One of the first humanistic teachers was Gasparino Barzizza (c. 1360-1431), who edited recently discovered texts of Cicero. Between 1387 and 1392 he had studied with the noted professor of rhetoric Giovanni Trevisi da Cremona at the University of Pavia. Barzizza lectured at the universities of Padua, Pavia, and Bologna. Between 1407 and 1421 he also taught students in Padua who boarded in his home, sometimes as many as 20 at once. Barzizza wanted to reform the medieval system of ars dictaminis (learning to write prose letters) by using the new epistolary texts, especially of Cicero. Although his teaching methods remained medieval, Barzizza’s enthusiasm for humanistic texts spread throughout much of Italy via his students.
After returning from Constantinople (see previous discussion), Guarino Guarini established humanistic schools in Florence and Venice. In 1418 he married a wealthy woman from Verona and moved with her back to her native city. His independent school founded there in 1419 was recognized the following year by the Commune of Verona, which gave him a five-year appointment at a generous salary of 150 gold ducats. This teaching contract awarded in 1420 was an important step in Latin education for the Renaissance. Ten years later Guarino was called to Ferrara, honored by an appointment as the tutor of Leonello d’Este (1407-50), who would later become lord (signore) of Ferrara in 1441. In 1442 Guarini was appointed as a professor at the University of Ferrara.
Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446) established his famous Casa Giocosa (House of Games or Merry House) at the court of Mantua. By its very name his school indicated that Vittorino incorporated recreational activities into his pedagogical precepts. Having learned Greek from Guarino Guarini in Venice, Vittorino taught in Padua and then established a school in Venice in 1423. That same year he accepted the invitation of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga
Education
(1395-1444), a condottiere (see chapter 7, on warfare) who governed Mantua and founded his humanistic school in the city. Selected poor children attended the Casa Giocosa alongside the Gonzaga children, including a few girls and children as young as four years old. There was no fee for the lessons. All students were trained to read, speak, and write in both Greek and Latin. The “games” referred to by the name of his school included physical exercise such as that mentioned earlier. More advanced students learned moral philosophy, especially that of the Stoics, and all the students were attentive to their religious duties of attending mass and confession. Other teachers were hired to teach the mathematical sciences, including astronomy.
By the 1430s students of Barzizza, Guarini, and Vittorino were opening schools of their own, taking over leadership of their cities, and, in several instances, marrying each other. Marguerita Gon-zaga, a student of Vittorino’s, married Leonello d’Este in 1435. Such marriages ensured that the humanistic legacy would be continued with their own children and those of others at court. Because the majority of students instructed by the first humanistic teachers were members of the powerful governing class, the new system of education rapidly began to replace that of the medieval curriculum.
Francesco Filelfo (1398-1481) is an example of the second generation of humanistic scholars. He studied with Barzizza between 1416 and 1417, then in 1420 went to Constantinople as secretary to the Venetian legation. There he studied Greek and married a Greek woman. Returning to Italy in 1427, Filelfo took with him some 40 manuscripts of ancient Greek texts that he labored to translate so that students would be able to read them in Latin. He was one of numerous students of early humanistic teachers who helped to change western Europe’s philosophy of education.
World History
