Benvenuto Rambaldi da Imola, or simply and perhaps more accurately Benvenuto da Imola (; 1330 – 1388), was an Italian scholar and historian, a lecturer at Bologna. He is now best known for his commentary on

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poetry, narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of ...

.''

Life

''Comentum super Dantis Aldigherii Comoediam'', 1381 (BML, Ashburnham 839) He was born in

Imola Imola (; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical region Romagna ...

, into a family of legal officers. In 1361–2 he was working for Gómez Albornoz, governor of

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

and nephew of Cardinal Egidio Albornoz.Deborah Parker, ''Commentary and Ideology: Dante in the Renaissance'' (1993), p. 184
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In 1365 he went on a diplomatic mission on behalf of the city, to

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

and

Pope Urban V Pope Urban V (; 1310 – 19 December 1370), born Guillaume de Grimoard, was head of the Catholic Church from 28 September 1362 until his death, in December 1370 and was also a member of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was the only Avignon pope ...

.Christopher Kleinhenz, ''Medieval Italy: an encyclopedia, Volume 1'' (2004), p. 107
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At the time members of the Alidosi family dominated Imola, and other citizens looked to the papacy for a change. The petition brought by Benvenuto and others failed; the local political situation at home caused him to move on without returning, going to Bologna, where he made a living as a teacher. He was made the subject of accusations there of indecency, which may have been connected to lectures on the ''Inferno'';Richard Lansing (editor), ''The Dante Encyclopedia'' (2000), pp. 97–8. on the other hand Benvenuto himself had made accusations to the papal legate in Bologna of improper teacher-student relationships of others. While previously in Bologna he may have lectured officially, and did teach some classical authors, his later lectures were in a private house, that of the grammarian Giovanni de Soncino. In 1373 he visited

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 ...

and there heard

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was s ...

lecture on Dante. From 1375 he was based in

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

.Michael Caesar, ''Dante: The Critical Heritage'' (1995), p. 176
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There he had the protection of

Niccolò II d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara Niccolò is an Italian male given name, derived from the Greek Nikolaos meaning "Victor of people" or "People's champion". There are several male variations of the name: Nicolò, Niccolò, Nicolas, and Nicola. The female equivalent is Nicole. The f ...

, whom he had met in Avignon.

Works

An early humanist, he still wrote in

medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

. His commentary on Dante was known as the ''Comentum super Dantis Aligherii comoediam''.

Charles Eliot Norton Charles Eliot Norton (November 16, 1827 – October 21, 1908) was an American author, social critic, and Harvard professor of art based in New England. He was a progressive social reformer and a liberal activist whom many of his contemporaries c ...

considered that Benvenuto's commentary on Dante had "a value beyond that of any of the other fourteenth-century commentators". It exists in three versions: one published in 1875, one from his time in Ferrara, and a third published in 1887 by William Warren Vernon (edited by James Philip Lacaita). The second (Ferrara) version is a source for his theory that the ''Divine Comedy'' combines the three genres of

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

and

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

. It influenced

Juan de Mena ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Phili ...

, in particular, via Giovanni da Serravalle who had heard Benvenuto teach. Benvenuto acknowledged influence himself from the tradition of

Averroes Ibn Rushd (14 April 112611 December 1198), archaically Latinization of names, Latinized as Averroes, was an Arab Muslim polymath and Faqīh, jurist from Al-Andalus who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astron ...

and

Hermannus Alemannus Hermannus Alemannus (Latin for Herman the German) translated Arabic philosophy, Arabic philosophical works into Latin. He worked at the Toledo School of Translators around the middle of the thirteenth century (from approximately 1240 to 1256) and ...

, as well as Boccacio. Other works were: *'' Romuleon'', a Latin compendium of Roman history. It was an extensive compilation in ten books, made in the period 1361–4 for Gómez Albornoz. Frédéric Duval (editor), ''Le Romuleon en François'' (2000), pp. xi–xiii
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At the end of the 15th century it was rewritten by Adamo Montaldo. It covered the history from the

foundation of Rome The founding of Rome was a prehistoric event or process later greatly embellished by Roman historians and poets. Archaeological evidence indicates that Rome developed from the gradual union of several hilltop villages during the Final Bronze ...

Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

. :This work is not connected to the ''

Gesta Romanorum ''Gesta Romanorum'' (; "Deeds of the Romans") is a Latin collection of anecdotes and tales that was probably compiled about the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th. It still possesses a two-fold literary interest, first as one of ...

'', but sometimes went under the title ''De Gestis Romanorum'', or in its French version ''Des fai(t)s des Romains''. It circulated in a small number of manuscripts of high quality; the first French translation (1460) was by

Jean Miélot Jean Miélot, also Jehan, (born Gueschard, Picardy, died 1472) was an author, translator, manuscript illuminator, scribe and priest, who served as secretary to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy from 1449 to Philip's death in 1467, and then to his ...

, for

Philip the Good Philip III the Good (; ; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) ruled as Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reign, ...

and it was transcribed by

David Aubert David Aubert (before 1413 – working 1449–79) was a French calligrapher who transcribed and adapted courtly Medieval romance, romances and chronicles for the court of the Duke of Burgundy. In addition to finely presented works, illuminated at ...

. Another followed in 1466 by

Sébastien Mamerot Sébastien Mamerot (between and 1440 – 1490) was a French clergyman, scholar, novelist, and translator. Biography Originally from Soissons, Mamerot served as clergyman and secretary to Louis de Laval, governor of Dauphiné (1448–1458), Cham ...

, for Louis de Laval, seigneur de Châtillon. Six manuscripts of Miélot's ''Romuléon'' are known. *A commentary on

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''

Eclogues The ''Eclogues'' (; , ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil. Background Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by o ...

(Bucolics)'' and ''

Georgics The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek language, Greek word , ''geōrgiká'', i.e. "agricultural hings) the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from bei ...

''. Benvenuto was critical of the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'' commentary of Ciones de Magnali (known as Zono). He also disapproved of the classical commentary of

Servius Servius may refer to: * Servius (praenomen), a personal name during the Roman Republic * Servius the Grammarian (fl. 4th/5th century), Roman Latin grammarian * Servius Asinius Celer (died AD 46), Roman senator * Servius Cornelius Cethegus, Roma ...

. *Commentaries on

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November AD 39 – 30 April AD 65), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba, Hispania Baetica (present-day Córdoba, Spain). He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imper ...

Valerius Maximus Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' or ''Facta et dicta memorabilia''). He worke ...

, and the tragedies of

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger ( ; AD 65), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, a dramatist, and in one work, a satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca ...

; *''Augustalis libellus'', a work on Roman emperors, with scope from

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

to the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Wenceslas.Catherine J. Castne, ''Biondo Flavio's Italia Illustrata: Northern Italy'' (2005), p. 278
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He also wrote on

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

's ''Carmen Bucolicum''.

Notes

External links

WorldCat pageA review (in Italian) devoted to Benvenuto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rambaldi Da Imola, Benvenuto 1330 births 1388 deaths People from Imola Italian male writers 14th-century writers in Latin 14th-century Neo-Latin writers Dante scholars