Ambrose the Camaldulian, (Ambrogio Traversari) (1386-1439), was a theologian, born near Florence at the village of Portico.
At the age of fourteen he entered the Camaldulian Order in the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, and rapidly became a leading theologian and Hellenist. In Greek literature his master was Emmanuel Chrysoloras. He became general of the order in 1431, and was a leading advocate of the papacy. This attitude he showed clearly when he attended the Council of Basel as legate of Pope Eugenius IV. So strong was his hostility to some of the delegates that he described Basel as a western Babylon. He likewise supported the pope at Ferrara and Florence, and worked hard in the attempt to reconcile the Eastern and Western Churches.
Though this cause was unsuccessful, Ambrose is interesting as typical of the new humanism which was growing up within the church. Thus while among his own colleagues he seemed merely a hypocritical and arrogant priest, in his relations with his brother humanists, such as Cosimo de Medici, he appeared as the student of classical antiquities and especially of Greek theological authors.
His chief works are: -- Hodoeporicon, an account of a journey taken at the pope's command, during which he visited the monasteries of Italy; translations of Palladius' Life of Chrysostom; of Nineteen Sermons of Ephraem Syrus; of the St Basil On Virginity. A number of his manuscripts remain in the library of St Mark at Venice.
His lack of critical faculty was compensated by his excellent taste; in Greek (of which he knew very little) he had the assistance of AmbrogioTraversari.
He regarded himself as an infallible critic, and could not bear the slightest contradiction; his quarrels with Francesco Filelfo, Guarino da Verona and especially with Traversari created a great sensation in the learned world at the time.
His hypercritical spirit (according to his enemies, his ignorance of the language) prevented him from writing or speaking in Latin; his sole literary work was a short tract in Italian on Latin Orthography, which he withdrew from circulation after it had been violently attacked by Guarino.
In 1435 he sent him to Basel as legate, in a critical moment of the councilÂ’s proceedings, and the combination of learning, letters and perfect charity that was AmbrogioTraversari worked wonders with the touchy assembly.
It was Traversari, again, whom the same pope sent as his legate to Venice in 1438 to receive the Greek emperor and the delegation that had come for the reunion council.
Finally, he commissioned Gianozzo Manetti, the pupil of AmbrogioTraversari, and a leading personage in the great world of Florence for years until he fell foul of the rising Medici, to re-translate the Bible.
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