De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2): The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr D'AngheraAnghiera, Pietro Martire d'
History
De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2): The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr D'Anghera
Anghiera, Pietro Martire d'
America -- Early accounts to 1600
The cult of the Dominican of Verona, murdered by the Waldensians in
1252 and later canonised under the title of St. Peter Martyr, was
fervent and widespread in Lombardy in the fifteenth century. Milan
possessed his bones, entombed in a chapel of Sant' Eustorgio decorated
by Michelozzi. Under the patronage and name of Peter Martyr, the child
of the Anghera was baptised and, since his family name fell into
oblivion, _Martyr_ has replaced it. Mention of his kinsmen is
infrequent in his voluminous writings, though there is evidence that
he furthered the careers of two younger brothers when the opportunity
offered. For Giorgio he solicited and obtained from Lodovico Sforza,
in 1487, the important post of governor of Monza. For Giambattista he
procured from the Spanish sovereigns a recommendation which enabled
him to enter the service of the Venetian Republic, under whose
standard he campaigned with Nicola Orsini, Count of Pitigliano.
Giambattista died in Brescia in 1516, leaving a wife and four
daughters. A nephew, Gian Antonio, whose name occurs in several of his
uncle's letters is described by the latter as _licet ex transverso
natus_; he served under Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, and finally, despite
his bar sinister, married a daughter of Francesco, of the illustrious
Milanese family of Pepoli.[4]
[Note 4: Peter Martyr's will gave to his only surviving brother,
Giorgio, his share of the family estate, but on condition that he
should receive Giambattista's daughter, Laura, in his family and
provide for her: _emponiendola en todas las buenas costumbres y
crianza que hija de tal padre merece_ (_Coll. de Documentos ineditos
para la Hist, de España_, tom. xxxix., pp. 397). Another of
Giambattista's daughters, Lucrezia, who was a nun, received one
hundred ducats by her uncle's will.]
Concerning his earlier years and his education Peter Martyr is silent,
nor does he anywhere mention under whose direction he began his
studies. In the education deemed necessary for young men of his
quality, the exercises of chivalry and the recreations of the
troubadour found equal place, and such was doubtless the training he
received. He spent some years at the ducal court of Milan, but there
is no indication that he frequented the schools of such famous
Hellenists as Francesco Filelfo who, in 1471, was there lecturing
on the Politics of Aristotle, and of Constantine Lascaris whom the
reigning duke, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, commissioned to compile a Greek
grammar for the use of his daughter. In later years, when he found
his chief delight and highest distinction in intercourse with men of
letters, Peter Martyr would hardly have neglected to mention such
precious early associations had they existed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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