Giovanni Colonna (historian)

Educated in France, he served as a preacher and vicar in Rome, chaplain in Cyprus and lector in Tivoli.

An early humanist, he was a friend and correspondent of Petrarch, whose eight surviving letters to him are an important source for his later years, during which he suffered from gout.

[6] In a letter to Colonna, Petrarch refers to his addressee's travels in Persia, Arabia and Egypt, which must have taken place during his service with Giovanni Conti.

When he finally landed in Pisa, he was seriously ill.[5] In 1338, he was appointed vicar of the Dominican priory in Santa Sabina until a new prior was elected.

[5] In the days after his laureation on 8 April 1341, Petrarch joined Colonna in Rome and the two of them toured the city, visiting classical and early Christian monuments and discussing ethics, aesthetics and history.

As indicated by a letter of Petrarch to Archbishop Guido Sette, Colonna died not long afterwards, towards the end of 1343 or early in 1344.

A reading of his works reveals a critical mind equally comfortable in classical pagan texts and medieval Christian ones.

[5] Roberto Weiss puts him in the early generation of humanist scholars at the papal court in Avignon.

"[12] Colonna's earlier work, Liber de viris illustribus ('Book of Famous Men'), was begun during his stay in Avignon.

Other important sources include Seneca, Lactantius, Eusebius, Pseudo-Walter Burley and the Speculum historiale of Vincent of Beauvais.