Editing Ermolao Barbaro

{{Short description|Italian Renaissance scholar}}
{{about|the humanist and patriarch of Aquileia}}
[[File:Ermolao Barbaro (Carpaccio).jpg|thumb|right|Ermolao Barbaro depicted in the painting ''Pilgrims Meet the Pope'' by [[Vittore Carpaccio]] (c. 1492)]]

'''Ermolao Barbaro''', in Latin '''Hermolaus Barbarus''' (21 May 1454<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=o1fI1hcp8okC ''Erasmus and Fisher: Their Correspondence 1511-1524''], Vrin, 1968, p. 90. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3uq0bObScHMC ''The Cambridge History of Italian Literature''] (Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 148) gives 1453/4.</ref>{{snd}}14 June 1493), was a [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] [[Renaissance humanist]], diplomat and churchman. From 1491, he was the [[patriarch of Aquileia]]. He is often called "the Younger" to distinguish him from his cousin, [[Ermolao Barbaro the Elder]].

==Education==
Ermolao Barbaro was born in [[Venice]], the son of [[Zaccaria Barbaro]], and the grandson of [[Francesco Barbaro (politician)|Francesco Barbaro]].<ref name=valer/><ref name=biet/><ref name=mich/> He was also the uncle of [[Daniele Barbaro]] and [[Marcantonio Barbaro]]<ref name=rose/>

Much of his early education was outside of Venice, accompanying his father who was an active politician and diplomat.<ref name=biet/> He received further education in [[Verona]] with an uncle, also named Ermolao.<ref name=biet/> In 1462 he was sent to [[Rome]], where he studied under [[Pomponius Laetus]]<ref name=valer/><ref name=rose/> and [[Theodorus Gaza]].<ref name=biet/>  By 1468 he had returned to Verona, where [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick III]] awarded him a laurel crown for his poetry.<ref name=biet/>

He completed his education at the [[University of Padua]], where he was appointed professor of [[philosophy]] there in 1477.<ref name=valer/><ref name=biet/><ref name=rose/> Two years later he revisited Venice, but returned to [[Padua]] when the [[Black Death|plague]] broke out in his native city.<ref name=valer/><ref name=rose/>

==Career==
Barbaro had an active political career, though he resented these duties as a distraction from his studies.<ref name=valer/>  In 1483 he was elected to the [[Venetian Senate|Senate]] of the [[Republic of Venice]].<ref name=biet/>  He was twenty when he gave the funeral oration for Doge [[Nicholas Marcello]] in 1474.<ref name=mich/>

In 1486, he was sent to the court of the [[Duchy of Burgundy]] in [[Bruges]].<ref name=biet/><ref name=rose/>  In 1488 he held the important civil post of ''[[Savio di Terrafirma]]''.<ref name=biet/>  In 1489 he was appointed ambassador to the [[Duchy of Milan]]<ref name=valer/><ref name=biet/><ref name=rose/> and in 1490 he was appointed Ambassador to the [[Holy See]].<ref name=valer/><ref name=biet/><ref name=mich/>  In 1491, [[Pope Innocent VIII]], nominated him to the office of [[Patriarch of Aquileia]].<ref name=valer/><ref name=biet/><ref name=mich/><ref name=rose/> 

[[File:Accademia - Incontro dei pellegrini con papa Ciriaco - Vittore Carpaccio.jpg|thumb|Carpaccio's ''Pilgrims Meet the Pope''. Barbaro in red in centre.]]

It was illegal under Venetian law for ambassadors to accept gifts or positions of foreign heads of state.  There was also a dispute between Venice and the Papacy as to who should nominate Patriarchs of Aquileia.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=pTO71vid9hUC&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA297|title=Memoirs of Angelus Politianus Joannes|year=1805|publisher=R. and W. Dean}}</ref> Barbaro was accused of treason and the Venetian Senate ordered him to refuse the position.<ref name=valer/><ref name=biet/><ref name=mich/><ref name=rose/> Pope Innocent and his successor [[Alexander VI]] threatened to excommunicate Barbaro if he resigned as Patriarch of Aquileia.<ref name=valer/><ref name=biet/>

The Venetian Senate revoked Barbaro's appointment as ambassador and exiled him from Venice.<ref name=valer/><ref name=biet/> They threatened the same for his father, Zaccaria, as well as confiscation of both men's property, but Zaccaria died shortly afterwards.<ref name=mich/><ref name=rose/>

Barbaro then lived in a [[Roman villa]] on the [[Pincian Hill]] belonging to his brothers Daniele and Ludovico.  He died there of the [[bubonic plague|plague]] in 1493 and was buried at the church of [[Santa Maria del Popolo]]. [[Ferdinando Ughelli]] mentions an inscription to Barbaro there, but it was lost by 1758.  [[Piero Valeriano Bolzani|Valeriano]] wrote a tribute to Barbaro.<ref name=valer/>

==Scholarly works==
Barbaro edited and translated a number of [[Classical antiquity|classical]] works: [[Aristotle]]'s ''Ethics'' and ''Politics'' (1474);<ref name="biet"/> Aristotle's ''Rhetorica'' (1479);<ref name="valer"/><ref name="biet"/>[[Themistius]]'s ''Paraphrases'' of certain works of [[Aristotle]] (1481);<ref name="valer"/><ref name="biet"/>''Castigationes in Pomponium Melam'' (1493).<ref name="valer"/>

His own work, ''De Coelibatu'' was less influential, but Barbaro's ''Castigationes Plinianae'', published in Rome in 1492 by Eucharius Silber, was perhaps his most influential work.<ref name="biet"/> In this discussion of [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]'s ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' Barbaro made 5000 corrections to the text.<ref name="valer"/> The work was written in only twenty months and dedicated to the newly elected [[Pope Alexander VI]].<ref name="mich"/> ''Castigationes Plinianae'' was considered by Barbaro's contemporaries to be the most authoritative work on Pliny.  Even before his death, he was considered a leading authority on the Greek and Latin works of antiquity. [[Desiderius Erasmus|Erasmus]] frequently cited Barbaro's works, often with respect.<ref name="biet"/>

His letters to [[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola|Giovanni Pico]] were also widely circulated.<ref name="biet"/> Much of his work was published after his death: ''In Dioscuridem Corollarii libri quinque'', a work on [[Pedanius Dioscorides|Dioscorides]], in 1516, his translations of Aristotle in 1544, and ''Compendium Scientiae Naturalis'' in 1545.<ref name="biet"/>

Barbaro's work ''De Officio Legati'' was representative of a revolution in the conduct of diplomacy which took place during the Renaissance.<ref>Garrett Mattingly 'Changing Attitudes Towards the State' in ''Facets of the Renaissance'' 1963), 33</ref>

== Publications ==
* {{Cite book|title=Compendium scientiae naturalis ex Aristotele|volume=|publisher=Comin da Trino|location=Venezia|year=1545|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=8655614}}
* {{Cite book|title=In Caii Plinii Naturalis historiae libros castigationes|volume=|publisher=Johann Walder|location=Basel|year=1534|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=8791029}}

<gallery>
Hermolaus Barbarus oratio.jpg|''Oratio ad Federicum imperatorem'', c. 1487: incipit
Hermolaus Barbarus Dioscorides tp.jpg|''[[Dioscorides]]'', version by Barbaro, 1516: title
Hermolaus Barbarus Corollarii 1530 tp.jpg|''In Dioscoridem corollariorum libri V'', 1530 edition
Barbaro, Ermolao – In Caii Plinii Naturalis historiae libros castigationes, 1534 – BEIC 8791029.jpg|''In Caii Plinii Naturalis historiae libros castigationes'', 1534
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=biet>Bietenholz, Peter G. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hruQ386SfFcC ''Contemporaries of Erasmus a biographical register of the Renaissance and Reformation, v.1-3, A-Z''] Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press 2003. pp.91–92 {{ISBN|0-8020-8577-6}}</ref>
<ref name=mich>Michaud, J. Fr. ; Louis Gabriel Michaud [https://books.google.com/books?id=XLcFAAAAQAAJ ''Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne''] Paris: Michaud 1811-28. p.329</ref>
<ref name=rose>[[Hugh James Rose|Rose, Hugh James]]; [[Henry John Rose]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=Mk4oAAAAYAAJ ''A new general biographical dictionary, Volume 3''] London: Fellowes ''et al.'' 1857. p.137</ref>
<ref name=valer>Gaisser, Julia Haig; Pierio Valeriano [https://books.google.com/books?id=omE6zLwinS4C '''Pierio Valeriano On the ill fortune of learned men: a Renaissance humanist and his world''] Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 1999. p.288 {{ISBN|0-472-11055-1}}</ref>
}}

==References==
{{Commons category}}
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Barbaro, Ermolao|volume=3|page=382}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbaro, Ermolao}}
[[Category:1454 births]]
[[Category:1490s deaths]]
[[Category:15th-century Venetian writers]]
[[Category:Italian classical scholars]]
[[Category:Italian translators]]
[[Category:Patriarchs of Aquileia]]
[[Category:Republic of Venice politicians]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice to the Duchy of Milan]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice to the Holy See]]
[[Category:15th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops]]
[[Category:University of Padua alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Padua]]
[[Category:Barbaro family|Ermolao, Scholar]]
[[Category:15th-century Italian diplomats]]