JOHN OF RAVENNA

This article appears in Volume V15, Page 449 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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JOHN OF RAVENNA . Two distinct persons of this name, formerly confused and identified with a third (

anonymous

ANONYMOUS

)
Ravennese in Petrarch's letters, lived at the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century.
1. A

young

Ravennese born about 1347, who in 1364 went to live with Petrarch as secretary. In 1367 he set out to see the world and make a name for himself, returned in a state of destitution, but, growing restless again, left his employer for, good in 1368. He is not mentioned again in Petrarch's corre-' spondence, unless a

letter

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

" to a certain wanderer " (vago cuidam),
congratulating him on his arrival at Rome in 1373, is addressed to him.
2. Son of Conversanus (Conversinus, Convertinus). He is first heard of (Nov. 17, 1368) as appointed to the professor-ship of rhetoric at Florence, where he had for some time held the post of notary at the courts of justice. This differentiates him from M. He entered (c. 1370) the service of the ducal

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

of Padua, the Carraras, in which he continued at least until 1404, although the whole of that period was not spent in Padua. From 1375 to 1379 he was a schoolmaster at Belluno, and was dismissed as too good for his post and not adapted for teaching boys. On the 22nd of

March

1382, he was appointed professor of rhetoric at Padua. During the struggle between the Carraras and Viscontis, he spent five years at Udine (13871392). From 13951404 he was chancellor of Francis of

Carrara

CARRARA
CARRARA, or CARRARESI

, and is heard of for the last time in 1406 as living at Venice. His history of the Carraras, a tasteless production in barbarous Latin, says little for his literary capacity; but as a teacher he enjoyed a

great

GREAT

reputation, amongst his pupils being Vittorino da Feltre and Guarino of Verona.
3. Malpaghini (De Malpaghinis), the most important. Born about 1356, he was a pupil of Petrarch from a very early age to 1374. On the 19th of September 1397 he was appointed professor of rhetoric and eloquence at Florence. On the 9th of June 1412, on the re-opening of the studio, which had been shut from 1405 to 1411 owing to the plague, his appointment was renewed for five years, before the expiration of which period he died (May 1417). Although Malpaghini left nothing behind him, he did
much to encourage the study of Latin; among his pupils was Poggio Bracciolini.
The local documents and other authorities on the subject will be found in E. T. Klette, Beitrage zur Geschichte tsnd Litteratur der italienischen Gelehrtenrenaissance, vol. i. (1888); see also G. Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung des klassischen Altertums, who, however, identifies (I) and (2).

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