
six
physicians,
ncluding
wo
surgeons, aring
or
Clement
during
hat
time.78
Despite
thefact
hat
Clement
voided
speaking
irectly
bouthis
llness
uring
1343 there s
evidence
that
he
suffered
prolonged
ever.
On
2
November
1343
Clementwrote oJohn, uke ofNormandy, ongratulatingimuponhisrecovery
from
a
febril
ffliction."
lement
remarked
hat
he had
special
sympathy or
John,
oth n
his
llness nd
convalescence, ince
he
himself ad
been
similarly
ll
69
Wilkins,The
Making
of the
Canzoniere,"
. 374.
70
G.
Fracassetti, n
Epistolas
Francisci
Petrarcae
e
rebus
amiliaribus t
variis
adnotationes,
d.
C.
Antona-Traversi
nd
S. Raffaelli
Fermo:
Backer,
1890),
pp.
104-106.
71
Arnoldo
Foresti,
Aneddoti
ella
vita
di
Francesco
etrarca
Brescia:
Vanni,
1928),
pp.
139-140.
72
Cf.
Wilkins,
The
Making
of
the
Canzoniere,"
p.
352-353.
73
Giuseppe
Billanovich, o
scrittoio
el
Petrarca
Roma:
Storiae
Letteratura,
947),
p. 18.
74
Schafer, . 248.
75
Ibid.
78
Waquet,
pp. 45-48. Cf.
Schaifer,p.
914, 202,
234.
77
Waquet,pp. 45-48.
78
Ibid.
Cf.
Schafer, p.
202-506.
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Knownto
Petrarch
623
and was likewise
ejoicing ver
a recovery
f health.79 few
days laterClement
had occasion to
thankPhilip, son
of Odo,
duke of Burgundy,
or gift f some
excellent
wine,
burgundywithout
oubt.The gift
was accompanied
y a pointed
inquiry bout
the sovereign
ontiff's ealth,
whichwas parried
leverly.
he pope
unequivocally
tated
that he was enjoying
perfecthealth
and requested
more
frequent
otesfrom
hilip on thestate of
his own
health nd thatof
his parents.80
Apparentlyumors
were
flying oncerning
hepope'sphysical
ondition.
lement
received
letterfrom
sabelle, abbess
of Fontevrault,
irectly equesting
o be
informedbout
his condition.
While admitting,
7 November1348,
that the
burdens f the pontifical
ffice eighed
heavilyuponhim,
Clement
replied hat
his
health would be equal
to the load
if he were
assisted by the prayers
fher
religious."8
Clement
was
in fact ll.
Despite
the
repeatedprotestations
f
good
health
he
was inthe handsofphysicianswho ordered he papal watercarrier 9November
1343
to make
the first f three rips
o the
sea with three
horses o procure
alt
water
n
which
o
bathe the pope's
feet.82 his
salt water reatment
as led to
the
conclusion
hat Clement
lso suffered
rom
out.83
is
head
and
face,
however,
werebadly
inflamedwithfever
n
1345
and 1351.84 nother ever revented
im
from
elebrating
he Feast
of
the
Epiphany
6
January
349.85Clement's
ickness
must have
been
known o Petrarchbefore
he left
Avignon
n
September
343.86
Petrarch
emained
t Naples
till 4
December
that year.87
t is not strange hat
Clement
ried
o hide his
disability,
nd
perhaps,
he fearedPetrarch's ongue
r
pen.
Early
in
January
1344 Clement
exhorted
Joanna, queen
of Naples, not
to
believeanyonewhosuggested hatthepopehad some secrethewished o hide.88
He
did
in fact hide
his illness.
More
than
a
year
ater
Clement
uffered
mild attack
of
tertian
fever.
The
papal
apothecary
ecorded
4
June 1345
the
modest
expenditure
f fifteen
hil-
lings or
medicines elivered
o the
pope.89
lement's
xplanations
oncerning
is
illness,
owever,
ndicate
hat some time
arlier e
had had
a more erious
ttack.
His
letter
o
Jeanne, ueen
of
France,
ndicates hat she
wrote o
him
sking
o be
informed
bout the state
of his health.
Clement's
reply
1
May
1345
specifically
states
that he
does not wish
to hide the
fact that he had been
for some
time
79Clement
VI, Lettres loses, atentes
t
curiales,
d.
Eugene Deprez (Paris:
Boccard, 1901-1925),
No. 500,
col.
234,
2 November
343,
hereafter
ited as
Deprez.
80
Deprez,
No. 518, col. 243, 12
November1343.
81
Deprez,
No. 532, col. 250, 17
November
1343.
82
Schifer,p.
258,
19 November
1343,
2 December
1343,
17
December
1343:
"
...
de consilio
t
mandatomedicorum uorum."
83
Baluze,
II,
423, n.
4.
84
Deprez,No. 1671,cols. 514,
515; 1672,
col.
515,
1
May
1345.
Leonard,
La
Jeunesse,i,
328,
n.
2.
Cf. Wilkins, tudies,p. 108.
8
Baluze,
iI,
423, n. 4.
86
Cf. SonnetCXX.
87
Leonard,
La Jeunesse,
,
311-313.
88
Deprez,
No. 592, col. 288,
4
January
344.
89
Schiifer, .
306.
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A
Papal
Secret
Known
to Petrarch
gravely ill fromtertian
fever
with
a
rheum
descending from
his head to his
jaws.90
The
same
letter
was
sent
to
King Philip,
with
a
supplementary paragraph, saying
that
soon he
would
send Pierre
de
Verberia,
the
king's cleric,
to
explain
his
illness
and to discuss the informationwhich Philip sent him during and after his sick-
ness.9' Both
letters closed with
the declaration that he was
well.
Two weeks later
14
May
1345 Clement wrote
a
long
letter to
Queen
Joanna
of
Naples
on the same
subject, again
in
reply
to a
query
about his condition. The
tenor of Clement's
letter indicates
that he
had
received
a
witty letter, jocosely
written,possibly
with Sine nom.
1 in
mind.
The
pope says,
in his
reply,
that
she
delightfullydescribes
herselfas
"perfusam
rore leticie" at the news of his conva-
lescence.92
This
phrase
is a forceful
art
of
Sine nom.
1 in
which the
dying pope
is
described as "soporifero roreperfusus."93While
this
striking
coincidence
is
alone
insufficient o
connect Sine nom.
1
with
Joanna's
letter,
the other
circumstances
must be recalled. Sine nom. 1 was probably addressed to Philippe de Cabassoles,
vice-chancellor
of the
kingdom
of
Naples.
It
is
strange
that
Clement should
single
out
this
phrase
from
Joanna's
letter for
quotation
unless
it has
some
special sig-
nificance,
s he
apparently
indicates.
Clement
closes
his
letter,
which
also
contains
a
discussion of
an
edict issued
by Joanna, by assuring
her
that, although
he had
been
gravely ill,
he is
now enjoying good
health.
If
the
content of "Febris
tue
nuntius"
does not
apply
to
1348,
then it must
apply
to
1345.
In
Fam.
v, 19,
"Febris
tue
nuntius,"
Petrarch
says:
The
news
of
your
fever, oly Father,
made
my egs
hake withhorror
nd fear. amnot
pretending,
s did that flatterer f whom the Satirist
aid,
He
weeps f
he
sees a friend's
tears.He breaks nto sweat fafriend ays I amwarm.'Rather am like himwho,Cicero
says,
trembled or
he afety f
the Roman
peoplebecause
he
knewhis own
afetywas part
of theirs.
My condition,
ndeedthe
spiritual
nd
physical
healthof
manymen,
s
basically
identified ith yours.My fright, herefore,s
unfeigned.
fear for
no one, but myself.
All
who
depend
on
you, nd
who
put
their
rust
n
you,appear
to be in
good healthduring
your
llness.We are
not.
Since I know
that speech which
flows
rom
mortalmouth o
divineears should
always be brief, specially n yourpresent
ondition, shall
say,
pros-
trate n
spirit
nd bowed down with
reverence, nly
a
fewmore
words.
knowthat your
bed
is
beseigedby
physicians.My
first eason for
worry
s
this:
they
never
gree among
themselves or
hey
re
ashamed
to
repeat
what has
already
been
said,
or
to
follow trail
blazed
by
another.
There is no
doubt,
as
Plinyelegantly ays,
all these
fellowswish to
make a name for hemselves y introducingomething ew, by experimenting ith our
lives.
A
unique situation
xists
n
this
profession.
Whoever
hangs
out
his
shingle
s
accepted
immediately
s a
qualified
hysician, lthough
here
may
be no more
dangerous ie. We do
not
appreciate
t
either,
or each
expects special treatment
or
himself. here is not a
single
aw which
punishesdeath-dealing gnorance.
here is
not one
example of punish-
ment.
They
learn
their rade at theexpenseof our
lives,
and death
is the resultof their
experiments. nly
a
physicianmay
kill
with
mpunity.
oly Father,
ook on
this mob as
an
enemy olumn.Remember
he famous
ipgram
f
the
man who
ordered
o be inscribed
on
his tomb
onlythis: died amidst mob
fphysicians.
hat
prophecy f venerableCato
is
fulfilled
ompletely
n
our time: whenever he Greeks ransmit heirknowledge o us,
the
physicians
specially
will ruin
verything.
ince we
do not
dare to live
without hysi-
90Deprez, No. 1671,cols.514, 515,1May 1345.
91Deprez, No.
1672, ol.
515,
1
May 1345.
92
Deprez,
No.
1724, cols. 544-545, 14
May 1345.
93
iur, p. 165,1. 14.
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A Papal SecretKnown to Petrarch
625
cians although nnumerable ations ive
better nd morehealthilywithout hem, nd the
Roman
Republicat its peak lived,by the testimony fPliny,more
han ix hundred ears
without hem)choose foryourself,rom
he crowd,one who is
conspicuousnot
forelo-
quence,butforhis
faith nd knowledge.Unmindful,ndeed,of their
wn profession nd
daring o leave their wn bramblepatch,hey eek to invade the sacredgrove fpoets and
the
green
fields
f rhetoricians. ot for he
sake
of
curing, ut for he
sake of argument,
they
debate
with loud
shouting lustered round
the
beds of the
suffering.
hile
the
patient
s
dyingthey make
a
hotch-potch
f the ideas
of
Cicero and the
aphorisms f
Hippocrates.Their pridemounts n
proportion o the progress f the
disease. They glory
not
n
theeffectf their reatment, ut n
the nane elegance ftheir emarks. n nearly ll
partsof this etter have had
Pliny
for
my guide est yourphysicians
ay
I have
distorted
thetruth.He had a lot to
say aboutmedicine nd more bout
physicians.
et them
hear
him
therefore. e says, Obviously,hose
mong hemwhohave waywithwords ecome he
ultimate
udge
of
our
ifeor death.
However,
have raced on more han intendedwhen
started ut because
my pen was goadedby fear. mustmake one more
point: avoid,
s a
conspiratorgainstyour ife, s you would an
assassin,
r a
poisoner,
very hysician
who
has moreblarney han skill.Withperfectustice he may be told whatold Plautinus ays
to the
oquacious cook
n
Aulularia: Go away you
were
rought
ere
o
work,
ot to make
speech.
Add to this
good
care of
yourself
nd
(the following
re
great
ids to
bodilyhealth)
a
pleasant outlook nd a
cheerful isposition,
f
you wish to cure
yourself, ather,
f
you
wish
o
cure ll ofus, the wholeChurch,who
withyou, re ill. Farewell.94
In
Fam.
xii, 5, Petrarch speaks
of
Nelli's desire
to obtain a
copy of Met. III,
22,
on
the
theme
of
Avignon as the Fifth Labyrinth. Petrarch
hesitated
to
send Nelli
that
poem before he
again consulted
Pliny,
his
copy
of
which was
in
Italy. He
said
that
he knew
of no
copy available other
than that
belonging
to
Clement,
who
was
at
the
moment,
18
January 1352, step by step returning
rom
he
very
vestibule of
death. Petrarch informedNelli that as soon as
the pope recovered he would
bor-
row
Pliny
and
immediately
(confestim)
send
Nelli
a
copy
of
the
requested
and
promised poem.
Several
quotations
from
Pliny
are
contained
in
Fam.
v,
19.
If,
as
commonly
alleged, this
letter were
first
written
n
1352,
it
would
indicate
that
Petrarch
had
been able
to
borrow
Clement's copy
of
Pliny
after
18
January
and
before 13
March. However, Petrarch
did
not
send
Met. iII,
22,
to
Nelli
until
1355,
which
suggests
that
Pliny
was
not
available
during
1352
for
the
composition
of
Fam.
v,
19, at that
time.
Wilkins, citing Nolhac, says that there s no evidence that Petrarch knew Pliny
before 1350.95Petrarch noted
in
his
personal
copy
of
the Natural
History
that
he
purchased
it
6
July
1350.96 This notation has been used
to
prove
that
before
Petrarch
acquired
his
own copy
of
the Natural History
he
had no
knowledge
of
Pliny.
However, ownership
of a book
neither proves
nor
disproves knowledge
of
its contents.
Contrariwise,
the
absence
of a book from
Petrarch's library
before
1350 is
negative proof of
his
ignorance. Pliny was
on the shelves
of
the
papal
library
from
the time
of
John
XXII
who ordered it
copied
in
1317.97
If
a
copy
of
94The
Latin text
may be
found n
V. Rossi,
Edizione nazionaledelleoperedi FrancescoPetrarca
(Florence: Sansoni, 1933-1942), xi.
95Wilkins,The Makingof the Canzoniere,"p.
41, n.
1.
96
Pierre de Nolhac,
Petrarque t 'humanisme, vols. (Paris: Champion,
1907),
i,
68-82.
97
Franciscus Ehrle,
Eistoria
bibliothecae
omanorum
ontificum
Rome:
Vatican Press, 1890),
i, 147,no. 2.
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A
Papal
SecretKnown to Petrarch
Pliny was available
to
Petrarch
from
Clement's
ibrary
n
1352,
it
was
equally
available
in
1343. It is difficult
o
imagine
hat he would
not
have known
nd
examined
t on an
early
visit o the
ibrary
t
Avignon.
etrarch
lso
quotesPliny
inFam. v, 11. Unfortunatelyhis etterhas neverbeen dated with ny degree f
probability.98
he
date
13 March
1343, therefore,
annot
be
lightly
ismissed n
the
basis ofour
mperfect
nowledge
f
Petrarch's
tudy
nd
use
of
Pliny.
An air of
secrecy
lows
hrough
he
nvectiveontra
medicum
s
it
does
through
Sine
nom.
1
to which t is relatedvia
Fam.
v,
19.
The
composition
f
the
nvective
contra
medicum
alls nto wo distinct
eriods.
Book I is
separated
n time rom
he
later composition
f Books
II, III,
IV which
were
composed
within
the first
quarter
of the
year
1353.19 ook
I was written
while
Clement
was
alive,
and
in
connection
ith vents elated n
Fam.
v,
19. The
complete
ecovery
fthe
pope
s
demandedby
the
sense
of Book
I,
in
whichPetrarch
efers
o
the surgeon's rag
thatallwere naccordconcerninghetreatmentfthesovereign ontiff.etrarch
says, "You were
n
perfect
greement
fter e
got well,
who wouldhave
returned
to
health
much
more
uickly
f
you
had
been
an
inhabitant
uring
he entire
ime
ofhis llness
f ndia's
fartherest
hore,
which
none,
not even
he,
doubts."'100
Since Fam.
v, 19,
usually
has
been
dated March
1352
t
follows hat
Book I
has
been considered o
have
had
its
origin hortly
hereafter. owever, Petrarch
accuses the anonymous
urgeon
of
requiring year's time
to
answer Book
1.101
Some
commentators
n this
work onclude
hat
Petrarch
erhaps xaggeratedhe
length
f
time
equired
or
he
physician
o
prepare
his
counterblast.102
The internal
hronology
f
the Invectiveontramedicum uggests, herefore,
longerperiodof time
for ts
composition han that now
usually accepted. f the
content fFam. v, 19, be dated
13 March
1343, t allows
ample timefor he de-
velopment
f
the
quarrel
which ook
place
over an
extended
eriod
of
timeocca-
sionedby two widely
eparated vents.
Book
I of
the
nvective
s
related o Febris
tue
nuntius
f 1343 and
Books
I, III,
IV with
hedeath
of
Clement
n
1352.
Shortly efore he
composition
f
"Febris tue
nuntius"Petrarch
ent an
oral
message
to
thepope
urging
imto
beware
he
mob
of
physicians y whomhe was
besieged,
nd
to
choose
from
mong
them
one doctor
distinguished y learning
rather
han
eloquence.'03
his
message,however,
was
carried
by
a
servantwho
was unableto deliver tclearly, nd Clement enthimback toPetrarchwith he
request
hat
the
message
be
put
in
writing.
f the
theory
f this
paper be correct,
it
is likely hat the
Pope
was
too
ill
to
receive
any
such
message, nd that the
servant received
his
directions
rom he
clerics
guarding
he
pope. Petrarch,
accordingly,ddressed
o
Clement
n
13 March
the etter n which
he attacksthe
generality
f
physicians.'04
98
Wilkins,The
Making of
the
Canzoniere," .
358.
99Wilkins, tudies,p. 44. Cf.
Umberto
Bosco,
"Particolari
petrarcheschi,"
tudi
petrarcheschi,
(1948), 97-109, the
definitive reatment
f
the nvectivehronology.
100
FrancescoPetrarca, nvective
ontra
medicum,
d.
Pier
GiorgioRicci (Roma: Storia
e Lettera-
tura,1950), p. 27, lines92-98.
101
Invective, . 94,
"
.
. . si non post annum,
ed
ad
justi temporis patiurmn aciem
redis."
102
Wilkins, tudies, . 151.
103
Sen., xvi, 3.
104
Cf. Wilkins,
tudies, p. 108-109.
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Papal SecretKnown to Petrarch 6927
One of the physicians oncerned eplied
n a letterwhich s not extant. Pe-
trarch'sfirst mpulsewas to ignore his attack
by a doctor who is "procax et
insanus."'l5He says, however, hat a cardinal,
prince f the churchwithwhom
he was most ntimate, rgedhimto reply esthis silence e takenfor dmission f
defeat.106 e answered n a very ong letter,
ventually evisedand made into
Book I of the Invectiveontra
medicum.
etrarch
makes clear the connection e-
tweenFam.
v,
19,
and
the nvective hichhe says
had
its origin
. .
.
in
epystola
illa ad Clementempapam unde tota ista
lis
oritur."'107
etrarch's anger was
aroused by thekind ofmedical treatment lementreceived.Never is the case
completely iscussed, ut severalreferencesre made to
it.
Petrarchwarns the
physician,who s a surgeon, hat he mustremember
t is easierto inflict wound
than to cure t,and to cause a riotthan
to
settle t.108 etrarch s referringo the
fact that
a
secret perationwas performed
n Clement t the timeof eventsde-
scribed n "Febris tue nuntius."Of this surgeon etrarch aid, "And ifanyone
were
ble
to
break
open your
head I
would
never gain say you were
sinine nd
obtuse....
"109
Petrarch's antagonism gainst
Clement's unknown urgeon s
summedup
in his
accusation that this
physicianby
his
imprudent
reatment
caused the church
o
change
ts
head,"0
and
the pope
to
arrive
t the
end
of
his
life."' This sentence s intended s
a
sharpdig at the surgeonwhom Petrarch
knows
has
performedurgery
n
Clement's kull. Petrarch ontinues,
But cer-
tainlynot alone know yourgame: why get angry nly
with
me?"1"2Clement's
corporal emains
onfirmhis
nterpretation.
The monastery
f
Chaise Dieu is intimately
ssociatedwith he ife nd death
of
Pope ClementVI."3 PierreRoger
died
at
Avignon
December
1352. His
body,
however,was not carried o Chaise Dieu
forentombment ntil8 April 1353."1
The magnificent onumental arcophagus
had
beenwaiting
o receive
him for
morethan
a
year. Unhappily,
he devout
ejaculation "Requiescat
in
pace" pro-
tected
neither
is
memory
or his
corpse.
Clement's
emainswere
first
xamined
19
March 1709
by the surgeon
BarthemiPissavin.1"5
he
floor f the
monastic
choirwas beingrepaired nd during he work
his skeletonwas found
long
with
some
pieces
of deerskin
n
which
t
had
been
wrapped.16
When
Pissavin,
an able
105
Fam.,
xv,
6.
106
Sen.,
xvi,
5.
107
Invective, .
50, 11. 00-401.
108
Invective,. 37,1.
427.
109
nvective,. 29, 11.
65-167.
110
caput
mutavit
cclesia.
111
nvective,. 88,
1. 245: "vite sue
finem
epperit,
e
juvante."
112 Ibid.,
11. 40-241.
118
Georges aul,
L'AbbayeBenedictine
e
a
ChaiseDieu
(Paris:
Champion,
924).
Paul
Deschamps
et J.
Leclerq,La Chaise
Dieu,
Les
Monasteres
e France
ii
(Paris:
Cerf,1946).
Cf. Maurice
Faucon,
Notice ur a construction
e
l'eglise
de
la Chaise
Dieu
(Haute-Loire),
on
fondateur,
on
architecte,
es
decorateurs
1344-1352)
d'apres
es
documents
onserves
ux
Archives u Vatican
Paris:
Picard
1904).
114
Eugene Deprez, "Les Funeraillesde ClementVI et d'InnocentVI d'apres les Comptes de la
Cour
Pontificale,"
Melanges
d'arch6ologie
t
d'histoire,
x
(1900),
238-239.
Baluze, i,
261; ii,
423.
115
Guy
de
Chauliac,
La
grande
Chirurgie,
d. E. Nicaise
(Paris:
Alcan,
1890),
p.
lxxxiii.
116
Ibid.,
n.
15.
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628
A
Papal SecretKnown
to Petrarch
surgeon
nd excellent
natomist,
aw the skullhe said
that t had
been
trepanned
and
exfoliated.117
e also
stated
that the
bones were found
n
their
"normal
place."118 hus Pissavin effectively efuted he accusation made against the
Huguenotsthat theyhad profaned he body in their ttack,
1
August 1562, on
Chaise
Dieu under
Blangons,
ieutenant f Baron des
Adrets, uring
he Wars of
Religion.'"9
Petrarchhimself aw the arge caronthepope's head resultingromheopera-
tion
to
whichhe refers
n
the nvective.he poet,with ongue
n
cheek, xplained
that t was the result
f a
blow, by which hepope obtainedhis miraculousmem-
ory, nd which,Petrarch dded,was so greatthatwhatever ierreRoger read,
only once,he
could not
forget ven
f
he wished.'20 he text
of
Rerummemoran-
darum
ibri s the
keyproof
hat
urgery
as
performed
n
Clement
n 1343
before
Petrarch eft Avignon
for
Naples. Before eaving Provence Petrarchhad com-
pleted only the first ook and a small part ofthe second. While at Naples he
completed he
second
book,
whichcontains
reatments
f
memory nd ingenu-
ity.12'Petrarch'sreference
o
Clement's car was made
in
connectionwith the
pope's
marvelous
memory.
his text
proves
hat
"Febris tue nuntius,"
ine nom.
1,
and
Book
I
of
the
Invective ontramedicum
oncern ventswhichtook place
before ecember
1343.
Another urious xplanationhas been givenforPierreRoger's unusual mem-
ory.
t is a
spurious ttempt
o
explain
the
ugly
scar.
Henri de Kalkar, a Car-
thusian,
s the author
of
a
delightful,lthough alse story oncerning ean Buri-
dan and
PierreRoger.Henri givesthe details
n
a letter o his fellowCarthusian
Jean Dotz.
...
Likewise
ou
sk
aboutMaster uridan, hose uestionsn ogic nd all philosophy
are
disputed
t
Prague
nd other
niversities,
hether
knew im. answer s follows,
that
learned
hilosophy, etaphysics,
nd
goodmany
ther
hings,rom ld Buridan,
the
philosopher,
ho
aught
r
tudied t Parisfor
bout iftyears, nd s the Fontof
learning
f
Prague."
knew
girl
rom
aris, henmarriedo a Germanailor, verwhom
117
Jacques
Boyer, "Remarques
historiques t critiques ur le proprede diocese de Saint
Flour,"
Continuation
esmtmoires
e iteraturet
histoire,III (1729),Part
1, p.
188. The
author,
om
Jacques
Boyer,
O.S.B., of the Congregation fSt-Maur,reports he same
fact n anothernote,
Bibliotheque
Nationale,
MS. lat. no.
12664,
folios
102, 103, erroneously
ound
between folios 119-120. The
complete ocument
s
reprinted
n
Faucon, op. cit.,p. 67.
118
J.Lespinasse nd L. Grand,La
Chaise Dieu (Le Puy: Jeanned'Arc, 1959), p. 10.
119
Ibid.
120
rancesco
Petrarca,
Rerummemorandarum
ibri,
d.
Giuseppe Billanovich,
Edizione nationale
delle
opere
di
Francesco Petrarca
(Florence; G. C. Sansoni, 1943), Liber Secundus, 14,
page 49.
"Clemens
VI, egregiusnunc romuleigregispastor, tam
potentiset invicte memorie
raditur, t
quicquid vel
semel egerit
blivisci tiam
si
cupiat
non
possit.
Hoc sibi et
studiorum utrix
lma
Pariseoset orbisuniversus
ribuit. go enim, tsisepeantepedes
ejus fuerim, amende hac re nichil
preter amamhabeo; cuifacilius ccedo
recolens
on d
sibi noviter ributum, ed ante diu
quam
hoc
fortune ulmen
ascenderet: n quod
evecti, circumstrepentibusdulantium turbis,vere laudis
judiciumamiserunt.
llud tamen additur
miraculo:hanc
tantam
sibi
memoriammagno quondam
capitis ctu cujus adhuc testisextatingens upremovertice icatrix rovenisse.Memorabilis asus
simodo
verus; hoc
enim habet inter multa
clarorumvirorum
dmiratio: Viam
fabulls
aperire
solet ..."
On
Roger'smemory
f.
Baluze, , 262; "memoriaemirabilioris," aluze,
ii,
423:
"Contin-
uator
Nangii
eum vocat virum iimmaememoriae."
121
Cf.
Wilkins, ife of Petrarch, p.
43-44.
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A
Papal Secret
Known
to Petrarch
629
Buridanquarreled
with a certain
noble monkof the
Order
of St Benedict,
who laterbe-
came Clement
VI. Buridan
so
badly
woundedhim n
the head that
a
flux
fblood
purged
his
cerebrum,nd so
it was, from
hat time
on, thathe acquired
his great
memory
or
preaching
ermons
nd delivering
isputations.Vhen
he became
pope, Buridan
placed
himself ast on the roll of the Masters ofParis. The Pope therefore,sked,"Where is
my
friend uridan?"
They replied,
Father,
he
put
himself ast out
of humility efore
you."
He
said,
"Let him
come
to us at Avignon."
When he arrived he Pope
said to
him