A BILINGUAL WORK OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY: GIANNOZZO MANETTI'S DIALOGUS CONSOLATORIUS

Author: Langdale, Maria

Source: Italian Studies, Volume 31, 1976 , pp. 1-16(16)

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Abstract:

Although still unpublished, Giannozzo Manetti's DIALOGUS CONSOLATORIUS on the death of his son Antoninus is well known to students of the first half of the fifteenth century. It is the account of a discussion which took place at the Charterhouse of Florence in floly Week 1438 between Manetti himself, Agnolo Acciaiuoli and the Prior of the Charterhouse, Nicolò da Cortona. Vespasiano da Bisticci recalls this event in his Commentario della vita di Giannozzo Manetli, and Manetti himself, introducing the Dialogus, describes how the meeting took place. A certain Gherardino; Ambassador of the Duke of Ferrara, and an obscure member of the Acciaiuoli family, Adovardo, were present at the discussion and acted as little more than arbiters. The three main participants explain their points of view at length in a relaxed and truly humanistic atmosphere in which there is no dialectical confutation reminiscent of scholastic disputations. Manetti attached such great importance to the ethical contents of the Dialogus that he translated it from Latin into the vulgar tongue for the benefit of those who did not understand Latin, and dedicated the translation to his merchant friend Mariotto Banchi. The codex which he sent to his friend is now in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence (Pal. 691) and is dated 1439. Mariotto Banchi's name can still be read on the first flyleaf in spite of an attempt at erasure. From the early date of the translation we must assume that the original Latin Dialogus was written fairly soon after Holy Week 1438, when the meeting took place.

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/007516376790510157

Publication date: 1976-01-01

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