Scipione Gentili (; 1563 – August 7, 1616) was an Italian law professor and a legal writer. One of his six brothers was

Alberico Gentili Alberico Gentili (14 January 155219 June 1608) was an Italian jurist, a tutor of Queen Elizabeth I, and a standing advocate to the Spanish Embassy in London, who served as the Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford for 21 ye ...

, one of the fathers of

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

. Born at

San Ginesio San Ginesio is an Italian Comune (Italy), municipality with a population of 3,040 inhabitants located in the Province of Macerata within the Marche region. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). Phy ...

, Scipione Gentili left Italy at the age of 16 when he had to emigrate together with his father and his brother Alberico because of their Protestant beliefs. Together with his brother and his father, he settled in England, and, in the early 1580s, published several books with the London printer John Wolfe, all dedicated to Sir

Philip Sidney Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan age. His works include a sonnet sequence, ' ...

. Of them, the most important was a partial Latin translation of

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

's ''Gerusalemme Liberata''. Scipione spent his life in Germany. He studied law at the universities of

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

and

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. He reached the doctorate in 1589 and started to teach law at the university of Heidelberg. Quarrels with his Italian compatriot Giulio Pace made him leave Heidelberg and go to the German

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Altdorf bei Nürnberg Altdorf bei Nürnberg ( , ; ) is a town in south-eastern Germany. It is situated east of Nuremberg, in the district Nürnberger Land. Its name literally means “Altdorf near Nuremberg”, to distinguish it from other Altdorfs. History Altdorf ...

. There, the famous jurist Hugues Doneau (Hugo Donellus, 1527–1591), who had been among his teachers at Leiden, procured him a professorship, which Scipione kept until his death. While Alberico Gentili was, at least at the outset of his career, a staunch supporter of the traditional bartolist method of legal interpretation, Scipione was influenced by French jurists like Doneau and

Jacques Cujas Jacques Cujas (or Cujacius) (Toulouse, 1522 – Bourges, 4 October 1590) was a French legal expert. He was prominent among the legal humanists or ''mos gallicus'' school, which sought to abandon the work of the medieval Commentators and conc ...

, who applied the methods of

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

philology to legal texts. Gentili's works, which fills eight quarto volumes in the 1763 edition, have not only legal writings but also wrote commentaries on St. Paul's

Epistle to Philemon The Epistle to Philemon is one of the books of the Christianity, Christian New Testament. It is a Prison literature, prison letter, authored by Paul the Apostle (the opening verse also mentions Saint Timothy, Timothy), to Saint Philemon, Philem ...

and on the ''Apologia'' of Lucius Apuleius as well as a translation into Latin of and ''Annotazioni'' (in Italian) on

's epic ''Gerusalemme liberata''. Among his legal works are two voluminous treatises ''De donationibus inter virum et uxorem'' (on donations between husband and wife, which were illegal and void under Roman law) and ''De jurisdictione'' (on jurisdiction). Gentili also edited the final part of Doneau's ''Commentarii de Iure Civili'', thereby securing the completion of the influential work, which the author had not been able to finish before his death. Gentili rendered a similar service to his brother Alberico, whose ''Hispanica Advocatio'' he edited in 1613. During his lifetime, Scipione Gentili was held in high esteem all over Europe. His fame probably even surpassed that of his brother. Pope

Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominen ...

is said to have offered him the possibility to return to Italy and to teach at

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 ...

without having to give up his Protestant beliefs, an offer that Gentili did not accept. However, after his death, Scipione Gentili was quickly forgotten. Unlike his brother Alberico, who was rediscovered in the 19th century, Scipione Gentili is still waiting for a re-evaluation of his work.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gentili, Scipione 1563 births 1616 deaths People from San Ginesio 16th-century Italian jurists 17th-century Italian jurists