Andrea Ammonio (c. 1478 – 1517) was an Italian cleric and

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

poet born in

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

, held in high esteem by

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

, a friend of his. Sent to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Pope Julius II Pope Julius II (; ; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death, in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope, the Battle Pope or the Fearsome ...

, he became Latin secretary to

Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509), also known as Henry Tudor, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henr ...

and a

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Catholic Church, Catholic or Anglicanism , Anglican clergy, a form of canon (priest) , canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in part ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. Born into one of the oldest families in Lucca (de Herena, also known as "della Rena"), he was later given the hellenized name "Ammonio". At the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

, he studied under Oliverius Jontus of Montegallorum, a teacher there from 1494 to 1498. Ammonio then went to Rome. By 1506, he was in England, probably travelling with Silvestro Gigli, another Luccanese, who had been sent by Pope Julius II in 1505 to give gifts to Henry VII and who became bishop of Worcester. In 1509, he became Latin secretary to

William Blount William Blount ( ; April 6, 1749March 21, 1800) was an American politician, landowner and Founding Father who was one of the signers of the Constitution of the United States. He was a member of the North Carolina delegation at the Constitution ...

, Lord Mountjoy, and by 1511, he was secretary to

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

. That year, in Paris, Erasmus showed Blount the manuscript of a book of Ammonio's poems dedicated to Blount, who thought the dedication was too excessive and asked that it be changed. That was done, and Erasmus soon had the book printed.Deutscher, Thomas B.
"Andrea Ammonio of Luca"
article in Bietenholz, Peter G. and Thomas B. Deutscher, editors, ''Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation, Volumes 1-3'', pp 48-50, University of Toronto Press, 2003, retrieved via Google Books on July 27, 2009 On February 3, 1512, he received a prebend in the Cathedral of St. Stephen, Westminster, and later received a canonry at Worcester. Also in 1512, he was with the English expeditionary force in France when it won the

Battle of the Spurs The Battle of the Spurs or (Second) Battle of Guinegate took place on 16 August 1513. It formed a part of the War of the League of Cambrai of 1508 to 1516, during the Italian Wars. King Henry VIII of England and Emperor Maximilian I were besi ...

. On April 12, 1514, he became an English citizen, and in 1515,

Pope Leo X Pope Leo X (; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political and banking Med ...

appointed him subcollector of papal taxes in England, after Ammonio had conspired against

Polydore Vergil Polydore Vergil or Virgil (Italian: Polidoro Virgili, commonly Latinised as Polydorus Vergilius; – 18 April 1555), widely known as Polydore Vergil of Urbino, was an Italian humanist scholar, historian, priest and diplomat, who spent much of ...

for the post. Not yet 40 years old, Ammonio died suddenly in 1517 of the "

sweating sickness Sweating sickness, also known as the sweats, English sweating sickness, English sweat or ''sudor anglicus'' in Latin, was a mysterious and contagious disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics beginning i ...

" in London. The complete poems of Ammonio were published by Clemente Pizzi in 1958.

Friend of Erasmus

Ammonio met Erasmus when the latter visited England in 1506–1507, and they renewed their friendship from 1509–1511 after Erasmus returned from a trip to Italy. At some point, they stayed together at the home of

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VII ...

. From 1511 to 1517, they exchanged more than 40 letters on many topics, ranging from the poor wine at Cambridge to international affairs. Ammonio helped Erasmus in his struggles to get papal permission to be free from some of the restrictions of his religious order and to gain financial security. On April 9, 1517, in the presence of Johannes Sixtinus at St. Stephen's in Westminster, and on behalf of Pope Leo X, Ammonio absolved Erasmus of all censures caused by not wearing the habit of his order. On August 19 of that year, Thomas More wrote to Erasmus, informing him of Ammonio's death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ammonio, Andrea 1470s births 1517 deaths Writers from Lucca Neo-Latin poets 16th-century writers in Latin