Girolamo Ghilini (19 May 158912 December 1668) was an Italian writer and scholar of the

Seicento The Seicento (, ) is Italian history and culture during the 17th century. The Seicento saw the end of the Italian Renaissance, Renaissance movement in Italy and the beginning of the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque era. The word means "six hu ...

. Ghilini was the first who used the term

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

in his unpublished treatise ''Ristretto della civile, politica, statistica e militare scienza'' (Alessandria, Bibl. civica, ms. n. 7).

Biography

Girolamo Ghilini was born in

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

, in the

Duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...

, in 1589. He studied literature and philosophy at Brera, Milan's Jesuit College. He went afterwards to

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

, where he applied himself to the study of

civil Civil may refer to: *Civility, orderly behavior and politeness *Civic virtue, the cultivation of habits important for the success of a society *Civil (journalism) ''The Colorado Sun'' is an online news outlet based in Denver, Colorado. It lau ...

and

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

; but was obliged to desist on account of ill health. He returned home, and upon the death of his father he married Giacinta Bagliani. After the death of his wife he embraced the ecclesiastical life and resumed his studies, receiving a degree in canon law and theology. Later he became protonotary apostolic and titular of Saint James Abbey in the village of

Cantalupo nel Sannio Cantalupo nel Sannio is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Isernia, in the Molise region of southern Italy. History The town was known simply as Cantalupo until February 4, 1864, when the denomination ''nel Sannio'' was added in order to di ...

in southern Italy, but he probably never went there. In 1637 he was made canon of the Collegiate of the

Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio The Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, officially known as ''Basilica romana minore collegiata abbaziale prepositurale di Sant'Ambrogio'', is an ancient Romanesque-style, Roman Catholic church located in the center of Milan, in the region of Lombardy, ...

, in Milan. Ghilini was a member of the

Accademia degli Incogniti The Accademia degli Incogniti (Academy of the Unknowns), also called the Loredanian Academy, was a learned society of freethinking intellectuals, mainly Venetian nobility, noblemen, that significantly influenced the cultural and political life of ...

of Venice. He died in Alessandria in December 1668. He was buried in the church of San Bernardino.

Works

Ghilini's most important work is his ''Teatro d'huomini letterati'' (Theatre of Men of Letters), a

biographical dictionary A biographical dictionary is a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information. Many attempt to cover the major personalities of a country (with limitations, such as living persons only, in ''Who's Who'', or deceased people o ...

illustrious men. The first part of this work was printed at Milan in 1633. A second enlarged edition was published in Venice, in 1647, in two volumes. Ghilini used sources available to him in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, including John Pitts' ''Relationum historicarum de rebus anglicis'', published in paris in 1619. Ghilini's work was praised by Adrien Baillet for its accuracy but harshly criticized by

Bernard de la Monnoye Bernard de La Monnoye (15 June 1641, in Dijon – 15 October 1728) was a French people, French lawyer, poet, philology, philologue and critic, known chiefly for his Christmas carol, carol ''Noei borguignon'' (''Bourgogne, Borguignon Christmas''). ...

for its lack of critical judgement. The ''Theatro'' is an important source of knowledge on Italian XVII century writers, and is still quoted to this day. Ghilini was the first to give a literary profile of many English writers unknown in Italy in his day, including

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

Main works

* *

Notes

Bibliography

* * «Girolamo Ghilini Alessandrino». In : ''Le glorie de gli Incogniti: o vero, Gli huomini illustri dell'Accademia de' signori Incogniti di Venetia'', In Venetia : appresso Francesco Valuasense stampator dell'Accademia, 1647, pp. 268–271
on-line
. * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghilini, Girolamo 1589 births 1668 deaths People from Monza Duchy of Milan people Italian essayists University of Parma alumni Italian Baroque people