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Stefano Protonotaro Da Messina
Stefano Protonotaro da Messina (fl. 1261) was a poet of the Sicilian School, probably at the court of Frederick II. He left behind only three (or four) poems, but one is the earliest piece of writing in the Sicilian language. This work is of immense philological and linguistic importance. Life He was born at Messina in the Kingdom of Sicily and was, as his name implies, a protonotary. He is mentioned in only two documents: one of 1261 from Messina, while he was a live, and a posthumous one from 1301 (probably near the date of his death). If he is the same person, as seems probable, as a "Stefano da Messina" mentioned in other documents, he made Latin and Greek translations of two Arabic treatise on astronomy—''Liber rivolutionum'' (Book of Revolutions) and ''Flores astronomiae'' (Flowers of Astronomy)—which he dedicated to King Manfred, son of Frederick II. He was probably one of the later Sicilian poets, since one of his ''commiate'' (addresses to a lover) shows the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Floruit
''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicating the time when someone flourished. Etymology and use la, flōruit is the third-person singular perfect active indicative of the Latin verb ', ' "to bloom, flower, or flourish", from the noun ', ', "flower". Broadly, the term is employed in reference to the peak of activity for a person or movement. More specifically, it often is used in genealogy and historical writing when a person's birth or death dates are unknown, but some other evidence exists that indicates when they were alive. For example, if there are wills attested by John Jones in 1204, and 1229, and a record of his marriage in 1197, a record concerning him might be written as "John Jones (fl. 1197–1229)". The term is often used in art history when dating the care ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Occitan Language
Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, as well as Spain's Val d'Aran; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitània. It is also spoken in Calabria ( Southern Italy) in a linguistic enclave of Cosenza area (mostly Guardia Piemontese). Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the distance between this language and some Occitan dialects (such as the Gascon language) is similar to the distance between different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative. Occitan is an official language of Catalonia, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken in the Val d'Aran. Since September 2010, the Parliament of Catalonia has considered Aranese Occitan to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Writers From Messina
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, plays, screenplays, teleplays, songs, and essays as well as other reports and news articles that may be of interest to the general public. Writers' texts are published across a wide range of media. Skilled writers who are able to use language to express ideas well, often contribute significantly to the cultural content of a society. The term "writer" is also used elsewhere in the arts and music, such as songwriter or a screenwriter, but also a stand-alone "writer" typically refers to the creation of written language. Some writers work from an oral tradition. Writers can produce material across a number of genres, fictional or non-fictional. Other writers use multiple media such as graphics or illustration to enhance the communication of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years or so been depicted as a white horse-like or goat-like animal with a long straight horn with spiralling grooves, cloven hooves, and sometimes a goat's beard. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was commonly described as an extremely wild forest, woodland creature, a symbol of purity and grace, which could be captured only by a virgin. In encyclopedias, its horn was described as having the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. In medieval and Renaissance times, the tusk of the narwhal was sometimes sold as a unicorn horn. A bovine type of unicorn is thought by some scholars to have been depicted in Indus seal, seals of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, Indus Valley civiliza ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer (caribou), white-tailed deer, the roe deer, and the moose. Male deer of all species (except the water deer), as well as female reindeer, grow and shed new antlers each year. In this they differ from permanently horned antelope, which are part of a different family ( Bovidae) within the same order of even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla). The musk deer ( Moschidae) of Asia and chevrotains ( Tragulidae) of tropical African and Asian forests are separate families that are also in the ruminant clade Ruminantia; they are not especially closely related to Cervidae. Deer appear in art from Paleolithic cave paintings onwards, and they have played a role in mythology, religion, and literature throughout history, as well as in hera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Image
An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensional picture, that resembles a subject. In the context of signal processing, an image is a distributed amplitude of color(s). In optics, the term “image” may refer specifically to a 2D image. An image does not have to use the entire visual system to be a visual representation. A popular example of this is of a greyscale image, which uses the visual system's sensitivity to brightness across all wavelengths, without taking into account different colors. A black and white visual representation of something is still an image, even though it does not make full use of the visual system's capabilities. Images are typically still, but in some cases can be moving or animated. Characteristics Images may be two or three- dimensional, such as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simile
A simile () is a figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes differ from other metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or "than", while other metaphors create an implicit comparison (i.e. saying something "''is''" something else). This distinction is evident in the etymology of the words: simile derives from the Latin word ''similis'' ("similar, like"), while metaphor derives from the Greek word ''metapherein'' ("to transfer"). Like in the case of metaphors, the thing that is being compared is called the tenor, and the thing it is being compared to is called the vehicle. Author and lexicographer Frank J. Wilstach compiled a dictionary of similes in 1916, with a second edition in 1924. Uses In literature * "O My like a red, red rose." "A Red, Red Rose," by Robert Burns. * John Milton, ''Paradise Lost'', a Homeric simile:::As when a prowling Wolf, ::Whom hunger drives to seek new hau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bestiaries
A bestiary (from ''bestiarum vocabulum'') is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson. This reflected the belief that the world itself was the Word of God and that every living thing had its own special meaning. For example, the pelican, which was believed to tear open its breast to bring its young to life with its own blood, was a living representation of Jesus. Thus the bestiary is also a reference to the symbolic language of animals in Western Christian art and literature. History The bestiary — the medieval book of beasts — was among the most popular illuminated texts in northern Europe during the Middle Ages (about 500–1500). Medieval Christians understood every element of the world as a manifestation of God, and bestiaries largely focused ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pier Delle Vigne
Pietro della Vigna (also Pier delle Vigne, Petrus de Vineas or de Vineis; Capua, ca. 1190 – Pisa, 1249) was an Italian jurist and diplomat, who acted as chancellor and secretary ( logothete) to Emperor Frederick II. Falsely accused of ''lèse-majesté'', he was imprisoned, blinded and committed suicide soon after. He appears as a character in the '' Inferno'' of the ''Divine Comedy'' by Dante Alighieri. Life and work Pietro della Vigna was born in 1190 in Capua, under humble circumstances and studied law at Bologna. Through his classical education, his ability to speak Latin and his poetic gifts, he gained the favour of Emperor Frederick II, who made him his secretary, and afterwards ''judex magnae curiae'', councillor, governor of Apulia, prothonotary and chancellor. The emperor sent him to Rome in 1232 and 1237 to negotiate with the pope; to Padua in 1239 to induce the citizens to accept imperial protection; and to England in 1234–1235 to arrange a marriage between Freder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rigaut De Barbezieux
Rigaut de Berbezilh (also Berbezill or Barbesiu; french: Rigaud de Barbezieux, la, Rigaudus de Berbezillo) was a troubadour (fl. 1140–1163Aubrey, 8.Gaunt and Kay, 290.) of the petty nobility of Saintonge. He was a great influence on the Sicilian School and is quoted in the ''Roman de la Rose''. About fifteen of his poems survive, including one ''planh'' and nine or ten ''cansos''. His name is sometimes given as Richart or Richartz. Life While the dates of his life are disputed, some maintaining a later career (c. 1170–1215), the general consensus is that he was an early troubadour. ''Vida'' According to his ''vida'', the reliability of which is highly doubtful, he was a poor knight from the castle of Barbezieux near Cognac in the diocese of Saintes.Egan, 99. He was described as capable and handsome, but ''saup mielhs trobar qu'entendre ni que dire'': "he knew better how to compose poetry than to listen to it or recite it." He was reputed by the author of the ''vida' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canso (song)
The ''canso'' or ''canson'' or ''canzo'' () was a song style used by the troubadours. It was, by far, the most common genre used, especially by early troubadours, and only in the second half of the 13th century was its dominance challenged by a growing number of poets writing '' coblas esparsas''. The ''canso'' became, in Old French, the '' grand chant'' and, in Italian, the ''canzone''. Structure A ''canso'' usually consists of three parts. The first stanza is the ''exordium'', where the composer explains his purpose. The main body of the song occurs in the following stanzas, and usually draw out a variety of relationships with the ''exordium''; formally, aside from the ''envoi''(''s''), which are not always present, a ''canso'' is made of stanzas all having the same sequence of verses, in the sense that each verse has the same number of metrical syllables. This makes it possible to use the same melody for every stanza. The sequence can be extremely simple, as in ''Can vei l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tornada (Occitan Literary Term)
In Old Occitan literature, a ''tornada'' (, ; "turned, twisted") refers to a final, shorter stanza (or ''cobla'') that appears in lyric poetry and serves a variety of purposes within several poetic forms. The word ''tornada'' derives from the Old Occitan in which it is the feminine form of ''tornat'', a past participle of the verb ''tornar'' ("to turn, return"). It is derived from the Latin verb ''tornare'' ("to turn in a lathe, round off"). Originating in the Provence region of present-day France, Occitan literature spread through the tradition of the troubadours in the High Middle Ages. The tornada became a hallmark of the language's lyric poetry tradition which emerged 1000 in a region called Occitania that now comprises parts of modern-day France, Italy and Catalonia (northeastern Spain). Under the influence of the troubadours, related movements sprang up throughout medieval Europe: the ''Minnesang'' in Germany, ''trovadorismo'' in Galicia (northeastern Spain) and Portugal, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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