De vita et moribus Domini Francisci Petracchi or On the life and death of Petrarch

The cult for great literary and intellectual personalities is celebrated by Boccaccio with the composition of encomiastic and commemorative biographies. The Vita di San Pier Damiani, which he wrote at Petrarch’s behest, propends towards a hagiographic and exemplary reading of biographical historic events, which appears to be based upon a careful philological and historic investigation. His study of ancient documents contributed also to the preparation of the work on Livio, which Boccaccio puts before the Deche XXI-XXX in the Laurentian Code LXIII 8.

Quite different is the inspiration for De vita et moribus, conceived of as a tribute to the poet laureate Petrarch and datable ante 1350, and more probably circa 1341, year of his Roman poetic crowning. The attitude of reverence, already present in his youthful epistles Mavortis milex, is confirmed in this celebrative biography, and this before he had met the great man of letters. The mediation of friends and correspondents of the poet from Rieti, whom Boccaccio had met during his Neapolitan sojourn, and, in particular, his frequentation of Father Dionigi from Borgo San Sepolcro were the main sources for the reconstruction of a highly idealised biography.  At the centre of the story of Petrarch’s life is significantly placed his literary vocation, pursued against his family’s wish, as had been the case for Boccaccio. Autobiographical projections meld with the concept that the role of the man of letters is based upon civil and cultural commitments, to the point of making of Petrarch an “engagé” ante litteram. If on the one hand the De vita lays the basis for theoretical reflections on the meaning of poetry, at the same time this work by Boccaccio expresses a sentiment of profound admiration and emulation, which shows the link between the two writers to be one of obsequious deference of the disciple towards his master.