John of Ravenna

John of Ravenna is the name of:

* A famous abbot of Fécamp abbey in France from 1031 to 1082. He succeeded William of Volpiano. In 1080 he went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

* A young Raverinese born about 1347, who in 1364 went to live with Petrarch as secretary. In 1367 he set out to see the world and make a name for himself, returned in a state of destitution, but, growing restless again, left his employer for good in 1368. He is not mentioned again in Petrarch's correspondence, unless a letter to a certain wanderer ("vago cuidam"), congratulating him on his arrival at Rome in 1373, is addressed to him.

* A son of Conversanus (Conversinus, Convertinus). He is first heard of (November 17, 1368) as appointed to the professorship of rhetoric at Florence, where he had for some time held the post of notary at the courts of justice. He entered (c. 1370) the service of the ducal house of Padua, the Carraras, in which he continued at least until 1404, although the whole of that period was not spent in Padua. Between 1375 and 1379 he was a schoolmaster at Belluno, but was dismissed as "too good for his post" and "not adapted for teaching boys". On March 22, 1382, he was appointed professor of rhetoric at Padua. During the struggle between the Carraras and Viscontis, he spent five years at Udine (1387-1392). Between 1395-1404 he was chancellor of Francis of Carrara, and is heard of for the last time in 1406 as living at Venice. His history of the Carraras, a tasteless production in barbarous Latin, says little for his literary capacity; but as a teacher he enjoyed a great reputation, amongst his pupils being Vittorino da Feltre and Guarino da Verona.

* Malpaghini (De Malpaghinis. Born about 1356, he was a pupil of Petrarch from a very early age to 1374. On September 19, 1397 he was appointed professor of rhetoric and eloquence at Florence. On June 9, 1412, on the re-opening of the studio, which had been shut from 1405 to 1411 owing to the plague, his appointment was renewed for five years, before the expiration of which period he died (May 1417). Although Malpaghini left nothing behind him, he did much to encourage the study of Latin; among his pupils was Poggio Bracciolini.

External sources

*"Essai historique et littéraire sur l'Abbaye de Fécamp" by Le Roux de Lincy, p15-16
*The local documents and other authorities on the subject will be found in ET Klette, "Beiträge zur Geschichte find Litteratur dee italienischen Gelehrtenrenaissance", vol. i. (1888);
*G Voigt, "Die Wiederbelebungdes klassischen Alteriums".