Editing Pietro Bembo

{{Short description|Italian scholar, poet, and cardinal}}
{{About|an Italian scholar|other pages with the name Bembo|Bembo (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name        = Pietro Bembo
| image       = Titian – Cardinal Pietro Bembo – Google Art Project.jpg
| caption     = [[Portrait of Cardinal Pietro Bembo]] {{circa|1540}}
| birth_date  = {{birth-date|20 May 1470}}
| birth_place = Venice, [[Republic of Venice]]
| death_date  = {{dda|18 January 1547|20 May 1470|df=y}}
| death_place = Rome, [[Papal States]]
| occupation  = priest, scholar, poet, and literary theorist
| language    = Italian, [[Tuscan dialect]]
| genre       = poetry, non-fiction
| movement    = [[Renaissance literature]], [[Petrarch#Petrarchism|Petrarchism]]
}}
[[File:Coat of arms of Pietro Bembo.svg|thumb|Bembo's Coat of Arms]]
'''Pietro Bembo''', {{small|[[Knights Hospitaller|O.S.I.H.]]}} ({{langx|la|Petrus Bembus}}; 20 May 1470 – 18 January 1547) was a Venetian [[scholar]], poet, and [[literary theory|literary theorist]] who also was a member of the [[Knights Hospitaller]], and a cardinal of the Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Bembo, Pietro|volume=3 }}</ref> As an intellectual of the  [[Italian Renaissance]] ([[Quattrocento|15th]]–[[Cinquecento|16th]] c.), Pietro Bembo greatly influenced the development of the [[Tuscan dialect]] as a literary language for poetry and prose, which, by later codification into a [[standard language]], became the modern [[Italian language]]. In the 16th century, Bembo's poetry, essays and books proved basic to reviving interest in the literary works of [[Petrarch]]. In the field of music, Bembo's literary writing techniques helped composers develop the techniques of [[musical composition]] that made the [[madrigal (music)|madrigal]] the most important secular music of 16th-century Italy.<ref>Grove online</ref>

==Life==
[[File:Pietro Bembo by Cranach the Younger.png|thumb|right|Bembo in the habit of a [[Sovereign Military Order of Malta|Knight of Malta]]. ([[Lucas Cranach the Younger]])]]
[[File:Valerio Belli, Pietro Bembo, 1470-1547, Cardinal 1538 (obverse), probably 1532, NGA 45010.jpg|alt=Proper left profile of Bembo, as a medal in bronze, 3.45 cm., ca. 1523, by Valerio Belli, National Gallery of Art in Washington.|thumb|right|The obverse face of a bronze coin features the left profile of Bembo. ([[Valerio Belli]], ca. 1532)]]

'''Pietro Bembo''' was born on 20 May 1470 to an aristocratic Venetian [[Bembo (family)|family]]. His father [[Bernardo Bembo]] (1433–1519) was a diplomat and statesman and a cultured man who cared for the [[literature of Italy]], and erected a monument to [[Dante Alighieri]] (1265–1321) in Ravenna.<ref>{{cite CE1913|wstitle=Pietro Bembo|volume=2|first=Edmund |last=Burke}}</ref> Bernardo Bembo was an ambassador for the [[Republic of Venice]] (697–1797), and was accompanied by his son, Pietro. During his father's ambassadorships to [[Florence]] (1474–1476 and 1478–1480), Pietro acquired a love for the [[Tuscan dialect]], from which the [[Italian language]] developed.

Under the tutelage of the [[Neoplatonism|neo-Platonist]] scholar [[Constantine Lascaris]] (1434–1501), Pietro Bembo studied [[Greek language]] for two years at [[Messina]], and then studied at the [[University of Padua]]. His later travels included two years (1497–1499) at the [[Duke of Ferrara and of Modena|Este court]] at Ferrara, during the reign of [[Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara]] (r. 1471–1505). For writers and composers, the city of [[Ferrara]] was an artistic centre where Bembo met the poet [[Ludovico Ariosto]] (1474–1533); later, in the 1497–1504 period, Bembo wrote his first work, ''[[Gli Asolani]]'' (''The People of Asolo'', 1505), a poetic dialogue about [[courtly love]], which stylistically resembled the writing styles of the humanists [[Giovanni Boccaccio]] (1313–1375) and [[Petrarch]] (1304–1374). The poems were later set to music, which Bembo preferred to be sung by a woman to the accompaniment of a [[lute]], an artistic wish granted in 1505 when he met [[Isabella d'Este]] (1474–1539) in her response to having received a gift copy of ''Gli asolani''.<ref>Haas, Grove online</ref>

In the 1502–1503 period, Bembo again was in Ferrara, where he had a love affair with [[Lucrezia Borgia]] (1480–1519), wife of [[Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara]] (1476–1534), son of the previous duke. In the event, Bembo left the city of Ferrara when Ercole employed [[Josquin des Prez]] (1450–1521) as a composer to the chapel; fortuitously, Bembo left town just as the [[Black Death]] plague killed most of the population of Ferrara in 1505, including the renowned composer [[Jacob Obrecht]] (1457–1505).

In the 1506–1512 period, Bembo resided in [[Urbino]], where he wrote ''Prose della volgar lingua'' (''Prose of the Vernacular Tongue'', 1525), a [[treatise]] about composing and writing poetry in the vernacular language of the [[Tuscan dialect]]. He accompanied [[Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici]] (1478–1534) to Rome, where Bembo later was appointed Latin secretary to [[Pope Leo X]] (r. 1513–1521), and also was made a member of the [[Knights Hospitaller]], in 1514.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/elencodeicavali00bonagoog#page/n4/mode/1up|title=Elenco dei Cavalieri del S.M. Ordine di S. Giovanni di Gerusalemme, 1136-1713|first=Francesco|last=Bonazzi|publisher=Libreria Detken & Rocholl|place=Naples|year=1897|page=37|language=it}}</ref> At the death of Pope Leo X in 1521, Bembo retired, with impaired health, to [[Padua]] and continued to write. In 1530, he accepted the office of official [[historiography|historian]] of his native [[Republic of Venice]], shortly afterwards, Bembo also was appointed librarian of the basilica of [[San Marco di Venezia]].<ref>[http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/itali/autoren/bembo_itali.html University of Mannheim "Italian Authors"]</ref>

On 20 December 1538, [[Pope Paul III]] (r. 1534–1549) made Bembo a cardinal ''[[in pectore]]'' (in secret), who then returned to Rome{{who?|date=December 2022}}. In 1538, Bembo received [[Holy Orders]] as a priest. Afterwards, Bembo's secret nomination as cardinal was published, and he then received the red ''[[Galero]]'' hat in a [[papal consistory]] on 10 March 1539, with the title of [[Cardinal Deacon]] of the church of [[San Ciriaco alle Terme Diocleziane]], which occasion Bembo marked by commissioning a [[Portrait of Cardinal Pietro Bembo|portrait]] from [[Titian]] (1488–1576), the most important painter of the [[Venetian painting|Venetian school]]. In the event, Cardinal Bembo was advanced to the rank of [[Cardinal Priest]] in February 1542, with title to the church of [[San Crisogono]], changed two years later to that of the [[Basilica of San Clemente]].<ref name=CathHierPieBem>{{Cite web|last=Cheney |first=David M.|title=Pietro ''Cardinal'' Bembo, O.S.Io.Hieros.|website=[[Catholic-Hierarchy.org]]|url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbembop.html |access-date=February 14, 2019}} [[Wikipedia:SPS|{{sup|[''self-published'']}}]]</ref> At Rome, Cardinal Bembo continued to write, and revised his earlier works, whilst studying theology and the history of [[Classical antiquity]] (A.D. 8th–6th c.). Despite having been rewarded for his successful administration of the [[diocese]]s of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Gubbio|Gubbio]] and [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Bergamo|Bergamo]], the Church did not promote Bembo to [[bishop]].<ref name=CathHierPieBem/> In 1547, Pietro Bembo died at the age of 77 years, and was buried in the church of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]].<ref>''Catholic Encyclopedia'', p.0000.</ref>

==Works and influence==
[[File:Historia veneta.tif|thumb|Bembo's portrait, ''Historia veneta'' (1729)]]
As a [[Literary theory|theoretician of literature]], Pietro Bembo instilled to the [[Tuscan dialect]] the ''emotional effect'' that the [[ancient Greek|Ancient Greek language]] (A.D. 9th–6th c.) had upon the Greek listener, by using examples from the classically composed poetry of [[Petrarch]] and the prose of [[Giovanni Boccaccio]], whilst foregoing the difficulties of translation and composition inherent to the pluri-lingualism of [[Dante Alighieri]]’s writing in ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'' (1321). His works may be considered as an early instance of the [[Petrarch#Petrarchism|Petrarchism]] movement within the [[Renaissance literature]].<ref name="Greene">{{cite encyclopedia |editor-surname=Greene |editor-given=Roland |editor-link=Roland Greene |display-editors=etal |entry=Petrarchism |entry-url= |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics |edition=4th rev. |year=2012 |url={{Google books|id=uKiC6IeFR2UC|plainurl=y|page=|keywords=|text=}} |place=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-15491-6}}</ref> In the book ''Prose della volgar lingua'' (''The Prose of the Vernacular Tongue'', 1525) Petrarch is the model of [[Poetry#Western traditions|verse composition]], and Bembo gives detailed explanations of the communicational functions of [[rhyme]] and [[Stress (linguistics)|stress]] in the sounding of a word and the cadence of a line to achieve a balanced composition. That the specific placement of words within a line in a poem — based upon the writer’s strict attention to the sonic rhythm of vowels and consonant letters — would elicit from the Italian reader and listener the range of human emotions, from grace and sweetness to gravity and grief.<ref>Atlas, p. 433.</ref> Bembo’s rules of poetical composition in ''Prose of the Vernacular Tongue'' were basic to the development of the techniques of musical composition that made the [[madrigal]] Italy’s pre-eminent secular music in the 16th century.<ref name="Haar, Grove online">Haar, Grove online</ref> His theories of musical composition were disseminated by the [[Venetian School (music)|Venetian School]], by composers such as [[Adrian Willaert]], whose book ''Musica nova'' (''New Music'', 1568) contains madrigal compositions derived from the linguistic theories of Bembo.<ref name="Haar, Grove online" />

As a writer, in the book ''De Ætna ad Angelum Chabrielem Liber'' (1496), Bembo tells how he and his father, Bernardo, climbed Mount Ætna and there found snow in summertime, a reality that contradicted the Greek geographer, [[Strabo]], who said that snow was present only in winter; nonetheless, Bembo perceptively notes: “But first-hand inquiry tells you that it lasts, as does practical experience, which is no less an authority.”<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Grafton|first=Anthony|date=13 September 2018|title=Locum, Lacum, Lucum|journal=London Review of Books|volume=40|issue=17|pages=10}}</ref> The [[typeface]] for ''De Aetna'' was the basis for the [[Monotype Corporation]]'s "[[Serif#Old-style|old-style serif]]" font called "[[Bembo]]". Bembo's edition of ''Tuscan Poems'' (1501), by Petrarch, and the work of lyric verse ''Terze Rime'' (1530) much influenced the development of the Tuscan dialect into the literary language of Italy. In ''[[Gli Asolani]]'' (''The People of Asolo'', 1505) Bembo explained and recommended [[Platonic love]] as superior to [[Lust|carnal love]], despite his love affair with the married [[Lucrezia Borgia]] (1480–1519);<ref>“Pietro Bembo” ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (1911) p. 0000.</ref> besides dialogues, poems, and essays, Bembo published a ''History of Venice'' (1551).

As a priest, Bembo reaffirmed and promoted the Christian perfection of [[Renaissance humanism]]. Deriving all from love, or the lack thereof, Bembo's schemas were appended as supplements <ref>Flow diagram leading to the deeper-seated vices in purgatory {{cite web|url=http://www.italnet.nd.edu/Dante/images/tp1515/1515.wc3.150dpi.jpeg|title=Archived copy|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505235431/http://www.italnet.nd.edu/Dante/images/tp1515/1515.wc3.150dpi.jpeg|archive-date=2012-05-05|access-date=2012-02-26}}</ref><ref>Aldus' second edition printing of [[Dante]]'s ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', Venice 1502. {{cite web |url=http://www.italnet.nd.edu/Dante/text/1515.venice.html |title=1515, Venice: ALDUS MANUTIUS AND ANDREA TORRESANI DI ASOLO |access-date=2012-02-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205212641/http://www.italnet.nd.edu/Dante/text/1515.venice.html |archive-date=2012-02-05 }}</ref> to the newly invented technology of printing by [[Aldus Manutius]] in his editions of ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'' in the 16th century. Bembo's refutation of the pervasive [[Puritanism|puritanical]] tendency to a profane dualistic [[gnosticism]] is elaborated in ''The People of Asolo'', his third prose book, which reconciled fallen human nature by way of Platonic transcendence that is mediated by Trinitarian love; Bembo dedicated that book to his lover Lucrezia Borgia.

==Bibliography==
* Raffini, Christine, "Marsilio Ficino, Pietro Bembo, Baldassare Castiglione: Philosophical, Aesthetic, and Political Approaches in Renaissance Platonism", 1998. {{ISBN|0-8204-3023-4}}
* Pietro Bembo, "Oratio pro litteris graecis", 2003. Edited with English translation by Nigel G. Wilson.
*Nalezyty, Susan. ''Pietro Bembo and the Intellectual Pleasures of a Renaissance Writer and Art Collector'', 2017. {{ISBN|9780300219197}}

==References==
*Atlas, Allan W., ed.  ''Renaissance music: music in western Europe, 1400–1600''.  NY: Norton, 1998.  {{ISBN|0-393-97169-4}}
* [[James Haar]], "Pietro Bembo."  Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed December 30, 2007), [http://www.grovemusic.com (subscription access)]
* James Haar, Anthony Newcomb, Massimo Ossi, Glenn Watkins, Nigel Fortune, Joseph Kerman, Jerome Roche: "Madrigal", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed December 30, 2007), [http://www.grovemusic.com (subscription access)]
*''This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the [[1911 Encyclopædia Britannica]].''
*The character Pietro Cardinal Bembo also features prominently in Baldassare Castiglione's work ''[[The Book of the Courtier]]'' where he speaks about the nature of "Platonic" love.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/itali/autoren/bembo_itali.html Bembo, Pietro: ''Carmina'', in: ''Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum''] Bergamo 1753; facsimile, CAMENA Project
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Pietro Bembo}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=co0HAAAAQAAJ Borgia, Lucretia; Pietro Bembo, ''Lettere di Lucrezia Borgia a messer Pietro Bembo'', 1859 Biblioteca ambrosiana, digitised by Oxford University Apr 13, 2007] contains 9 letters to Bembo authored between 1503 and 1517

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bembo, Pietro}}
[[Category:1470 births]]
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[[Category:Knights Hospitaller]]
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[[Category:Burials at Santa Maria sopra Minerva]]
[[Category:Burials at the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua]]
[[Category:Medieval Venetian historians]]