Albertino Mussato
Albertino Mussato was a statesman, poet, historian and playwright from Padua. He is credited with providing an impetus to the revival of literary Latin, and is characterized as an early humanist. He was influenced by his teacher, the Paduan poet and proto-humanist Lovato Lovati. Mussato influenced many humanists such as Petrarch.
A native of Padua and a member of its council, Mussato acted as an ambassador between Padua and Emperor Henry VII. He is a member of a group of Latin Paduan poets called the cenacolo padovano. Mussato is renowned for his Latin play Ecerinis, which was based on the tyrannical career of Ezzelino III da Romano. It was the first secular tragedy written since Roman times. Thus, it is considered to be the first Italian tragedy identifiable as a Renaissance work. Ecerinis is not only significant for its historical information, but is modeled after the Senecan tragedy and is an indication of the early revival of classical works and their form – a characteristic of the humanist movement.
Mussato received the poet laureate honour as a result of the literary and political qualities of his play. He was one of the first to receive this designation after the classical age. Mussato's other works are a corpus of letters, poetry, and historical works, including a chronicle of Henry VII's actions in Italy. In addition to his prolific writings, he was also a champion of poetry which he defended in a 1317 polemical exchange of letters with a Dominican friar, Giovannino of Mantua.
Biography
Youth and early career
Albertino Mussato was born in Padua in 1261 in the district of Gazzo, at around the time of year when the grapes are harvested — which is typically between September and November. Much of the information on Mussato's life is chronicled in his autobiographical poem written in 1317: De Celebratione Suae Diei Nativitatis Fienda Vel Non. He is the oldest of his siblings, having two younger brothers and one younger sister. His father was Giovanni Cavalieri, a court messenger, but there were rumours that Mussato is the illegitimate son of an adulterous union between Viviano Muso and Cavalieri's wife. These rumours arose because Mussato adopted the last name Muso in his early years, probably, though, as tribute to Viviano Muso, who provided protection to the Cavalieri family and stood as godfather to Mussato.By 1276–7 Viviano Muso had died leaving Mussato and his family in a state of poverty. The responsibility of providing for the family came to rest upon Mussato and he became employed in book copying for students.
Later on he transitioned to working in the Paduan law courts with his first notarial document being done for Amerina Muso – Viviano Muso's widow. However, he lacked a formal education and was unable to become a judge and was confined to remain a notary. Around this time, it is possible that Mussato began his tutorship under Lovato Lovati.
Throughout the 1280s and 1290s Mussato continued his notary work, eventually receiving recognition and prestige for performing all his notarial duties with great ability. However, he himself remarks in De Celebratione that he felt he did not deserve such praises. Nevertheless, due to his recognition, Mussato was knighted and became a member of the Consiglio Maggiore of Padua and was nominated to become a miles pro commune in 1296, at the young age of 35.
In 1294, he married Mabilia Lemici, daughter of Guglielmo Dente Lemici. He eventually moved to the area where the Lemici Palazzo was located and he became the legal guardian of Guglielmo II when Vitaliano, son of Guglielmo Lemici, died in 1310.
Padua and diplomacy
Ambassador to Boniface VIII
Mussato first known role in politics was in 1297 when he became Podestà of Lendinara. But his first notable role in politics was around the year 1300 and his first mission was as an ambassador to Pope Boniface VIII, most likely to try and influence the Pope to control the Inquisition that was happening in Padua at the time. During Mussato's mission to Pope Boniface VIII the previous abbot of Santa Giustina, Renaldo, died resulting in a disputed election for the ecclesiastical position. Mussato used his time as ambassador to Boniface to influence his decision over the election by promoting his brother, Gualpertino, for the role. Vitaliano Lemici, simultaneously, spent a fortune in promoting Gualpertino for the position. The issue was finally resolved on 17 February 1300, when Boniface announced in a letter that Gualpertino was the new abbot of Santa Giustina. In April 1301 Mussato was sent to Florence as Esecutore degli Ordinamenti di Giustizia for a period of 6 months.Ambassador to Henry VII
Mussato was later sent on four ambassadorial missions to Henry VII. On the first mission Mussato travelled as part of the Paduan representatives to the coronation of Henry VII in Milan in early January 1311. On his second journey to the Henry VII Mussato was assigned as chief ambassador and tasked with negotiating the independence of Padua. Certain conditions were placed before Padua as part of the negotiations: Padua was to have an Imperial Vicar, replacing the city's Podestà and to be nominated by the Emperor himself; Padua was also required to make occasional monetary tributes to the Emperor and his imperial court. However the Paduans were upset with these conditions and fearful of the favour given to Cangrande della Scala of Verona during these meetings, whom they saw as being the next Ezzelino III da Romano. The Paduans rejected these conditions and rallied the city into a state of defence. Vicenza, which had been under Paduan dominion for some time, took this opportunity to ally with della Scala and break free from Paduan supremacy on 15 April. Fearing for their independence and possible retribution by the Emperor the Paduans decided that the conditions presented to them were favourable and again sent Mussato and colleagues to meet with the Emperor resulting in compensation for those who suffered private losses in the Vicentini revolt and Padua officially attaching itself to the Holy Roman Empire on 16 June 1311. Mussato's last ambassadorial mission to Henry was to resolve the issue of property disputes between the Paduans and the Vicentini but he soon left the camp of the Emperor with only a rescript regarding the matter due to the Emperor's campaign to Rome stalled and continued to drag on with no end in sight.Exile and death
In April 1314 there was a violent uprising against the rulers of Padua and Mussato was forced to flee to the village of Vigodarzere, but he was soon reconciled and allowed to return. Mussato wrote at the time that the conflict was between the Carraresi and the Altichini, however Giacomo da Carrara wrote to a nearby commune that the conflict was between him and Mussato. Mussato was later exiled in the spring of 1318 when Niccolò da Carrara attacked Gualpertino. Gualpertino fled first to the Lemici palazzo and then to the castle of Treville with his brother, Mussato, where a better chance for security was offered. Mussato was banished permanently in 1325 by the Carrara family and died four years later in Chioggia on 31 May at the age of 68.Politics
Ideological development
As he grew older Mussato's political stature grew substantially, not only with his fellow Paduans, but also with many individuals across Italy, and more specifically his peers. Often viewed as a patriot, Mussato was a prominent pre-humanist, who, fearing tyranny preferred a republic and became an influential political writer in his later adulthood. Born in Padua, Mussato was greatly influenced by his mentor and fellow Paduan Lovato Lovati. Lovati was influential in creating Mussato's political ideals that were based upon Lovati's personal experiences he built while living in Padua throughout Ezzelino da Romano's tyrannical reign as the leader of Padua. These experiences greatly affected Lovati's perspective, which in turn influenced Mussato to express his personal opinion on signorial monarchies. Through the teachings of Lovati, Mussato played a major role in influencing his friend Marsilius of Padua, the political philosopher. During Mussato's time in Padua he and his peers gathered regularly to discuss their ideals and help to spread the word of the humanists across Italy. This helped to solidify humanism as an important moral and political system in Padua and many other regions of Northern Italy during the early 14th century. Upon retiring from his legal career as a lawyer, Mussato began to focus on political life. He held multiple positions in the Paduan government and eventually served in the Consiglio Maggional of Padua. Mussato was also involved in numerous other diplomatic missions during his time in government as well as a part of multiple delegations for the city of Padua including the coronation of Henry VIII in Milan in 1312.Mussato and contemporaries
Mussato, drew upon fellow scholars from across Italy to dissect multiple opinions and carve out his own political perspective. As Mussato developed his political agenda his writings became more politically driven, which increased his ability to persuade his fellow scholars to follow his beliefs. Mussato, along with a number of other political writers expressed a great deal of doubt in signorial monarchies during their regular council meetings. More than half a century after Ezzelino da Romano's reign ended, Mussato and other peers associated with pre-humanism still feared the threat of another potential tyrant in Cangrande della Scala and attempted to save the communal government of Padua. Mussato repeatedly equated the attempts of his fellow citizens to uphold their "res publica" in defense of liberty of their community against the challenge the della Scala family presented.Political effects of his works
Mussato produced many works over his career including multiple pieces on influential people in his life. He wrote various historiographical works with subtle political influence, and incorporated political tragedies from the past to further cement his political arsenal. All of the works created by Mussato were minor in their political efforts in comparison to Ecerinis. After gaining inspiration from his incarceration, experiences and previous writings, he wrote Ecerinis. The most famous of Mussato's works contained writings of immense political magnitude that targeted Cangrande and angered the della Scala family. The remarks in Ecerenis eventually brought about Mussato's exile in 1325. Ecerinis was viewed as a clever means to undermine Cangrande and was actually quite successful at reaching its goal. Mussato's use of politically biased information is exemplified in Ecerinis when the messenger returns with the news of Ezzelino's gruesome death. This garners the following response from the Chorus:This statement clearly uses his death to vilify Ezzelino and warn citizens of Padua to avoid letting tyranny return with Cangrande. The whole structure of Ecerinis left little doubt of its political approach through the vilification of Ezzelino as a typical tyrant. Mussato's efforts came to fruition in that "the myth of Ezzelino" was created from his work and was used as a way to denounce Padua's seigniorial past. Mussato also used Ecerinis to express the desperation he faced in preserving communal rule in Padua. The play used many real life experiences to point to the dangerous effects of seigniorial rule on a city and foreshadowed the collapse of civic liberty in Padua. This was an attempt to inspire Paduans to stand up for their republic and regain the civic liberty they had lost. Ecerinis was also used as a warning to Cangrande to inform him that all tyrannical reigns end in death and ruin which will cause mass suffering for a variety of reasons.