Editing Tommaso Campanella

{{Short description|Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet (1568–1639)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name             = Tommaso Campanella
| honorific_suffix = [[Ordo Praedicatorum|OP]]
| image            = Cozza Tommaso Campanella.jpg
| alt              = 
| caption          = Portrait of Campanella by [[Francesco Cozza (painter)|Francesco Cozza]]
| birth_name       = Giovanni Domenico Campanella
| birth_date       = {{birth-date|5 September 1568}}
| birth_place      = [[Stignano]], Calabria, {{awrap|[[Kingdom of Naples]]}}
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1639|5|21|1568|9|5|df=yes}}
| death_place      = Paris, [[Kingdom of France]]
| other_names      = 
| occupation       = {{cslist|Philosopher|theologian|[[astrologer]]|poet}}
| years_active     = 1597–1634
| known_for        = 
| notable_works    = 
}}
[[File:Casa tommaso campanella fronte.png|alt=Tommaso Campanella's house at Stignano|thumb|219x219px|Tommaso Campanella's house at Stignano]]
[[File:Convento domenico con campanile placanica.JPG|thumb|right|Former Dominican convent at [[Placanica]]]]
'''Tommaso Campanella''' {{postnominals|post-noms=[[Ordo Praedicatorum|OP]]}} ({{IPA|it|tomˈmaːzo kampaˈnɛlla|lang}}; 5&nbsp;September 1568 – 21&nbsp;May 1639),<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/tommaso-campanella_(Dizionario-Biografico) |title=CAMPANELLA, Tommaso |first=Luigi |last=Firpo |encyclopedia=Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani |language=it |volume=17 |year=1974}}</ref> baptized '''Giovanni Domenico Campanella''', was an Italian [[Dominican friar]], philosopher, theologian, [[astrologer]], and poet.

Campanella was prosecuted by the [[Roman Inquisition]] for [[heresy]] in 1594 and was confined to house arrest for two years. Accused of conspiring against the Spanish rulers of [[Calabria]] in 1599, he was tortured and sent to prison, where he spent 27 years. He wrote his most significant works during this time, including ''[[The City of the Sun]]'', a [[utopia]] describing an egalitarian theocratic society where property is held in common.

==Biography==
Born into poverty in [[Stignano]], in the province of [[Reggio di Calabria]] in [[Calabria]], southern Italy, Campanella was a [[child prodigy]]. Son of an illiterate [[Shoemaking|cobbler]], he entered the [[Dominican Order]] before the age of fourteen,<ref name=Ernst>[http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/campanella/ Ernst, Germana, "Tommaso Campanella", ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''] (Fall 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)</ref>  taking the name of fra' Tommaso in honour of [[Thomas Aquinas]]. He studied theology and philosophy with several masters.

Early on, he became disenchanted with the [[Aristotle|Aristotelian]] orthodoxy and attracted by the [[empiricism]] of [[Bernardino Telesio]] (1509–1588), who taught that knowledge is sensation and that all things in nature possess sensation. Campanella wrote his first work, ''Philosophia sensibus demonstrata'' ("Philosophy demonstrated by the senses"), published in 1592, in defence of Telesio.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In 1590 he was in [[Naples]] where he was initiated in [[astrology]]; astrological speculations would become a constant feature in his writings. Campanella's [[heterodoxy|heterodox]] views, especially his opposition to the authority of [[Aristotle]], brought him into conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities. Denounced to the [[Roman Inquisition]], he was arrested in [[Padua]] in 1594 and cited before the [[Holy Office]] in [[Rome]], he was confined in a [[convent]] until 1597.<ref name=rice>[http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/campanella.html "Tommaso Campanella (1568–1639)", The Galileo Project, Rice University]</ref>

After his liberation, Campanella returned to Calabria, where he was accused of leading a conspiracy against the [[Spain|Spanish]] rule in his hometown of Stilo. Campanella's aim was to establish a society based on the [[common ownership|community of goods]] and wives, for on the basis of the prophecies of [[Joachim of Fiore]] and his own astrological observations, he foresaw the advent of the Age of the Spirit in the year 1600.<ref>[http://www.giornalecritico.it/archivio/11/GCSI_11_Claverini.pdf Corrado Claverini, Tommaso Campanella e Gioacchino da Fiore. "Riaprire il conflitto" a partire dal pensiero utopico e apocalittico, "Giornale Critico di Storia delle Idee" 11, 2014 (in Italian)]</ref> Betrayed by two of his fellow conspirators, he was captured in 1599 and incarcerated in [[Naples]], where he was tortured on the [[Rack (torture)|rack]].<ref>C. Dentice di Accadia, Tommaso Campanella, 1921, pp. 43–44 (in Italian)</ref> Even from the confinement of the jail, Campanella managed to influence the intellectual history of the early seventeenth century, by maintaining epistolary contacts with European philosophers and scientists, Neapolitan cultural circles, and Caravaggio's commissioners.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/15700593-01600100|doi = 10.1163/15700593-01600100|title = The Seven Works of Mercy|year = 2017|last1 = Giardino|first1 = Alessandro|journal = Aries|volume = 17|issue = 2|pages = 149–170}}</ref> Finally, Campanella made a full confession and would have been put to death had he not feigned madness and set his cell on fire. He was tortured further, a total of seven times. Crippled and ill, Campanella was sentenced to life imprisonment.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Popkin |first1=Richard Henry |title=The Columbia History of Western Philosophy |date=1999 |page=321 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-10129-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ok4F_SawQaEC&dq=campanella+life+imprisonment&pg=PA321 |access-date=22 January 2025}}</ref>

[[File:Campanella - Metaphysica, 1638 - 3891922 301891 1 00009.tif|thumb|''Metaphysica'', 1638]]
Campanella spent twenty-seven years imprisoned in Naples, in various fortresses. During his detention, he wrote his most important works: ''The Monarchy of Spain'' (1600), ''Political Aphorisms'' (1601), ''Atheismus triumphatus'' (''[[Atheism Conquered]]'', 1605–1607), ''Quod reminiscetur'' (1606?), ''Metafisica'' (1609–1623), ''Theologia'' (1613–1624), and his most famous work, ''[[The City of the Sun]]'' (originally written in Italian in 1602; published in Latin in Frankfurt (1623) and later in Paris (1638).

He defended [[Galileo Galilei]] in Galileo's first trial with his work ''The Defense of Galileo'' (written in 1616, published in 1622).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IA4_AAAAcAAJ ''Apologia pro Galileo''], Published in Latin by Impensis Godefridi Tampachii, Typis Erasmi Kemfferi in Frankfort, Germany.</ref> In 1632, before Galileo's second trial, Campanella wrote to Galileo:<ref>''Memorie y lettera inedita di Galileo Galilei'', Second part, published in Modena, 1821, page 144. Il Padre Tommaso Campanella al Galileo. (Libreria Nelli) Roma 25 Settembre 1632. Con gran disgusto mio ho sentito che si fa Congregazione di Teologi irati, a proibire i Dialoghi di V. S.; e non ci entra persona. che sappia matematica, nè cose recondite. Avverta che mentre V.S. asserisce che fu ben proibita l'opinione del moto della terra, non è obbligata a creder che anche e ragioni de' contraddicenti sien buone. Questa è regola teologica; e si prova perchè nel Concilio Niceno secondo fu decretato che Angelorum imagines depingi debent, quom'am vere corporei sunt: il decreto è valido, e non la ragione; giacché tutti i scolastici dicono che gli Angeli sono incorporei a tempo nostro. Ci son altri fondamenti assai. Dubito di violenza di gente che non sa. Il Padre Nostro fa fracassi contra, e dice ex ora Papa: ma tu non è informato, nè può pensare a questo. V. S. per mio' avviso faccia scriver dal Gran Duca, che siccome mettono Domenicani e Gesuiti e Teatini e Preti secolari in questa Congregazione contro i vostri libri, ammettano anche il Padre Castelli e me.</ref>
<blockquote>To my great disgust I have heard that wrathful theologians of the Congregation aim to prohibit the Dialogues of Your Excellency, and [that] no one will be present who understands mathematics or recondite things. Be aware that while Your Excellency does state that it was appropriate to prohibit the theory of the earth's motion, you are not obliged to believe that the reasons of those who contradicted you are good. This is a theological rule, and is proved by the second Council of Nicaea which decreed that ''Angelorum imagines depingi debent, quam'am vere corporei sunt'' (Images of angels must be depicted as they are in the flesh): while the decree is valid, the reasoning behind it is not, since all scholars today say angels are incorporeal. There are many other fundamental reasons. I fear violence from people who do not understand this. Our Pope makes a lot of noise against this and speaks as the Pope, but you haven't heard about that, nor can think about it. In my opinion Your Excellency should write to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, that since they are putting Dominicans, Jesuits, Theatines, and secular priests who are against your books in this council, they should also admit Father Castelli and me.</blockquote>
[[File:Tommaso Campanella-La Città del Sole-Carabba-1915.png|thumb|Tommaso Campanella, ''La Città del Sole'', Carabba, 1915]]
Campanella was finally released from prison in 1626,<ref name=Ernst/> through [[Pope Urban VIII]], who personally interceded on his behalf with [[Philip IV of Spain]]. Taken to [[Rome]] and held for a time by the Holy Office, Campanella was restored to full liberty in 1629 as Urban badly needed Campanella's magical skills to protect him from the dangers of two upcoming [[eclipse]]s. The Pope's enemies thought they could take advantage of his credulity, and they confidently predicted that the eclipses in 1628 and 1630 surely heralded the Pope's demise. Campanella put into effect the natural magic practices described in his short treatise ''De siderali fato vitando'' (How To Avoid the Fate Dictated by the Stars).<ref name=Ernst/> Campanella's magic worked and the Pope survived. In return the latter allowed the magician to set up a school in Rome to preach his ideas, while ignoring his blatant heresies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hannam |first=James |title=God's Philosophers |publisher=Icon Books Ltd. |date=2010 |location=London |pages=320–21 |isbn=978-184831-150-3 }}</ref> He lived for five years in Rome, where he was Urban's advisor in astrological matters.

In 1634, a new conspiracy in Calabria, led by one of his followers, threatened fresh troubles. With the aid of [[Cardinal Barberini]] and the French Ambassador de Noailles, he fled to France, where he was received at the court of [[Louis XIII of France|Louis XIII]] with marked favour.<ref name=Ernst/> Protected by [[Cardinal Richelieu]] and granted a pension by the king, he spent the rest of his days in the convent of Saint-Honoré in [[Paris]]. His last work was a poem celebrating the birth of the future [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] (''Ecloga in portentosam Delphini nativitatem'').

Campanella's ''De sensu rerum et magia'' (1620) partly inspired the first fully-fledged [[Novel of circulation|it-narrative]] in English, [[Charles Gildon]]'s ''The Golden Spy'' (1709).<ref>J. Wu, " 'Nobilitas sola est atq; unica Virtus': Spying and the Politics of Virtue in ''The Golden Spy; or, A Political Journal of the British Nights Entertainments'' (1709)", ''Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies'' 40:2 (2017), 237–253 doi: 10.1111/1754-0208.12412</ref>

The historian John Headley described Campanella as "a man who strove to destabilize the regnant forces of what he identified as tyranny, [[Sophist|sophistry]], and hypocrisy and to shake the world into a new order."<ref>{{cite book | url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691657172/tommaso-campanella-and-the-transformation-of-the-world | isbn=9780691657172 | title=Tommaso Campanella and the Transformation of the World | date=15 January 2019 | last1=Headley | first1=John M. | publisher=Princeton University Press }}</ref>

Scholar Andrew Manns has shown that the English pamphleteer and parliamentarian [[William Prynne]] distorted Campanella's political ideas in order to promote anti-Catholic propaganda during the [[English Civil War]].<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Manns |first1=Andrew |title=Political Storytelling and Propaganda: William Prynne and the English Afterlife of Tommaso Campanella |url=https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/9454/ |website=sas.ac.uk |date=March 2019 |publisher=School of Advanced Study, University of London |access-date=22 January 2025}}</ref>

== Works ==
[[File:Campanella, Tommaso – Apologia pro Galileo, 1622 – BEIC 1235148.jpg|thumb|''Apologia pro Galileo'', 1622]]
* ''Philosophia sensibus demonstrata'', 1591
* ''Monarchia Messiae'', 1605
* ''Prodromus philosophiae instaurandae'', 1617
* {{Cite book|title=Apologia pro Galileo|volume=|publisher=Gottfried Tampach|location=Frankfurt am Main|year=1622|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1235148}}
* ''La città del sole'', 1602 (Latin ''Civitas solis'', 1623)
* ''Atheismus triumphatus'', 1631, Paris 1636
*{{Cite book
|publisher=ex officina Ioannis Pillehotte : sumptibus Ioannis Caffin, & Francisci Plaignard
|title=Medicinalium libri
|location=Lugduni
|year=1635
|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=8417010&custom_att_2=simple_viewer&search_terms=DTL6&pds_handle=
|language=la
}}
* {{Cite book
|title = Metaphysica
|volume = 1
|url = https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3891922&custom_att_2=simple_viewer&search_terms=DTL11&pds_handle=
|location= Paris
|year = 1638
|language=la
}}
* {{Cite book
|title = Metaphysica
|volume = 2
|url = https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3892665&custom_att_2=simple_viewer&search_terms=DTL5&pds_handle=
|location= Paris
|year = 1638
|language=la
}}
* {{Cite book
|title = Metaphysica
|volume = 3
|url = https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3893264&custom_att_2=simple_viewer&search_terms=DTL3&pds_handle=
|location= Paris
|year = 1638
|language=la
}}
* {{Cite book
|title = Poesie
|url = https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1777758&custom_att_2=simple_viewer&search_terms=DTL4&pds_handle=
|publisher = Laterza
|location= Bari
|year = 1915
}}

==See also==
* [[Utopian and dystopian fiction]]
* [[Millennialism]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Campanella, Tommaso|volume=5}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Tommaso Campanella}}
* {{cite SEP |url-id=campanella |title=Tommaso Campanella |last=Ernst |first=Germana |last2=De Lucca |first2=Jean-Paul}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=1040}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Tommaso Campanella}}
* {{Librivox author |id=3619}}
* [https://academia.edu/1189982/Astrology_Ritual_and_Revolution_in_the_Works_of_Tommaso_Campanella_1568-1639_ Peter Forshaw (2010)] 'Astrology, Ritual and Revolution in the Works of Tommaso Campanella (1568–1639)'.
* Works in English translations
** [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2816 ''The City of the Sun'']; A Poetical Dialogue between a Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitallers and a Genoese Sea-Captain, his guest. Translated to English by editor Henry Morley, Project Gutenberg.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20091013053757/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/campanella/tommaso/c18c/complete.html City of the Sun] (text derived from Ideal Commonwealths, P.F. Collier & Son, New York. 1901. Displayed by eBooks@Adelaide University of Adelaide Library, South Australia)
** [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18638 ''Ideal Commonwealths'']; Contains excerpts from ''City of the Sun'' and short biography, by Editor: Henry Morley, Professor of English Literature at University College, London; Fifth Edition, 1890, Project Gutenberg.
** [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10314 ''Sonnets of Michelangelo Buonarrotti and Tommaso Campanella''], 1878; translated into Rhymed English, by [[John Addington Symonds]], author of ''Renaissance in Italy''.

{{History of Catholic theology}}
{{Political philosophy}}
{{Socialism}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campanella}}
[[Category:1568 births]]
[[Category:1639 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Stilo]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian philosophers]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian male writers]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians]]
[[Category:Italian male writers]]
[[Category:Italian astrologers]]
[[Category:16th-century astrologers]]
[[Category:17th-century astrologers]]
[[Category:Italian Dominicans]]
[[Category:Authors of utopian literature]]
[[Category:16th-century Italian writers]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian writers]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian philosophers]]
[[Category:Italian expatriates in France]]
[[Category:Critics of atheism]]
[[Category:Proto-socialists]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian Roman Catholic theologians]]