Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Difference between revisions

'''Giovanni Pico dei conti della Mirandola e della Concordia''' ({{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|p|iː|k|oʊ|_|ˌ|d|ɛ|l|ə|_|m|ɪ|ˈ|r|æ|n|d|ə|l|ə|,_|-|ˈ|r|ɑː|n|-}} {{respell|PEE|koh|_|DEL|ə|_|mirr|A(H)N|də|lə}},<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Pico della Mirandola|access-date=1 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Pico della Mirandola|access-date=1 June 2019}}</ref> {{IPA-it|dʒoˈvanni ˈpiːko della miˈrandola|lang}}; {{Lang-la|Johannes Picus de Mirandula}}; 24 February 1463&nbsp;– 17 November 1494), known as '''Pico della Mirandola''', was an [[Italian Renaissance]] nobleman and [[philosopher]].<ref>"Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni, Conte" in ''Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge'', volume 15, copyright 1991. Grolier Inc., {{ISBN|0-7172-5300-7}}</ref> He is famed for the events of 1486, when, at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, [[natural philosophy]], and [[magic (paranormal)|magic]] against all comers, for which he wrote the ''[[Oration on the Dignity of Man]]'', which has been called the "Manifesto of the Renaissance",<ref>''Oration on the Dignity of Man'' (1486) [http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/pico.html wsu.edu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104024142/http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/pico.html |date=4 January 2011 }}</ref> and a key text of [[Renaissance humanism]] and of what has been called the "Hermetic Reformation".<ref>Heiser, James D., ''Prisci Theologi and the Hermetic Reformation in the Fifteenth Century'', Malone, TX: Repristination Press, 2011. {{ISBN|978-1-4610-9382-4}}</ref> He was the founder of the tradition of [[Christian Kabbalah]], a key tenet of early modern [[Western esotericism]]. The ''900 Theses'' was the first printed book to be universally banned by the Church.<ref name="Hanegraaff p.54">Hanegraaff p. 54</ref> Pico is sometimes seen as a [[Proto-Protestantism|proto-Protestant]], because his 900 theses anticipated many Protestant views.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume VI: The Middle Ages. A.D. 1294-1517 - Christian Classics Ethereal Library|url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc6.all.html|access-date=2021-12-23|website=www.ccel.org}}</ref>

Born twenty-three years into his parents' marriage, Giovanni had two much older brothers, both of whom outlived him: Count [[Galeotto I Pico|Galeotto I]] continued the dynasty, while Antonio became a general in the [[Holy Roman Empire|Imperial]] army.<ref name="genealogy.euweb.cz"/> The Pico family would reign as dukes until Mirandola, an ally of [[Louis XIV of France]], was conquered by his rival, [[Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor]], in 1708 and annexed to Modena by Duke [[Rinaldo d'Este, Duke of Modena|Rinaldo d'Este]], the exiled [[patrilineality|male line]] becoming extinct in 1747.<ref>{{cite book| last = Schoell| first = M.| title = History of the Revolutions in Europe| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tiEMAAAAYAAJ&q=%22history+of+the+revolutions+in+europe+from+the+subversion%22| access-date = 2008-03-09| year = 1837| publisher = S. Babcock & Co|location = Charleston| isbn = 0-665-91061-4| pages = 23–24| chapter = VIII| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tiEMAAAAYAAJ&q=%22history+of+the+revolutions+in+europe+from+the+subversion%22}}</ref>

Giovanni had a paradoxical relationship with his nephew [[GianfrancescoGiovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola]], who was a great admirer of his uncle, yet published ''Examen vanitatis doctrinae gentium'' (1520) in opposition to the "ancient wisdom narrative" espoused by Giovanni, described by historian Charles B. Schmitt as an attempt "to destroy what his uncle had built."<ref>Hanegraff p. 80</ref>

At the sudden death of his mother three years later, Pico renounced canon law and began to study philosophy at the [[University of Ferrara]].<ref name="Baird"/> During a brief trip to Florence, he met [[Angelo Poliziano]], the [[courtly]] poet [[Girolamo Benivieni]], and probably the young Dominican friar [[Girolamo Savonarola]]. For the rest of his life, he remained very close friends with all three.<ref name="bbcexhume">{{Cite news |title=Medici writers exhumed in Italy |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6920443.stm |access-date=2015-12-11 |periodical=[[BBC News]] |date=28 July 2007}}</ref> He may also have been a lover of Poliziano.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Death in Florence|last=Strathern|first=Paul|publisher=Jonathan Cape|year=2011|isbn=978-0224089784|location=London|pages=84}}</ref>

From 1480 to 1482, he continued his studies at the [[University of Padua]], a major centercentre of [[Aristotelianism]] in Italy.<ref name="Baird"/> Already proficient in Latin and Greek, he studied Hebrew and Arabic in [[Padua]] with [[Elia del Medigo]], a Jewish [[Averroist]], and read Aramaic manuscripts with him as well. Del Medigo also translated [[Rabbinic literature|Judaic manuscripts]] from Hebrew into Latin for Pico, as he would continue to do for a number of years. Pico also wrote [[sonnet]]s in Latin and Italian which, because of the influence of Savonarola, he destroyed at the end of his life.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

He spent the next four years either at home, or visiting [[Humanism|humanist]] centres elsewhere in Italy. In 1485, he travelled to the [[University of Paris]], the most important centre in Europe for [[Scholasticism|scholastic]] philosophy and theology, and a hotbed of secular Averroism. It was probably in Paris that Giovanni began his ''900 Theses'' and conceived the idea of defending them in public debate.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

{{quote|THE CONCLUSIONS will not be disputed until after the Epiphany. In the meantime they will be published in all Italian universities. And if any philosopher or theologian, even from the ends of Italy, wishes to come to Rome for the sake of debating, his lord the disputer promises to pay the travel expenses from his own funds.|Announcement at the end of the ''900 Theses''<ref>Farmer ppg. ix</ref>}}

Soon after this stay in Florence, Pico was travelling on his way to Rome where he intended to publish his ''900 Theses'' and prepare for a congress of scholars from all over Europe to debate them. Stopping in [[Arezzo]] he became embroiled in a love affair with the wife of one of Lorenzo de' Medici's cousins, which almost cost him his life. Giovanni attempted to run off with the woman, but he was caught, wounded and thrown into prison by her husband. He was released only upon the intervention of Lorenzo himself. The incident is representative of Pico's often audacious temperament and of the loyalty and affection he nevertheless could inspire.

Pico spent several months in [[Perugia]] and nearby Fratta, recovering from his injuries. It was there, as he wrote to Ficino, that "divine Providence ... caused certain books to fall into my hands. They are [[Chaldean Christians|Chaldean]] books ... of [[Esdras]], of [[Zoroaster]] and of [[Biblical Magi|Melchior]], oracles of the magi, which contain a brief and dry interpretation of Chaldean philosophy, but full of mystery."<ref name="lyber-eclat">{{cite web|url=http://www.lyber-eclat.net/lyber/mirandola/picbio.html |title=Bibliographie Giovanni Pico della Mirandola |publisher=lyber-eclat.net|access-date=21 March 2016-03-21}}</ref> ItPico was alsointroduced in Perugia that Pico was introduced to the mystical Hebrew ''[[Kabbalah]]'', which fascinated him, as did the late classical Hermetic writers, such as [[Hermes Trismegistus]]. The ''Kabbalah'' and ''Hermetica'' were thought in Pico's time to be as ancient as the Old Testament. Pico's "tutor" in Kabbalah was [[Yohanan Alemanno|Rabbi Johannan Alemanno]] (1435/8–c1430s – c. 1510), who argued that the study and mastery of magic was to be regarded as the final stage of one's intellectual and spiritual education.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Chajes|first1=J. H. (Yossi)|last2=Harari|first2=Yuval|date=2019-01-02|title=Practical Kabbalah: Guest Editors' Introduction|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/arie/19/1/article-p1_1.xml|journal=Aries|language=en|volume=19|issue=1|pages=1–5|doi=10.1163/15700593-01901001|s2cid=211949570|issn=1567-9896}}</ref>

This contact, initiated as a result of Christian interest in probing the ancient wisdom found in Jewish mystical sources, resulted in unprecedented mutual influence between Jewish and Christian Renaissance thought.<ref name=":0" /> The most original of Pico's 900 theses concerned the ''Kabbalah''. As a result, he became the founder of the tradition known as [[Christian Kabbalah]], which went on to be a central part of early modern [[Western esotericism]].<ref name="Hanegraaff p.54"/> Pico's approach to different philosophies was one of extreme [[syncretism]], placing them in parallel, it has been claimed, rather than attempting to describe a developmental history.<ref>Hanegraaff, ppg. 59</ref>

He finished his "Oration on the Dignity of Man" to accompany his ''900 Theses'' and traveledtravelled to Rome to continue his plan to defend them. He had them published together in December 1486 as ''"Conclusiones philosophicae, cabalasticae et theologicae"'', and offered to pay the expenses of any scholars who came to Rome to debate them publicly. He wanted the debate to begin on 6 January, which was, as historian Steven Farmer has observed, the feast of [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]] and "symbolic date of the submission of the pagan gentes to Christ in the persons of the Magi". After emerging victorious at the culmination of the debate, Pico planned not only on the symbolic acquiescence of the pagan sages, but also the conversion of Jews as they realised that Jesus was the true secret of their traditions. According to Farmer, Pico may have been expecting quite literally that "his Vatican debate would end with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse crashing through the Roman skies".<ref>Hanegraaff p. 57</ref>

In February 1487, [[Pope Innocent VIII]] halted the proposed debate, and established a commission to review the orthodoxy of the ''900 Theses''. Although Pico answered the charges against them, thirteen theses were condemned. Pico agreed in writing to retract them, but he did not change his mind about their validity. Eventually, all 900 theses were condemned. He proceeded to write an ''[[apologia]]'' defending them, ''Apologia J. Pici Mirandolani, Concordiae comitis'', published in 1489, which he dedicated to his patron, Lorenzo. When the pope was apprised of the circulation of this manuscript, he set up an inquisitorial tribunal, forcing Pico to renounce the ''Apologia'', in addition to his condemned theses, which he agreed to do. The pope condemned[[Theological censure|censured]] ''900 Theses'' as:

{{quote|In part heretical, in part the flower of heresy; several are scandalous and offensive to pious ears; most do nothing but reproduce the errors of pagan philosophers [...] others are capable of inflaming the impertinence of the Jews; a number of them, finally, under the pretext of 'natural philosophy', favour arts [i.e., [[magicChristian (paranormal)views on magic|magic]]<ref name="Hanegraaff p.54"/>] that are enemies to the Catholic faith and to the human race.<ref name="Lybereclatnetopcit">Lyber-eclat.net ''op.cit.''</ref>}}

In 1494, at the age of 31, Pico died under mysterious circumstances along with his friend [[Poliziano]].<ref>Ben-Zaken, Avner, "Defying Authority, Rejecting Predestination and Conquering Nature", in [https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Hayy-Ibn-Yaqzan-Cross-Cultural-Autodidacticism/dp/0801897394/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1343310784&sr=8-3&keywords=avner+ben-zaken Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011), 65–101].</ref> It was rumoured that his own secretary had poisoned him because Pico had become too close to Savonarola.<ref name="Lybereclatnetopcit" /> He was interred together with Girolamo Benivieni at San Marco, and Savonarola delivered the funeral oration. Ficino wrote: {{quote|Our dear Pico left us on the same day that Charles VIII was entering Florence, and the tears of men of letters compensated for the joy of the people. Without the light brought by the king of France, Florence might perhaps have never seen a more somber day than that which extinguished Mirandola's light.<ref name="Lybereclatnetopcit" />}}

Pico's ''De animae immortalitate'' (Paris, 1541), and other works, developed the doctrine that man's possession of an [[immortal soul]] freed him from the hierarchical stasis. Pico believed in [[universal reconciliation]], as one of his 900 theses was "A mortal sin of finite duration is not deserving of eternal but only of temporal punishment;" it was among the theses pronounced heretical by Pope Innocent VIII in his bull of 4 August 1487.<ref>"[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc01.html?term=Apocatastasis Apocatastasis]". ''New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. I''.</ref>

In the ''Oration'' he argues, in the words of [[Pier Cesare Bori]], that "human vocation is a mystical vocation that has to be realized following a three -stage way, which comprehends necessarily moral transformation, intellectual research and final perfection in the identity with the absolute reality. This paradigm is universal, because it can be retraced in every tradition."<ref>Prof. Pier Cesare Bori. "[http://didattica.spbo.unibo.it/pais/bori/articolo010.html The Italian Renaissance: An Unfinished Dawn?: Pico della Mirandola] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229231307/http://didattica.spbo.unibo.it/pais/bori/articolo010.html |date=29 December 2007 }}". Accessed 5 December 2007-12-05.</ref>

A portion of his ''Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem'' was published in Bologna after his death. In this book, Pico presents arguments against the practice of [[astrology]] that have had enormous resonance for centuries, up to our own time. ''Disputationes'' is influenced by the arguments against astrology espoused by one of his intellectual heroes, [[Augustine of Hippo]], and also by the medieval philosophical tale [[Hayy ibn Yaqdhan|''Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān'']] by [[ibn Tufail]], which promoted [[autodidacticism]] as a philosophical program.<ref>see Ben-Zaken, Avner, "Defying Authority, Rejecting Predestination and Conquering Nature", in ''[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0801897394/ref=rdr_ext_tmb Reading Hayy Ibn-Yaqzan: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism]'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011), pp. 65–100.</ref>

Early in his career, Pico wrote a ''Commento sopra una canzone d'amore di Girolamo Benivieni'', in which he revealed his plan to write a book entitled ''Poetica Theologia'':<ref>Butorac, ppg. 357</ref>{{quote|It was the opinion of the ancient theologians that divine subjects and the secret Mysteries must not be rashly divulged... the Egyptians had sculpted sphinxes in all their temples, for no other reason than to indicate that divine things, even when they are committed to writing, must be covered with enigmatic veils and poetic dissimulation... How that was done... by Latin and Greek poets we shall explain in the book of our Poetic Theology.|''Commento'', Libro Terzo, Cap. xi, Stanza Nona<ref>Hanegraaff, ppg. 64</ref>}}

Pico's ''Heptaplus'', a mysticomystical-allegorical exposition of the creation according to the seven Biblical senses, elaborates on his idea that different religions and traditions describe the same God. The book is written in his characteristic [[Christian apologetics|apologetic]] and polemic style:{{quote|If they agree with us anywhere, we shall order the Hebrews to stand by the ancient traditions of their fathers; if anywhere they disagree, then drawn up in Catholic legions we shall make an attack upon them. In short, whatever we detect foreign to the truth of the Gospels we shall refute to the extent of our power, while whatever we find holy and true we shall bear off from the synagogue, as from a wrongful possessor, to ourselves, the legitimate Israelites.|''Heptaplus'', Proem to 3rd exposition<ref>Hanegraaff, ppg. 58</ref>}}

Another notorious text by Pico is ''De omnibus rebus et de quibusdam aliis'' ("Of all things that exist and a little more"), which is mentioned in some entries on Thomas More's ''[[Utopia (More book)|Utopia]]'' and makes fun of the title of Lucretius' ''[[De rerum natura]]''.

* In [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]'', the precocious [[Stephen Dedalus]] recalls with disdain his boyhood ambitions, and apparently associates them with the career of Mirandola: "Remember your epiphanies written on green oval leaves, deeply deep...copies to be sent if you died to all the great libraries of the world...Pico della Mirandola like."<ref>Source: [http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/joyce/james/j8u/section3.html ebooks.adelaide.edu.au] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/2010010902315820080912051649/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/joyce/james/j8u/section3.html |date=9 January 2010ebooks.adelaide.edu.au] }} (accessed: 15 September 2010)</ref>

* English composer [[Gavin Bryars]] makesmade use of the texts of Pico della Mirandola in his musical production; most notably in pieces like "Glorious Hill", for vocal quartet/mixed choir, "Pico's Flight", for soprano and orchestra, and "Incipit Vita Nova for alto and string trio.

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[[Category:15th-centuryMedieval Christian universalists]]

[[Category:15th-century Latin writers in Latin]]

[[Category:Counts ofin Italy]]