Lorenzo Valla
Lorenzo Valla entered the world in Rome around 1407. His father Luciave della Valla worked as a lawyer within the Papal Curia. This family background placed young Lorenzo at the heart of Church administration from birth. He attended classes taught by Leonardo Bruni and Giovanni Aurispa to learn Latin and Greek. Yet many scholars believe he was largely self-taught despite these lessons. In 1431, he took holy orders and became an ordained priest. That same year he tried to secure a position as apostolic secretary to China but failed. His network of contacts could not open that door for him.
Valla moved from Piacenza to Pavia where he obtained a professorship of eloquence. His time there grew uncomfortable after he attacked the Latin style of jurist Bartolus de Saxoferrato. He became itinerant moving from one university to another accepting short engagements. He lectured in many cities without finding permanent stability. Pope Nicholas V invited him to Rome in 1447. There Valla worked on his text Repastinatio. By 1455 he had become a papal secretary. He died in Rome on the 1st of August 1457. His original burial site lay beneath the bronze Lex de imperio Vespasiani behind the altar of Saint John Lateran.
Between 1439 and 1440 Valla wrote De falso credita et ementita Constantini Donatione declamatio. This essay analyzed the document known as the Donation of Constantine. The donation claimed Emperor Constantine I gave the entire Western Roman Empire to the Catholic Church. It stated this act was gratitude for being cured of leprosy by Pope Sylvester I. Valla demonstrated that internal evidence contradicted a fourth century origin. He noted the vernacular style dated to the eighth century instead. He argued Romans like Constantine would not have used words such as satrap. The Latin quality remained undeniably poor with constant tense switches between we have proclaimed and we decree. From 1435 to 1445 he served Alfonso V of Aragon during territorial conflicts with the Papal States. He faced trial before the Catholic Inquisition in 1444 but escaped imprisonment through Alfonso's intervention.
Valla made his contemporary reputation with two works: De Voluptate and De Elegantiis Latinae Linguae. Richard Claverhouse Jebb called De Elegantiis the highest level reached in critical study of Latin. His dialogue De Voluptate contrasted Stoic principles unfavorably with Epicurean tenets. He showed sympathy for natural appetites rather than stringent logic. A version from 1433 appeared under the title De vero bono. This work took an Epicurean approach to persuasion distinct from medieval scholastics. It focused on taking pleasure at the thought of the course which should be taken according to the rhetor. Danish rhetorician Christian Kock highlights this book for its modern relevance. Kock notes a similarity between Valla's thoughts on common sense and twentieth century ordinary language philosophy.
In his critical study of Jerome's Latin Vulgate Bible Valla questioned Church penance systems. He argued that penance rested on Jerome using paenitentia for Greek metanoia. Valla believed metanoia would have been more accurately translated as repentance. His work undermined doctrines regarding indulgences and was praised by later critics like Erasmus. He also produced Adnotationes in Novum Testamentum found by Erasmus in Leuven in 1504. Erasmus published it the following year after collating the New Testament text in 1447. The revised versions appeared throughout the 1450s. These textual choices directly challenged established Church practices on forgiveness and payment for sins.
Older biographies detail many literary disputes including one with Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini. This conflict took place after Valla settled in Rome. Extreme language characterized their exchange. Valla appears as quarrelsome combining humanistic elegance with critical wit and venom. He became an opponent of temporal power held by the Catholic Church. Bracciolini attacked Valla in Oratio in L. Vallam at the beginning of 1452. An early work titled Antidotum in Pogium addressed this controversy. It circulated independently under Emendationes in T. Livium where he criticized rivals Panormita and Facio. Their rivalry occurred within the court of Alfonso V. Despite his brilliance his reputation remained stained by these bitter public arguments.
Pope Gregory XIII destroyed Valla's tomb and epitaph in 1576 when removing bronze to Palazzo dei Conservatori. The pope was a staunch believer in the Donation of Constantine. Seyfried Rybisch last saw the original burial site in 1570. Today a memorial stands in the Lateran instead. Luther held a high opinion of Valla and his writings. Robert Bellarmine called him Luther's precursor. Erasmus stated no better guide existed for Latin grammar than Lorenzo Valla. His text De falso credita et ementita Constantini Donatione declamatio became popular among Protestants after formal publication in 1517. An English translation appeared for Thomas Cromwell in 1534. Collected editions published at Basel in 1540 and Venice in 1592 preserved his legacy. Elegantiae linguae Latinae reprinted nearly sixty times between 1471 and 1536.
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Common questions
When and where was Lorenzo Valla born?
Lorenzo Valla entered the world in Rome around 1407. His father Luciave della Valla worked as a lawyer within the Papal Curia.
What did Lorenzo Valla prove about the Donation of Constantine?
Valla demonstrated that internal evidence contradicted a fourth century origin for the document. He noted the vernacular style dated to the eighth century instead and argued Romans like Constantine would not have used words such as satrap.
How did Lorenzo Valla die and when did he pass away?
He died in Rome on the 1st of August 1457. His original burial site lay beneath the bronze Lex de imperio Vespasiani behind the altar of Saint John Lateran.
Which works established Lorenzo Valla's contemporary reputation?
Valla made his contemporary reputation with two works: De Voluptate and De Elegantiis Latinae Linguae. Richard Claverhouse Jebb called De Elegantiis the highest level reached in critical study of Latin.
Why did Pope Gregory XIII destroy Lorenzo Valla's tomb?
Pope Gregory XIII destroyed Valla's tomb and epitaph in 1576 when removing bronze to Palazzo dei Conservatori. The pope was a staunch believer in the Donation of Constantine.