Anton Maria Del Chiaro (born in 1669, died after 1727) was a Florentine Italian secretary of

Constantin Brâncoveanu Constantin Brâncoveanu (; 1654 – August 15, 1714) was List of Wallachian rulers, Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714. Biography Ascension Constantin Brâncoveanu was the son of Pope Brâncoveanu (Matthew) and his wife, Stanca Can ...

, the

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

. He is the author of a book on the history of Wallachia of his time, called ''Istoria delle moderne rivoluzioni della Valachia'' ("History of Modern Revolutions of Walachia"), dedicated to

Pope Clement XI Pope Clement XI (; ; ; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721. Clement XI was a patron of the arts an ...

, written in Italian, and printed in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in 1718.

Biography

Much of what we know about Antonio Maria Del Chiaro is owed to Constantin Boroianu's well-documented article, “Nouvelles données sur Del Chiaro”, published in the Romanian journal ''Revue des Études sud-est européennes'' in 1972. Born in 1669, as David Teglia in a Jewish family of Livorno, Del Chiaro was converted and baptized Catholic at the age of 14 on December 17, 1683, at the

Duomo ''Duomo'' (, ) is an Italian term for a church with the features of, or having been built to serve as a cathedral, whether or not it currently plays this role. The Duomo of Monza, for example, has never been a diocesan seat and is by definitio ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

; as it was customary, he took the name of his godfather, Leon Battista Del Chiaro. Antonio Maria Del Chiaro studied for a long time in Tuscany and

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

. Around 1700, he settled in

where he met

Apostolo Zeno Apostolo Zeno (11 December 1668 – 11 November 1750) was a Venetian poet, librettist, journalist, and man of letters. Early life Apostolo Zeno was born in Venice to a Kingdom of Candia#Establishment_of_Venetian_rule, colonial branch of the ...

Antonio Vallisneri Antonio Vallisneri (3 May 1661 – 18 January 1730), also rendered as ''Antonio Vallisnieri'', was an Italian medical scientist, physician and naturalist. Life Vallisneri was born in Trassilico, a small village in Garfagnana, and graduated in ...

, and other scholars. In 1709, he was invited to come to

where Prince Constantin Brancovan (Brâncoveanu) was looking for a secretary. He arrived in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

in 1710. After Brancovan's deposition and death in 1714, Del Chiaro remained in Wallachia as a teacher of Italian and Latin for some young princes. As a diplomatic secretary, he served the new prince,

Ștefan Cantacuzino Ștefan Cantacuzino, (c. 1675 – 7 June 1716) was a Prince of Wallachia between April 1714 and January 21, 1716, the son of '' stolnic'' Constantin Cantacuzino. He was married to Păuna Greceanu-Cantacuzino. Life Ștefan was involved in his ...

, and his successor Nicolae Mavrocordato. When, in 1716, Mavrocordato was deposed by the troops of

Prince Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736), better known as Prince Eugene, was a distinguished Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty durin ...

, and held prisoner, Del Chiaro accompanied him to Hermannstadt (

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , , Hungarian: ''Nagyszeben'', , Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'' or ''Hermestatt'') is a city in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles th ...

), then returned to Venice in 1717, where he began to write his main work, ''Istoria delle moderne rivoluzioni della Valachia'', which was issued the following year. Around the end of 1718 or in early 1719, Antonio Maria Del Chiaro, for unexplained reasons, settled in London, but did not succeed to live well there, and he soon became short of money. However, it is not before 1726 that he chose to come back to Italy, where he had to ask for financial support from his friend Apostolo Zeno; he took the position of a teacher of Latin, rhetoric and history in

Portoferraio Portoferraio () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Livorno, on the edge of the eponymous harbour of the island of Elba. It is the island's largest town. Because of its terrain, many of its buildings are situated on the slopes of a tiny h ...

, in the Island of

Elba Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, a ...

. After 1727, we lose track of him.Boroianu, p. 63.

References

*Constantin Boroianu, “Nouvelles données sur Del Chiaro”, ''Revue des Études sud-est européennes'', X, No 1 (1972), pp. 43–63.

External links

*Anton Maria Del Chiaro
Revoluțiile Valahiei
(Romanian) 17th-century births 18th-century deaths 18th-century Italian historians Historians of Romania {{Italy-historian-stub