Dissent from Mt. Ventoux: Between Christian and Secular Humanism in Petrarch’s de Ascensu Montis Ventosi.

Petrarch’s letter de Ascensu Montis Ventosi has long served as the founding document of “renaissance humanism”. Since the beginning of renaissance studies in the mid-nineteenth century, the letter has become almost a talisman for summoning the new, secular spirit of humanism that spontaneously arriv...

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Published in:Scripta Mediaevalia Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 71 - 97
Main Author: ELLIS, ERIK Z. D.
Format: Article
Published: Universidad Nacional de Cuyo 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Dissent from Mt. Ventoux: Between Christian and Secular Humanism in Petrarch’s de Ascensu Montis Ventosi.
      aug:
        au: ELLIS, ERIK Z. D.
        affil: Doctor en Filosofía de la Universidad de Notre Dame (USA) e investigador postdoctoral en la Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades de la Universidad de los Andes, Chile.
      su:
        Secular humanism
        Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374
        Christianity
        Europeans
        Political change
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        subj:
          Secular humanism
          Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374
          Christianity
          Europeans
          Political change
      keyword:
        Humanism
        humanismo
        literarios
        modernidad
        Modernity
        Monte Ventoux
        Mt. Ventoux
        Petrarca
        Petrarch
        recepción de textos
        Textual Reception
        humanismo
        literarios
        modernidad
        Monte Ventoux
        Petrarca
        recepción de textos
      ab:
        Petrarch’s letter de Ascensu Montis Ventosi has long served as the founding document of “renaissance humanism”. Since the beginning of renaissance studies in the mid-nineteenth century, the letter has become almost a talisman for summoning the new, secular spirit of humanism that spontaneously arrived in Italy in the fourteenth century, took hold of the hearts and minds of Europeans in the fifteenth century, and led to cataclysmic cultural, religious, and political changes in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. This reading, still common among non-specialists, especially in the English-speaking world, is overly simplistic and ignores Petrarch’s profound debt to classical and Christian tradition, obscuring the fundamentally religious character of the letter. This article examines how scholars came to assign the letter so much importance and offers an interpretation that stresses Petrarch’s continuity with tradition and his desire to revitalize rather than reinvent the traditions of Christian scholarship and contemplation.
        Durante mucho tiempo, la carta de Ascensu Montis Ventosi de Petrarca ha sido considerada como el documento fundacional del “humanismo renacentista”. Desde el comienzo de los estudios renacentistas a mediados del siglo XIX, esta carta se ha convertido en una suerte de talismán utilizado para invocar el espíritu nuevo y secular del humanismo, un espíritu que, se suele decir, llegó a Italia espontáneamente durante el siglo XIV, logró penetrar los corazones y mentes de los europeos del siglo XV y condujo a cambios supuestamente catastróficos en la cultura, la religión y la política durante los siglos XVI, XVII y XVIII. Esta interpretación, todavía bastante extendida entre quienes no son especialistas, particularmente en el mundo anglosajón, es extremadamente simplista y desconoce la profunda deuda que Petrarca tiene con la tradición clásica y cristiana, ocultando el carácter fundamentalmente religioso de la carta. El presente artículo examina cómo esta carta adquirió tanta importancia en el mundo académico e intelectual, y ofrece una interpretación que enfatiza la continuidad de Petrarca con la tradición, poniendo de relieve el deseo del autor italiano de revitalizar, en lugar de reinventar, las tradiciones de la erudición y contemplación cristianas.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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