Dictionary of Renaissance art

VALLA, LORENZO

(1405-1457)
Renaissance humanist and philosopher who in 1440 wroteThe Donation of Constantine, declaring an eighth-century document used by the papacy to support its claims to temporal power to be a forgery. Lorenzo was a student ofFlorentineChancellor Leonardo Bruni. In 1430, he accepted a lecturing position at the University of Pavia after his attempts to obtain employment in the papal court had failed. At Pavia he wrote hisDe voluptate(1431), composed as a discussion between Florentine humanists that criticizes Ciceronian Stoic ethics. An open letter he wrote in 1433 attacking a jurist and ridiculing Pavian jurisprudence forced him to leave the city. First he went to Milan and later Genoa, finally settling in Naples where he became secretary to King Alfonso I of Aragon. Aside from writingThe Donation of Constantinewhile in his service, he also published theDialecticae disputationesattackingAristotelianism. His skepticism toward the papacy and Christian philosophy led to charges of heresy. In 1448, in spite of the allegations, he was invited by PopeNicholas VtoRometo translate Greek texts. He died in Rome in 1457.

  1. valla, lorenzo—Valla Lorenzo Article by U. Benigni on the teachings of this Italian humanist dd Catholic Encyclopedia.Kevin Knight...Catholic encyclopedia
  2. valla, lorenzo—Italian humaniststrong active mainly in Romestrong and Naplesstrong often regarded as the ablest humanist scholar of the th century. He is remembered especially for his i...Historical Dictionary of Renaissance
  3. valla, lorenzo—Philosophy The of the Italian Renaissance....History of philosophy
  4. valla, lorenzo—Italian Renaissance humanist. Valla first exposed as a fraud the Donation of Constantine the document purporting to express the gift of the western empire to Pope Sylves...Philosophy dictionary