Cristoforo Landino (1424-24 September 1498) was a humanist and an important figure of the Florentine Renaissance. Events August 17 - Battle of Verneuil - An English force under John, Duke of Bedford defeats a larger French army under the Duke of Alençon, John Stuart, and Earl Archibald of Douglas. ... September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years). ... 1498 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Humanism is a system of thought that defines a socio-political doctrine (-ism) whose bounds exceed those of locally developed cultures, to include all of humanity and all issues common to human beings. ... Florence (Italian, Firenze) is a city in the center of Tuscany, in central Italy, on the Arno River, with a population of around 400,000, plus a suburban population in excess of 200,000. ... Raphael was famous for depicting illustrious figures of the Classical past with the features of his Renaissance contemporaries. ...

Biography

A member of a noble family from the Casentino, Landino was born in Florence in 1424. He studied law and Greek (under George of Trebizond). Against his father's will he turned away from a career in the law and decided to study philosophy instead, a decision he would not have been able to make but for the patronage of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici. Landino's wife Lucrezia was a member of the Alberti family. The Casentino is the valley in which flows the river Arno in its first tract, till Subbiano. ... George of Trebizond (1395- August 12, 1484), Greek philosopher and scholar, one of the pioneers of the revival of letters in the Western world, was born in the island of Crete, and derived his surname Trapezuntios from the fact that his ancestors were from Trebizond. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Piero de Medici (the Gouty), Italian Piero il Gottoso (1416 – December 2, 1469), was the de facto ruler of Florence from 1464 to 1469, during the Italian Renaissance. ... Alberti was an illustrious Florentine family, rivals of the Medicis and the Albizzi. ...

In 1458 Landino replaced Cristoforo Marsuppini as the chair of rhetoric and poetry at the Florentine Studio. His students, seeking a more renowned teacher, initially opposed Landino's appointment, but he nevertheless remained and became an important part of the cultural and intellectual life of Florence. Events January 24 - Matthias I Corvinus becomes king of Hungary Foundation of Magdalen College, University of Oxford George of Podebrady becomes king of Bohemia Pope Pius II becomes pope Turks sack the Acropolis Births February 15 - Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (d. ...

Landino was a member of the Platonic Academy founded by Marsilio Ficino in Florence. He was the tutor of Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother Giuliano. Landino also held public office, first as chancellor of the Guelf party (1467) and later as scriptor of public letters for the Signoria. Raphaels portrait of Plato, a detail of The School of Athens fresco An an institution for the study of (usually) higher learning. ... Domenico Ghirlandaio. ... Lorenzo de Medici Lorenzo di Piero de Medici (Florence, January 1, 1449 – 9 April 1492) was an Italian statesman and ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance. ... Portrait by Sandro Botticelli. ... The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting, respectively, the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in Italy during the 12th century and 13th century. ... Events October 29 - Battle of Brusthem: Charles the Bold defeats Liege Beginning of the Sengoku Period in Japan. ... A Signoria (from Signore or Lord) was an abstract noun meaning (roughly) government; governing authority; de facto sovereignty; lordship in many of the Italian city states during the medieval and renaissance periods. ...

Landino died in 1498 in a villa in Borgo Collina, which he received as a gift from the Medici.

Works

Landino was a prolific writer. He championed the use of vernacular Italian.

He wrote three works framed as philosophical dialogues: De anima (1453), De vera nobilitate (1469), and the Disputationes Camaldulenses (ca. 1474). In the Disputationes several humanists compare the merits of the active and the contemplative life. Events May 29 - Fall of Constantinople to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire). ... Events July 26 - Battle of Edgecote Moor October 17 - Prince Ferdinand of Aragon wed princess Isabella of Castile. ... Events December 12 - Upon the death of Henry IV of Castile a civil war ensues between his designated successor Isabella I of Castile and her sister Juana who was supported by her husband, Alfonso V of Portugal. ...

As the lady "Xandra" Landino published three volumes of Latin poems. They were dedicated in 1458 to Piero de' Medici. He also prepared many letters and orations, which were published long after his death in Italian in Venice (1561). Latin is an ancient Indo-European language. ... Events January 24 - Matthias I Corvinus becomes king of Hungary Foundation of Magdalen College, University of Oxford George of Podebrady becomes king of Bohemia Pope Pius II becomes pope Turks sack the Acropolis Births February 15 - Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (d. ... Venice is known for its waterways and gondolas Gondola. ... // Events The Edict of Orleans suspends the persecution of the Huguenots. ...

Of special importance to the Renaissance, Landino prepared commentaries on the Aeneid (1478) and The Divine Comedy (1481). To promote the use of vernacular Italian, Landino held lectures on Petrarch and translated and published Pliny's Historia naturalis (1476) and Giovanni Simonetta's Latin life of Francesco Sforza (1490). For the group of nine Ancient Egyptian deities, see Ennead. ... Events February 18 - George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is privately executed in the Tower of London. ... Dante shown holding a copy of The Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelinos fresco. ... Events May 3 - Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Beyazid II. May 21 - Christian I, King of Denmark and Norway dies and is succeeded by his son John (1481-1513) With the death of Duke Charles IV of Anjou, Anjou was reverted... From the c. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19c portrait. ... Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elders Natural History is an encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder. ... Events March 2 - Battle of Grandson. ... Portrait of Francesco Sforza, ca 1460, by Bonifazio Bembo: Sforza insisted on being shown in his worn dirty old campaigning hat. ... Events Tirant Lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell, Martí Joan De Galba is published. ...

References

Bernuzzi, Marco. "Cristoforo Landino." Contemporaries of Erasmus. Eds. Thomas B Deutscher, Peter G Bietenholz. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.