PETRARCH
AND HIS INFLUENCE ON
ENGLISH LITERATURE
BY
PETER BORGHESI
BOLOGNA
NICHOLAS ZANICHELLI
1906
All rights reserved.
Bologna, Printed by Nicholas Zanichelii 1906.
PETRARCH
AND HIS INFLUENCE ON
ENGLISH LITERATURE
BY
PETER BORGHESI
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF
a^dyfgg^
BOLOGNA
NICHOLAS ZANICHELLI
1906
PREFACE
It was our wish to know something
about the influence which Petrarch had
on English literature. We tried to find a
book on the subject both in Italy and
England, but, as our researches were in
vain, we undertook to treat of it ourselves
and we have succeeded in writing these
few pages.
Of course all that we have written is
not the fruit of our personal observations
alone; we have consulted, besides the
works of all the authors mentioned in
this essay, many other books including
those of eminent historians and critics,
157634
such as Warton, Courthope, Saintsbury,
Ten Brink, Taine, Einstein, Segre, to
whom. we avow our obligations.
In the course of our researches we
have observed that, although the English
have never been slavish imitators of any
particular people or individual, yet they
owe to Petrarch much more than we at
first believed.
We have divided our modest essay
into two parts: in the first we have
treated of the influence of Petrarch on
the English literature and chiefly of the
English humanism of the XIV and XV
centuries; in the second we have dealt
with the English Petrarchism in the XVI
century and we have extended our observ-
ations also to the XVII, when it died out
altogether in England.
We should have liked to have given
more quotations from the authors referred
3 .
to, and to have drawn more parallels
with Petrarch, but we are sorry that the
scanty information we have in our .Italian
libraries and the short time we were able
to spend in England have not allowed us
to treat the subject in a more exhaustive
way. On the other hand we have thought
also that, to treat fully a subject like
this, the work would become too long,
tiresome and monotonous, and even though
it were admissible to compare Petrarch
with a single Petrarchist, it would not be
so in an essay where about thirty English
authors are compared with our great
singer of Laura. Therefore our chief aim
has been to put before the eyes of our
readers a few pages from which the in-
fluence of Petrarch on English literature
may be clearly and readily seen.
Have we succeeded? Our readers will
judge. We shall be satisfied if, having
4
commenced the work, it may be the
means of inducing others to add to our
researches.
The XIV and XV centuries.
No doubt, intercourse between England
and Italy began with the Roman conquest
in the time of the Emperor Claudius, but,
although the Romans remained in England
for about four centuries, they nevertheless
did not leave behind any great influence.
It was the ardour of the new spirit
of Christianity which gave origin to the
many and lasting ties that joined England
to Rome and consequently to Italy. First
Italian missionary monks went there to
introduce Christianity, and afterwards,
even before the Norman conquest, Italian
laymen went there for commercial pur-
poses. So it is certain that regular and
active commercial intercourse existed be-
tween England and Italy even before 1229.
- 6
At that time commerce in our country
was very prosperous and was always
increasing, so that in the first half of
the XIV century it was so renowned
abroad that we were unrivalled by any
other nation. At that time moreover Italian
merchants in England had attained to such
a degree of importance, and commerce
between the two countries had become
so considerable that in 1372 Chaucer,
w r ith two Genoese gentlemen, James Pronan
and John de Mari, went to Genoa to
consider the selection of a place on the
English coast where the Genoese might
found a commercial establishment.
During the last centuries of the Middle
Ages Italy had also led the way in litera-
ture; hence we see many young Englishmen
coming here to study in our old and
renowned universities chiefly at Bo-
logna and Padua. The first thing that a
student does when abroad is naturally
to learn the language of the country w r here
he is, and just as the Italian merchants
who resided in England tried to speak
English, so the Englishmen who came to
Italy studied Italian.
We are pleased to say that the English
were not much behind us: their Oxford
University was then very famous, and if
we cannot prove that Dante studied
theology there, as has been stated, or
even that he was ever at Oxford or
Paris, it would nevertheless be an easy
task to prove that the Oxford University
was renowned not only in England, but
also abroad and especially in Italy.
But let us come to our subject which
treats of the influence Petrarch had on
English literature, and we shall see that
this influence was second to that of no
other foreign writer.
During his own lifetime Petrarch, this
poet who refined and popularized the
poetry of the troubadours, was certainly
known in England, as when he was only
37 years old his reputation was already
made throughout Europe, and it increased
DIVERSITY
OF
^UFORNA^
g
up to the time of his death. He was an
extraordinary example, for, strange as it
may appear, he was the first man of
letters who made for himself a great po-
sition by letters alone, and, even while
living, he enjoyed a renown perhaps
greater than that of Aretin and Voltaire.
It has been stated that he may have
been in England in 1335 or some time
later when he undertook to visit the North
of France and the Netherlands. Rearden,
an American writer, seems inclined to
think so, but most probably Petrarch was
never in the British Islands.
Perhaps the first Englishman who knew
him personally was Richard de Bury, and
he became acquainted with him at the
cosmopolitan town of Avignon, where
Petrach's mind was most developed, and
most probably the English gentleman was
introduced to Petrarch in Colonna's house,
either in 1331 or 1333 - - probably in
the latter year. Of course they must have
talked about literature, as the love of
books was common to them, but the
literary ideals of the English scholar were
alien to those of our poet, and to the
new impulse which our poet wished to
give to poetry. Richard de Bury belongs
to scholastic philosophy: he was a phi-
losopher, a divine and the most learned
Englishman of that time, but he was not
a poet. His erudition was rather narrow
and without order, there was no sign of
individuality in him and there was no
depth in his ideas. There was therefore
too great a difference between him and
Petrarch. It could not be otherwise as
the two scholars had quite a different
education; they differed just as did the
English people differ from the people of
Avignon: the former almost coarse, the
latter too refined. Therefore the learned
Englishman could neither approve of nor
appreciate the new poetry and learning,
nor the luxury that he saw at Avignon.
Petrarch himself recognized at once his
superiority over de Bury as is shown in
a letter he addressed to Thomas Caloria.
To understand Petrarch it was neces-
sary to be a poet, and this poet was not
long in making himself known: it was
10
Chaucer who was the greatest of foreign
verse -makers who lived in Petrarch's
time.
As we have remarked before, it is
quite certain that Chaucer was in Italy
in 1372 when Petrarch was still alive,
but it is not certain whether these two
poets were ever personally acquainted as
has been stated by many critics and by
Chaucer himself: it is only most probable.
The fact is that Chaucer could read and
understand Italian, and that, after Boc-
caccio, Petrarch was his favourite author.
Indeed Chaucer is so full of admiration
for our poet that in a passage in his
Monk's Tale he calls him my master .
The influence that the Italian lyric
writer had on Chaucer was great, although
perhaps the former was known to the
latter much more through his Latin w r orks
than through his sonnets. This influence is
clearly seen if we consider the honourable
place which is generally given to women
in Chaucer's writings, and if we remem-
ber that both Petrarch's and Chaucer's
works were the first to be freed from
theological purpose. This also appears
very clearly in the House of Fame and
chiefly in Troilus and Criseyde (although
the latter is rather a translation from
Boccaccio), where the song of Troilus,
beginning at the 40o. th verse, starts with
a literal translation of the first verses of
the 88. th of Petrarch's sonnets.
So Chaucer then was the first Eng-
lishman who imitated Italian poetry, the
first to tell his nation that a new age
had dawned in Italy and that it was full
time to lay aside the French troubadours
and trouveres in spite of the beauty of
their songs. Italy could give to England
much more than France, and Petrarch
perhaps more than anyone else.
But as Petrarch was not understood. in
England during the XIV century, so did
Chaucer fail to win any disciples: England
w^as not yet prepared to accept the gentle,
delicate, refined feelings and poetry of
Petrarch. Therefore we cannot venture
to say that our author had any influence,
except on Chaucer, on the English litera-
ture of the XIV century; we cannot
12
indeed even say that he was the real
master of Chaucer.
As we have already pointed out in
our essay Boccaccio and Chaucer, the
latter was much more influenced by our
nopellatore, because these two great men
were more akin, and also perhaps because
at first Petrarch was not considered as
a great poet, but rather a scholar, a
humanist.
It does not matter to us whether
humanism in Italy began with Pietro
d' Abano, or soon after Dante's death,
or with Petrarch : we only wish to say
that Petrarch was a humanist and that
as such he had a great influence on
Chaucer. In his life-time Petrarch was
chiefly renowned for his learning, for his
Latin works, therefore Chaucer, who
studied and admired him and learned so
much from him, should be considered as
the first English humanist. For humanism
in England spread long before the Re-
naissance, and from the time of Chaucer
and Thomas of England, who was at
Florence in 1395 buying manuscripts and
delivering lectures ('), we could give a
long list of humanists who were known
not only in England, but also abroad.
After Chaucer the Petrarchan influence
was discontinued in England: Gower,
Lydgate and other poets were not able
to appreciate the true spirit of our litera-
ture, although perhaps they were fami-
liar with certain Italian books. England
continued unprepared for the new literary
movement, therefore poetry remained very
backward in that country, while it made
much progress in ours.
Here was then the very abode of
belles-lettres and fine arts. Poets and art-
ists were loved, encouraged and protected
by the Italian princes. Where else was
the splendour of the Italian courts? Where
such interest in art? Where such culti-
vation of poetry? What nation was then
so wealthy?
( ! ) Leonardo Bruni.
14
Italy had all the commerce between
the Orient and Western Europe; Italy had
the most renowned universities. Foreigners
came here not only for commercial pur-
poses, but also to study literature, medi-
cine and law, therefore sooner or later
the Italian spirit had to pass abroad.
Indeed if it was then too soon for Pe-
trarch's poetry to find its way to England
and to predominate there, such was not
the case with regard to Italian humanism.
It has been said that humanism crossed
the Alps in 1414 and that it made its
first appearance abroad at the Council of
Constance where England was represented
by Richard Fleming; but, if it is not right
to state that humanism began in England
with Chaucer, it may be that the son of
Henry IV, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
heard and understood something about it
even before the above mentioned date,
At a very early age he became a great
collector and reader of books w r hich he
bought in Italy and France. He was a
patron of learned men, and it seems he
began to present books to the University
15
of Oxford about the year 141 i, when he
was only twenty. Moreover, and this
strongly supports our opinion, he retained
learned foreigners in his service for the
purpose of transcribing and translating
from Greek and Latin. We are sure that
Antonio de Beccaria, a learned Veronese,
was in his service, that Titus Livius of
Forli was much patronized by him, and
that these two learned men, together with
Lapo da Castiglionchio w r ere by him called
to England. We are sure that he greatly
esteemed Piero del Monte, Leonardo Bruni
and Pier Candido Decembrio. He w^as
certainly an extraordinary man and far in
advance of his age. He must undoubtedly
have understood humanism, as among
the books he presented to Oxford were
the writings of Petrarch and Boccaccio,
the text and commentaries of Dante and
the great writers of antiquity whose works
had been recently discovered in Italy.
So little by little the new learning
found its way to England, but it was
there fully understood only towards the
end of the XV century. Many English
16 -
scholars tried to introduce it even earlier,
but they did not succeed, they did not
make many disciples; they are only sol-
itary examples and represent vain ef-
forts. They only succeeded in bringing
there new books and in preparing the
literary food for the coming genera-
tions.
Italian Humanism was much helped
by the English kings who, towards the
end of the XV century, began to introduce
into their courts the brilliancy of our
princes. It is true that kings and princes
encouraged it perhaps only because they
thought it possible in England, as well as
in Italy, France and Spain, to found an
absolute monarchy, but the effect they
produced was far more than merely po-
litical.
About the year 1460 Edward IV began
to aid the growth of letters, and as many
of the barons had been killed in the civil
war, and the church had lost its influence,
and the power of the Commons had been
checked in mid-growth, and especially
as humanism had brought new ideas
i 7
about sovereignty into England, he was
practically able to discontinue parliament
and found the basis of a new monarchy
to be built up after an ancient pattern.
Certainly he aided arts and letters
after the manner of an Italian prince,
but, as political unrest still continued in
England, he could not do much for them.
It was not till the reign of Henry VII
that the position of learning began to be
secure in England. This monarch, a real
Maecenas, .was a friend of the dukes of
Ferrara and Urbino who were greatly
renowned at that time; he advanced
literature and arts as the Italian despots
used then to do, called to his court many
Italians, among whom we may mention
the poet Peter Carmeliano, and caused
one of his sons to be educated by the
poet Skelton, the celebrated contemporary
and perhaps also precursor of Rabelais.
We have said that the Petrarchan
influence on English literature during the
BORGHESI. 2
i8
XV century was little or nothing at all,
but we are sure that literary intercourse
continued, after Chaucer's time, between
the two countries. While many Italians
resided in England and perhaps brought
to that country several of the earliest
manuscripts of the Italian poets and hu-
manists which are still preserved in the
libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, many
Englishmen on the other hand came to
Italy to breathe the new spirit of the
Italian arts, and if they did not then fully
understand humanism, they yet proved to
be not only intelligent, but high-minded
scholars, gaining reputation and honour-
able places even in Italy.
In the middle of the XV century
Reynold Chicheley, who had studied at
Fcrrara, w r as the rector of that University.
The poet Osbern Bowkenham, just at
the beginning of the XV century lived
five years in Venice, and Master Norton
in 1425 and Master Bulkeley in 1429
came to Italy in quest of learning.
Andrew Ols, who is known only
through Italian sources, was one of the
first English humanists. He was sent by
his king as a royal envoy to the pope,
and on his journey he stopped at Flo-
rence, where he became acquainted with
several of the celebrities who surrounded
Lorenzo de' Medici. He became very fond
of Italian and bought so many manuscripts
to take to England that they could not
be sent overland : he was compelled to
wait for a ship sailing to his country.
William Grey went to Florence to
buy books and to Ferrara to study. When
he died he bequeathed his library to
Balliol College, and among his books
w r ere the works of Petrarch, Poggio, Gua-
rino of Verona, Bruni and other Italian
humanists.
John Free, better known as Phreas,
went to Ferrara to hear the above men-
tioned Guarino of Verona who taught in
ttrat University and who collected around
him many of the English scholars of the
XV century. He taught medicine for sev-
eral years in Italy, studied law and
belles-lettres and was so acquainted with
Petrarch's works that, when a nephew of
20
William Grey died in Italy, he made use of
arguments taken from Petrarch to console
the sorrowing uncle who was his patron.
John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, an-
other English Maecenas, on his return from
Palestine, stopped in Padua to study; then
he went to Ferrara to visit the old and
renowned scholar Guarino of Verona, and
afterwards he proceeded to Florence to
buy manuscripts. The enthusiasm of this
nobleman for Italy was so great that
Italian humanists like Francesco d'Arezzo
dedicated their works to him.
John Gunthorpe, who was John Free's
companion in Italy, w r as appointed Royal
Chaplain and Dean of Wells where he
built a deanery house after the Italian style.
Robert Fleming, the brother of Richard
who was at the Council of Constance,
went to Italy in quest of learning.
William Grocyn, who w^ent to Italy
to study under Poliziano, became professor
of Greek at Oxford where he untertained
Erasmus, and he had in his library the
w^orks of Petrarch, Boccaccio, Ficino, Fi-
delfo and Perotti.
21
Linacre at last brought to England so
much of the Italian learning that it was
no longer necessary to go to Italy to
study.
We have dealt rather at length with
! humanirn because it is largely connected
1 with Petrarch without whom it could
not have spread so early and so rapidly
| both in Italy and abroad, and also because
everywhere Petrarch \vas first known as
a humanist. Only later did his vernacular
poetry bring him immortality.
It is fitting also to note here that from
what we have said it may be inferred
that during the XV century Italy remained
the fountain-head of the new learning.
In fact so great was the renown of Italy
that afterwards Erasmus, Holbein, Lope
de Vega, Montaigne, Camoens and even
Shakespeare owe very much to our
( country. Efforts were made everywhere
to rival her, but, in spite of them, the
new literary movement was not yet widely
22
understood in England, it being chiefly
confined to Oxford where Linacre taught.
Neither Stephen Hawes, a groom to
Henry VII, nor Skelton felt the true spirit
of the Renaissance : Petrarch was for
them only a famous clerk .
Therefore although a copy of Pe-
trarch's poems had found its way to the
library of Peterhouse as early as 1426,
and since that time and even before Pe-
trarch was always read and studied by
English scholars, yet the great transform-
ation in that country only took place, as
we shall see, in the XVI century.
The XVI century.
It is beyond the scope of our subject
to describe the wealth of Italy during
the XV and XVI centuries and to write
here anything about the influence which
Italian merchants had on England. Nothing
was beautiful, nothing was appreciated
by the English people except what came
from Italy or at least what was made
after the Italian fashion. As to-day we
hold in great estimation everything com-
ing from England, so, and even more,
in those centuries did the English highly
esteem everything coming from Italy. Look
in every history of commerce, and you
will find that this is so. To show how
great was this influence it is enough to
state here that Leonardo Frescobaldi was
24 <
so very, famous in the XVI century and
afterwards that Shakespeare immortalized
him in his Master Friskiball, and that
several Italian commercial words have
since then remained in the English lan-
guage.
On the other hand the quick-witted
English were ready to learn the lessons
that Italian bankers, merchants, naviga-
tors, explorers, geographers and writers
of travels gave to them, and towards the
end of the XVI century they were able
to carry on unaided their own commerce.
It is true that the XVI century marked
a decline in Italian commerce, but that
was not yet known, abroad at least, and,
in spite of it, Italy had still such wealthy
bankers that Cosimo de' Medici, Duke of
Florence, was able to lend L. 15000 to
Henry VIII of England.
It is also impossible to describe the
brilliancy of the Italian courts during
that time, or the extent of the encourage-
ment that every Italian prince gave to
arts and letters: it was necessary for the
success of a courtier that he should be a
poet. It is impossible also to describe the
large quantity of books which were pro-
duced in Italy during those two centuries
or the number of the foreigners who came
here to study. Italy set the example to
Europe in scholarship and poetry, and
from the very beginning of the XVI cen-
tury she began to be admired, not only
for the splendour of her actual life and
unrivalled universities, but also for her
treasures of former ages. If the renown of
the Italian wealth was voiced everywhere,
the renown of the Italian literature w^as
voiced still louder, and England was sec-
ond to no other nation in assimilating
the new literary movement.
But when did this literary movement
begin in England ? It is very difficult to fix
a date as everything in this world begins,
grows and dies almost imperceptibly. Thus
not only it is difficult, but, in most cases,
it is also impossible, to find out the date
of the very commencement of any change.
26
We could, from what we have discov-
ered, fix this beginning from the time
of Chaucer, had not the love of ancient
literatures come to interrupt what the
great English poet of the XIV century
had begun, and had the English been
more prepared to understand and develop
what he had tried to introduce. We can
state that about the beginning of the
XVI century England was still in the
Middle Ages. Study the English poetry
between Chaucer's death and the last
years of the reign of Henry VII and you will
find a real, we should say, an enormous
decline. No longer the vivid and bright
style of Chaucer, no longer his naturalness
and simplicity, no longer those characters
that, even to day, are so extraordinarily
true, passionate and living.
Up to the XVI century the English
writers could only imitate the French
and Spanish courts, but soon afterwards
Italian books, especially books connected
with etiquette, were translated into English,
and the English court was quite trans-
formed after the Italian fashion. Therefore
- 27 -
we may say that soon after the beginning
of the XVI century Italian influence began
to prevail in England. Italy had already
introduced the study of classic literature
in that country; she was now about to
introduce there the spirit of her own
literature and give a new turn to the
vernacular poetry.
We have already spoken about the
interest which Edward IV and Henry VII
took in belles-lettres and fine arts, and
now we must say that Henry VIII followed
his father's example in appreciating Italian
fashion, music and art. During his reign
many Englishmen travelled in Italy to try
to find in foreign lands and in the imita-
tion of foreign habits some comfort for
the sorrow they felt at the decadence of
Mediaeval chivalry. Naturally only the
rich aristocracy could afford these travels,
and it was almost the aristocracy alone
that brought to England the ideas of the
Renaissance. To show the love for learning
which then existed in the English nobility
and at court it is sufficient to state that
- 28
Edward VI knew seven languages when
he was only i 5 years old.
Nevertheless, as we have just said,