© 2016

ANNE MALTEMPI

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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SICILIANITÀ IN THE RENAISSANCE: SICILIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY IN THE

WRITINGS OF SICILIAN HUMANISTS TOMMASO SCHIFALDO AND LUCIO

MARINEO SICULO

A Thesis

Presented to

The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

Anne Maltempi

July, 2016

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SICILIANITÀ IN THE RENAISSANCE: SICILIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY IN THE

WRITINGS OF SICILIAN HUMANISTS TOMMASO SCHIFALDO AND LUCIO

MARINEO SICULO

Anne Maltempi

Thesis

Approved: Accepted:

Advisor Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Michael Levin Dr. John C. Green

Faculty Reader Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Martha Santos Dr. Chand Midha

Department Chair Date Dr. Martin Wainwright

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are many people to whom I owe a great deal of thanks, and all of my gratitude for helping me through the process of completing my Master’s degree in

History. First I would like to thank all of the professors in the History Department at the

University of Akron, I have learned so much from all of them. I would like to extend a special thanks to my advisor Dr. Michael Levin, and my second reader Dr. Martha Santos whose classes and encouragement have helped me grow as a scholar, and whose advice in revising and editing this manuscript were essential to the completion of this project. I would also like to thank my peers and colleagues who inspire me and help learn new things every day including Dr. Tom Weyant, Kathryn Mcdonald-Miranda, Nathaniel

Bassett, Suraj Lakshminarasimhan, Brittany Amiet, Kenneth Kosovich, Devaun Tyler, and so many others. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my close friends and family whose love and support has carried me through the last two years. I would like to thank my fiancée Daniel Hovatter for his kindness and consideration as I work toward my academic goals. I would also like to thank my four brothers Vince, Frank,

Danny, and Anthony who always taught me new ways of seeing the world. Additionally,

I would like to thank my grandmother Anna, and most especially my grandfather

Vincenzo Maltempi who instilled in me the love of culture, heritage, and history. Finally,

I would like to give the biggest thanks to my parents Salvatrice and Carlo Maltempi for their love, for always nurturing my dreams, and for giving me the courage to follow my heart.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………...... 1

Sicilianità: The Concept of Sicilian National Identity...... 19

II. TOMMASO SCHIFALDO AND THE SICILIAN SCHOOLS………………...... 22

Schifaldo and the Latin-Sicilian Vernacular..…...... 28

Professorship, Pedagogy, and Greek Tradition..…………………………...... 31

Schifaldo and Sicilian National Identity..………………………………...... 35

Schifaldo and the Spanish Crown…………………………...... 40

Conclusion……………..……………………………...... 41

III. LUCIO MARINEO SICULO: A SICILIAN HUMANIST IN SPAIN…………...... 43

The Importance of Language…………...………………………………...... 45

The Explanation of Origin: Rome and Sicily……………………………...... 52

History, Sicilian Hellenistic Scholasticism, and Sicilianità..……………...... 55

Sicilian Rebellion: The Vespers & the Construction of National Identity...... 62

The House of Aragon and Sicily: Siculo as an Agent of Spanish Empire &

Sicilianità...... 71

Conclusion: Siculo and Professorship…………………………………...... 73

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IV. CONCLUSION………………………………………………….…………………76

Tommaso Schifaldo…...…………...………………………………...... 77

Lucio Marineo Siculo………………….……………………………...... 79

Schifaldo and Siculo: Indicators of Sicilianità...……………………...... 83

BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………....87

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The Renaissance was a movement which permeated all of western Europe through the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. Throughout these several centuries Renaissance thought played a crucial role in the development of significant social, religious, and political change. Coupled with the thirst to return to the greatness of ancient Rome, those who participated, actively or inactively, in the Renaissance facilitated the rediscovery and rebirth of classical Greek and Roman scripts. This movement was shaped by a heavy influence of humanism as it moved from Italy, to

Spain, France, Germany, and England, taking on various national values and characteristics as it evolved. The effect of the renaissance in many of these countries has been studied thoroughly as the movement shifts and is shaped by the different national values in each country, which indicates a clear reciprocal relationship of influence between Renaissance values and national values.

In past scholarship some areas in Europe have been studied more than others.

Italy, the country where the Renaissance began, is an interesting case. Certainly, many scholars have thoroughly investigated the Renaissance in Florence—arguably the heart of

Renaissance culture—Venice, Rome, and Milan. However, there is little written on the

Italian South. It seems counterintuitive to believe that the Renaissance was relegated solely to Northern Italy if, eventually, it had the ability to spread across the English

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Channel. I seek to explore and understand what influences of the Renaissance are visible in the Italian South, specifically in Sicily, and how the Italian South in turn influenced the

Renaissance.

Within the vast and prolific archives of Italian Renaissance historiography very little can be found in regards to the Italian south, and there is an even greater dearth of sources on Sicily. Scholars have written extensively about Sicily within the historical record of the Middle Ages when Palermo was one of the most prestigious cities holding the court of Frederick II. Under the reign of Frederick II Sicily flourished in both wealth- seeking and national pursuits. The School of Sicilian Poetry established under Frederick

II was one of the most influential intellectual institutions of the period. The premiere form of poetics which would later be adopted by, Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), perhaps the greatest Renaissance writer, humanist, and philosopher, the sonnet, was originally written at the Sicilian School of Poetry by Jacopo da Lentino. However, after the Middle

Ages and after the Sicilian School of Poetry was moved to the North of Italy, there is very little historical exploration of the island until roughly the early 1700s.

It is imperative to fill this historiographical gap in order to understand how Sicily contributed to the Renaissance, and to further understand how Sicily functioned as part of the broader Spanish empire. Humanist philosophy which served as the prominent form of thought for most all Renaissance intellectual endeavors was thriving in Sicily in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This is evident in the works of two particular Sicilian humanists Lucio Marineo Siculo (1444-1533) and Tommaso Schifaldo (1430-1500?). I argue that through the works of Siculo and Schifaldo Sicilian humanism influenced

Spanish humanism and scholarship; therefore, as an export of the Spanish empire, 2

Sicilian scholasticism became an agent of the Spanish empire while simultaneously serving as an indicator of a distinct Sicilian national identity. There is clear evidence in the writings of both Lucio Marineo Siculo and Tommaso Schifaldo of the construction of a Sicilian national identity. It is precisely this construction of Sicilian national identity which I have termed Sicilianità.

The humanist movement in Renaissance Italy was primarily a movement of language which predicated itself upon the rediscovery of antiquity. Central to the rediscovery of the ancients was the revival of the greatness of ancient Rome, and understanding the works of men rather than the work of the divine. Man was at the center of study, and vernacular languages were being elevated as a means of disseminating this new work, and Latin was an elevated language, the language of the church and therefore of the Divine. As the humanists became more involved in rediscovering secular literary works including philosophical works Greek also became very important. Roman writers such as Cicero became incredibly important to the northern Italian humanist movement, as did Livy, Ovid, Seneca, and many others. As is stated by historian Anthony Grafton,

Italian Humanism’s main scholarly thrusts were “…a purified Latinity, a delight in the recovery of ancient classical texts, a concern for source criticism, a dialogical, sometimes ambiguous irony fueled by history, and an occasional propensity to take the posture of the iconoclastic outsider…”1.

It is necessary, then, to understand exactly what form did humanism take in

Sicily. In other words, what exactly makes Sicilian humanism, Sicilian? Historian David

1 Anthony Grafton, Glenn W. Most, Salvatore Settis, The Classical Tradition (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 465. 3

Abulafia berates previous historians for ignoring the Italian south as an innovator and contributor to Renaissance ideals. Abulafia writes, “…it is simply not the case that southern Italy and Sicily produced no native writers and artists of exceptional caliber…This, again, is evidence of historians’ obsession with Florence…”2. Indeed,

Sicily had a strong scholastic tradition stemming from its Greek heritage before it became of the Roman Empire, and it is through this scholastic tradition that ideals of Sicilian humanism are constructed. However, also actively shaping humanist thought in Sicily were the variety of ethnic groups found on the island. Sicily, located in the heart of the

Mediterranean Sea, was in various periods occupied by Normans, Greeks, Muslims,

Africans, Jews, Italians, Spaniards, and many other ethnicities. Abulafia explains, “…it

[Sicily] offered a point of contact between the medieval West and the learning of the

Greek and Arabic worlds, bringing to the attention of twelfth-century readers works as

Ptolemy’s Almagest and the Meno and Phaedo of Plato.”3 Thus, I argue that the Greek tradition which is traced through the works of Siculo and Schifaldo is a large part of what made humanist thought in the south of Italy innately Sicilian, in addition to the blended ethnic population present on the island who brought their own thoughts and ideas to the development of Sicilian intellectual thought.

Sicilian Humanism shared many similarities with northern Italian humanism; however, there are characteristics which distinguished the former from the latter. One trend, distinct from northern Italian humanism, found in Sicilian humanism is an interest in pedagogy and proper methods of teaching and learning. This interest in pedagogy, and

2 Ibid., 28.

3 Ibid., 28 4 in Hellenistic tradition, is easily traced and evident in the works of Tommaso Schifaldo.

In addition, Sicilian humanism relied much more heavily on their Greek predecessors, in contrast to the Romans. While the revival of Rome was still central to their writings the intellectual traditions utilized and employed by Sicilian humanists were that of a

Hellenistic tradition. The debate format of the previously mentioned first sonnets written by Jacopo da Lentino—the original sonnet was written in the form of posing an ethical question and then giving two answers which could potentially solve the moral dilemma— and the letters which comprise the beginning of Siculo’s work, Compuesta Por Lucio

Marineo Siculo…de Las Cosas Memorables de España, are evidence of this Greek tradition. Ethics and moralizing became central topics of debate for Southern Italian humanists.

Spanish humanism, also shared similarities and differences with both northern and southern Italian humanism. Spanish humanism differed from both northern and southern Italian humanism in that it took on a much more religious aspect. For example, one of the greatest works of the Spanish Renaissance was the Complutensian Polyglot

Bible, which included the Hebrew, Latin, and Greek translations of scripture side by side, and was complied in a project headed by Archbishop of Toledo Jimenez de Cisneros at the University of Alcalá in 1517. The Spanish humanists also sought to tie Spain to a

Roman past, but not an Italian Roman past rather a shared Roman past which spoke to the greatness of the Iberian civilization. However, certain Spanish humanists shared many of the same characteristics as the southern Italian humanists, and worked closely with many southern Italian humanists since the south of Italy belonged to the Kingdom of Aragon.

This allowed the Italian south and Spain to have national contact points with Naples and

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Palermo in particular. Certainly scholars from Sicily, such as Siculo, would often be brought to Spain as tutors by Spanish noblemen. In her book The Mendoza Family in the

Spanish Renaissance, historian Helen Nader speaks of Diego Mendoza whom she describes as “the most brilliant and cosmopolitan of all the Mendozas.”4 Diego Mendoza was a skilled humanist whose training was the result of fifteen years in Italy, and his association with Agostino Nifo a humanist from Naples.5 In addition, many of the writings of Antonio Nebrija—a prominent Spanish humanist and a colleague of Siculo at the University of Salamanca—were very much within linguistic and pedagogical themes similar to those seen in the work of Sicilian humanists such as Schifaldo.

Historian Jerry H. Bentley discusses the development of humanism in Naples in his book, Politics and Culture in Renaissance Naples. Bentley focuses specifically on how it was precisely the culture and the politics in Naples which form Neapolitan humanism. Bentley delineates the growth of humanism in Naples, and how Neapolitan humanism becomes incorporated into the humanism of the broader European

Renaissance. According to Bentley, Neapolitan culture shaped the fundamental ideas of humanism so profoundly that these national characteristics became a part of humanism as it spread across Europe, “…Neapolitan humanists contributed distinctive elements to the culture of Italian humanism and of Renaissance Europe in general.”6 In proving this argument Bentley implies that Naples played a crucial role in the formation of

4 Helen Nader, The Mendoza Family in the Spanish Renaissance (The Library of Iberian Resource Online: Accessed 6 May 2016), 200.

5 Ibid., 200.

6 Jerry H. Bentley, Politics and Culture in Renaissance Naples (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), ix. 6

Renaissance humanist thought, he also suggests that the South planted the seeds which would later blossom into “The Renaissance” which flourished then in Florence and spread across the whole of Europe. Bentley writes, “Naples and Southern Italy figured more or less prominently in the development of humanism from the earliest days of its history.”7 Bentley uses the example of Petrarch who chose Robert the Wise as the king to which to submit the reestablishment of the tradition of Poet Laureate. In addition, Bentley uses the example of Boccaccio who wrote the Decameron during his most productive years of writing which occurred while he was staying at the Neapolitan court.8

As Bentley traces the growth of humanism in Naples during this period he notes how the constant struggle over occupation of Naples between the French and the Spanish, influenced humanism. Bentley writes, “…having witnessed the collapse of the Aragonese dynasty of Naples and the contest between French and Spanish armies for Italian hegemony, the sixteenth century humanists devoted a great deal of attention to the theme of fortune and her effects in the world.”9 The recurrent motif of “Fortune” in Renaissance literature is pervasive and can be seen in writers such as Alberti and Machiavelli. Bentley then suggests that it is from the fighting over Naples—by the French and the Spanish that this theme is born. Clearly, this is evidence of Southern Italian influence on Renaissance literature as it is Neapolitan humanists from which the literary motif of fortune is born.

Literature scholar Joseph Tusiani focuses specifically on how the study of language and literature in the south of Italy influences the Italian Renaissance. Echoing

7 Ibid., 40.

8 Ibid., 40.

9 Ibid., 254. 7

Bentley’s argument in regards to Petrarch and Boccaccio looking to the south for literary inspiration Tusiani, in his book, The Age of Dante, studies the linguistic evolution from

Latin to Italian vernacular writing as he seeks to answer questions concerning the origins of the Italian language. Particularly Tusiani, focuses on how dialects influenced the creation of the Italian language. Tusiani argues that some of the greatest Latin poetry being written in the Middle Ages was coming from French troubadours. The emulation of the troubadour song was cultivated by Frederick II, who was holding court in Palermo.

Frederick II sought the stylistic beauty of Occitan verse, and thus the Sicilian monarch commissioned the building of the Sicilian School of Poetry.10 Frederick II was in love with the Provenҫal, he was also insistent upon the use of only Italian vernacular writing; therefore, in order to write such poetic verse it became necessary to create a formulaic dialect by which poetry could be taught and written. As Tusiani posits, “For this reason the Italian language, which was to come of age in Tuscany, was born in Sicily.”11

Tusiani argues further that while, at its inception, Sicilian poetry was to mimic the style and form of the troubadours of Provence, the poetry remains innately Sicilian, or as

Tusiani explains “The Sicilian School gives you the aura, not the passion, of the

Provenҫals. The passion is typically Sicilian…”12. As Tusiani continues to trace influences of the Sicilian School of Poetry into more modern works of poetry, it is evident that the poems of the original Sicilian authors had a profound effect on the

Northern Italian poets of the Renaissance. Tusiani affirms, “There would have been no

10 Joseph Tusiani, The Age of Dante, (New York: Baroque Press, 1974), xxi.

11 Ibid., xxi.

12 Ibid., xxii.

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Guittone d’Arezzo without a Jacopo da Lentini or a Giacomino Pugliese.”13 Some scholars credit Jacopo da Lentini for the concept of the Madonna, as well, a concept which is often linked to Dante and his description of Beatrice.14

However the subject of the influence the Renaissance had in Sicily and how Sicily in turn influenced the Renaissance has only been recently discussed by historians. In the book Between Saltwater and Holy Water: A History of Southern Italy, Tommaso Astarita focuses predominantly on the history of the Italian peninsula concentrating on the areas around the city of Naples and moving down into the Sicilian island; however, Astarita’s narrative focuses predominantly on Naples. Astarita presents a comprehensive and nationally enhanced analysis of Neapolitan economic, social, political, and religious history. Throughout his historical narrative Astarita succeeds at capturing the duality of

Southern Italian cities juxtaposing the beauty of these cities with their economic under development, and the outside perception of the Italian south as “backward”, or nationally stunted.15

Astarita asserts that he seeks to shed light on Southern Italy by demonstrating the vast national development of the South while simultaneously pointing to the areas of economic devastation, and failed political policies. In addition Astarita posits that many issues which arise in the Italian south must be understood from the struggles taking place within, and among, the region and its people; therefore, Astarita highlights the internal

13 Ibid., xxiii.

14 Ernest F. Langley, The Poetry of Giacomo Da Lentino: Sicilian Poet of the Thirteenth Century, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966), xxii.

15 Tommaso Astarita, Between Saltwater and Holy Water: A History of the Italian South (New York: Norton, 2005), 8-10. 9 struggle between costal/urban areas of the Italian south and the rural areas in the countryside and mountains. Astarita provides context to Bentley’s argument as he discusses the reasons for the perception of the Italian south—particularly Naples—by outsiders as backwards. Astarita argues that Naples while economically and often socially unstable became a flourishing center of politics and culture. Since Naples was one of the most populated cities of the early modern European world urban space became extremely important as a setting for which to display power. Astarita explains while this contributed to the beauty of Naples the dramatic rituals and contention with the Spanish crown, the common occurrence of violence, and plague in the city made Naples simultaneously a city of admiration and tragedy.16

Astarita, Bentley, and Tusiani, all point to different aspects of the intellectual culture which existed in the south of Italy during the Renaissance. Unfortunately, the intellectual traditions of the Italian south, and Sicily in particular, in this period are often overlooked; however, Siculo and Schifaldo serve as examples of the humanist tradition which was alive and well in Sicily during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The writings and traditions set by both Siculo and Schifaldo demonstrate the importance of

Sicilian scholasticism within the Italian humanist movement, and how elements of

Sicilian scholasticism infiltrated Spanish intellectual thought. This is particularly true for

Siculo, who would eventually hold the title of Chair of Humane Letters and Rhetoric at the University of Salamanca.

One of the most emphatic calls to understanding the role of the Italian south during the Renaissance comes from historian David Abulafia in his essay “The Diffusion

16 Ibid., 186-88. 10 of the Italian Renaissance: Southern Italy and Beyond” this contribution comprises the second chapter of the book Renaissance Historiography edited by Jonathan Woolfson.

Abulafia explains in this essay that one of his main concerns is to “…ask how the national life of Renaissance southern Italy related to that of the northern center.”17

Abulafia’s analysis is done through the careful study of southern Italian patronage patterns from the mid-1200s to the 1400s, and through this analysis Abulafia explains that, “…it is important to consider how far the south acted as a channel through which

Renaissance ideas reached lands further afield, most importantly (for dynastic reasons)

Spain and Hungary.”18 Since Sicily was ruled by the crown of Aragon it must be discussed within the context of a broader Iberian structure. Patronage patterns in Sicily opened through the Spanish court, made Sicilian humanism uniquely exportable to Spain.

This indicates the influence of Sicily in the spread of humanism to the broader whole of western Europe; therefore Sicilian contribution to the Renaissance cannot and should not be discounted.

As is further suggested by Abulafia, “What emerges is a sense that the south

Italian humanists engaged with fundamental ethical questions concerning the nature of the virtues (and the vices).”19 Abulafia cites the work of Italian historian Mario Santoro who suggests Giovanni Pontano, a humanist at the court of Naples, was the originator of some of the moral dilemmas suggested in Machiavelli’s The Prince, and the foundation

17 David Abulafia, “The Diffusion of the Italian Renaissance: Southern Italy and Beyond.” Renaissance Historiography, Jonathan Woolfson ed. (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005), 27.

18 Ibid., 27.

19 Ibid., 35.

11 for Pontano was laid by Antonio Beccadelli a historian and librarian for King Alfonso I.

Beccadelli was referred to as “Il Panormita” which was an old Italian term for a person from the city of Palermo.20 What Santoro and Abulafia allude to, and what I am suggesting, is that the Greek tradition filtered up the Italian peninsula, rather than only northern humanism filtering down to Sicily. This is not to suggest that northern Italian humanism was not important; however, there was an equally important intellectual tradition being propagated through the Kingdom of Naples which must be acknowledged.

Siculo’s work provides an excellent example of Sicilian Hellenistic training and application. Schifaldo’s work highlights the teaching of that tradition while placing a uniquely Sicilian linguistic veil over the scholarship itself.

While Siculo and Schifaldo were certainly students of the Sicilian schools and of

Sicilian humanism, it is necessary to better clarify the relationship between Spain and the south of Italy in order to understand how both men are exemplary figures of Sicilians humanist thought and culture while they simultaneously act as agents of Spanish empire.

A complicated series of events led Sicily to fall under the crown of Aragon; this began with the event often referred to as the “Sicilian Vespers” which took place on March 30,

1282. The Sicilian Vespers were a group of Sicilian rebels who were able to successfully drive out the Angevin monarch King Charles of Anjou and the rest of his French administrators from the island.21 Though the Sicilian Vespers served as an example of an incredibly important uprising—not only within the context of the Middle Ages, but an image of the rebellion which would once again be appropriated during the nineteenth

20 Ibid., 35-37.

21 Steven Runciman. The Sicilian Vespers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958), 258.

12 century as a symbol of Italian unification during the Risorgimento—it left Sicily independent, but isolated from economic trade relationships. This left Sicily economically crippled.

It took several Popes and a string of unsuccessful appointments to the Sicilian throne until Sicily officially fell under Aragonese rule in 1409. According to Astarita, at this point Sicily became part of a “…renewed Aragonese empire in the Western

Mediterranean.”22 However, the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily at this particular moment were still separate, with Naples ruled by the Angevin and Sicily ruled by Aragon. In

1416, Alfonso I of Aragon became King of Sicily. After the death of Joanna II Queen of

Naples, the city of Naples descended into war. King Alfonso was able to seize this opportunity, gain control of Naples, and ultimately united Naples and Sicily as one

Kingdom under Spanish rule.23 This unification of Naples and Sicily strengthened the two, once collapsing kingdoms, and became a nationally formidable part of the Iberian world.24

The subject of Spanish influence in Renaissance Italy has proven to be a topic of much historical debate. Often questions of just how much did Spain influence Italian culture are common and different historians assess Spanish political and national power in Italy in different ways. One of the first scholars to assess how influential Spain was in

Italian life during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was, Benedetto Croce who in

1922 published Italy Under Spanish Oppression. Croce suggests that during the

22 Tommaso Astarita, 60.

23 Ibid., 61.

24 Ibid., 60-62. 13

Renaissance Italy suffered under the tyrannical rule of the Spanish empire. Further, Croce argues that during the sixteenth and seventeenth century Spanish influence caused Italy to become a country of “decadence” as was Spain. It is pertinent to note that Croce writes in a way which vilifies Spanish power in Italy, and speaks of a negative Spanish legacy in

Italian history since he is one of the foremost historians of the Italian Risorgimento, a period of strong Italian nationalism and the period in which Italy would eventually unite as one nation (1860); thus, Croce views the dastardly Spaniards as evil oppressors of the great Italian nation. Il Risorgimento is also the period in which the “black legend” of

Spain is said to have originated in Italy, and was then continued and refined by the

English and the Dutch Protestants.

Historian Fernand Braudel in his famed collection from 1972 The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II echoes Croce’s assessment of

Spanish domination in Renaissance Italy stating that the union between Italy and Spain was “sealed” in 1559. The year 1559 referenced by Braudel here is of critical importance to the relationship between Spain and Italy. In 1559 the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrèsis was signed ending the Habsburg-Valois War, and in the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrèsis France formerly renounced any dynastic claims to Italy. Braudel goes on to claim that Spanish domination over Italy would continue at least through the next century. Braudel calls this period of Spanish domination in Italy the pax hispanica.25

Recently, however, historians have questioned the strength of Spanish

“domination” in Italy during the early modern period. For example, historian Michael

25 Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (Irvine: University of California Press, 1995). 14

Levin argues that through the writings of Spanish resident ambassadors in the Papal

States and Venice during the sixteenth century it is evident that Spanish hegemony is, in the view of the Spanish themselves, “contingent and often contested.”26 Levin points to the fearful and uncertain tone Spanish ambassadors often used in their communications in regards to the maintenance of Spanish power in the Italian peninsula. Through the linguistic analysis of these letters Levin points to the concern of Spanish ambassadors over Italian novedades (novelties, changes, or upsets).27 Spanish concern over Italian novedades is indicative of the lack of confidence they had in the pax hispanica; therefore, we cannot be confident in is existence.28 Levin makes this argument clear, and adds examples of Italian subversions of Spanish power which occurred regularly to solidify his point.

Historian John Marino, adds to the discourse of the presumed power of Spanish rule in Italy, in his book Becoming Neapolitan: Citizen Culture in Baroque Naples. In his book Marino concentrates on the Italian south, and focuses specifically on the formation of Neapolitan citizen identity through civic and public rituals during the Spanish viceroyalty from the early sixteenth century to 1701. Marino traces the formation of

Neapolitan citizen identity through five themes: “The Cult of Saints”, “The Architecture of Devotion”, “Spanish Good Government”, “The Coming Millennium”, and “Civic

Humanism and Court Society.” Marino explains how in Naples religious and political culture were combined as a means of reinforcing Spanish hegemony. For example

26 Michael Levin, Agents of Empire: Spanish Ambassadors in Sixteenth-Century Italy (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005), 12.

27 Ibid., 11.

28 Ibid., 1-12. 15

Marino explains how the three most important feasts in Naples—the feast of San

Gennaro, the feast of San Giovanni, and Corpus Christi—because of where they fell on the calendar coincided with many secular Spanish monarchical ceremonies. Thus they were incorporated into societal ritual practice as a means of disseminating Spanish power to the Neapolitan lower classes.

Marino breaks down Neapolitan citizens by class as he looks at how each class functioned in a different way in the creation of a Neapolitan citizen identity. Marino argues that often the elite classes of Naples would side with the Spanish crown as a means of maintaining power, and keeping it from the poor. However, in the end Marino argues that as the Spanish empire began to crumble by the end of the seventeenth century and the rituals established by the Spanish crown and the Neapolitan elites held no meaning of Spanish power for the popolo (the lower classes, plebiscites). Thus, the intended symbolic power of Spanish hegemony dissipated, and the religious rituals became simply Neapolitan infused with some forms of Aragonese court tradition.29

Historian Francesco Benigno assesses Spanish power specifically in Sicily in his essay “Integration and Conflict in Spanish Sicily.” Benigno explains that he is concerned with integration and conflict but not as contrasting categories. Rather, for Benigno integration refers to those instances of Sicilian participation in the construction of the monarchy of Charles V, while conflict refers to the complex contrasts and tensions within

Sicilian society. Much like Astarita, Benigno pays close attention to center-periphery relations and the permeability of those two spheres.

29 John A. Marino, Becoming Neapolitan: Citizen Culture in Baroque Naples, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011). 16

Benigno seeks to delineate the characteristics of Sicilian participation in the

Castilian monarchy, explain the causes of Sicily’s consensus with Spanish Habsburg political policy, and isolate the causes of tension in the seventeenth century which led to revolts in Naples (1647-48) and Messina (1674-78). In the end Benigno argues that rampant expansion of Spanish fiscal policy combined with a lack of Sicilian representation—due to the earlier Aragonese disbanding of the Sicilian parliament—led to open revolt. Benigno’s broader point is that Spanish institutions could often complicate one another, and at times, remove power from the monarch.30 Thus, the Spanish court and vice royal political structure in Sicily in the seventeenth century was not successful, and though they tried to further Spanish agendas, Spanish control in Sicily was more contingent as Michael Levin suggested it was in Venice and Rome in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

While Levin’s main argument is that we should not be confident in the pax hispanica because the Spanish themselves were not confident in it, the book in its entirety does more than question the dominance of Spanish hegemony in Italy. Through his main argument Levin also points to how perceived Spanish weakness in Venice and Rome is indicative of weakness throughout the Habsburg Empire. Levin argues that because

Venetians and the Papacy often defied Spanish power that Spanish-Italian relations serve as a microcosm of the Habsburg struggle for hegemony in early modern Europe. In addition, Levin argues that Spanish rule in Italy during the sixteenth century did not assimilate Italians in to Spanish culture but instead sharpened the characteristics of national identity of both. While historians often question the existence of Italian national

30 Francesco Benigno, “Integration and Conflict in Spanish Sicily”, Spain in Italy: Politics, Society, and Religion 1500-1700, ed. Thomas James Dandelet and John Marino (Leiden: Brill Publishing, 2007), 23-44. 17 identity during the early modern period, there is evidence of Italianità in the works of

Italian Renaissance writers such as Machiavelli and Guicciardini. Levin explains that

Spanish imperialism in Italy helped crystallize both nations’ national identities, as they defined themselves in opposition to one another.

In the works of Siculo and Schifaldo there is certainly evidence that points to the recognition of a Sicilian national identity. This becomes immediately traceable in

Siculo’s work since he is in direct contact with other Spanish intellectuals at the

University of Salamanca. The fact that Siculo is not Spanish also becomes a point of contention with his colleague Antonio Nebrija, which again emphasizes Siculo’s national identity. Schifaldo’s national identity, while perhaps manifests in ways which are more subdued, predominantly because he never left the city of Messina, is still very much a

Sicilian identity. I will trace in further detail the Sicilian national identity of both Siculo and Schifaldo as I analyze their original writings.

In the subsequent chapters, analyzing the writings of both Siculo and Schifaldo I will highlight four specific themes of particular interest. These four themes are: the ideals of professorship, the glorifying of vernacular writing, the importance of Greek mythology and philosophy, and a palpable sense of Sicilian national identity which is present within each man’s work. Found in the writing of Siculo the themes of Greek influence and of

Sicilian National identity are more readily traceable. In the writings of Schifaldo there is more discussion on professorship, as well as a clear sense of Sicilian national identity; however, in the work of both Siculo and Schifaldo language becomes an indispensable tool. Schifaldo who pre-dated Siculo by several years establishes the Sicilian humanist tradition, while Siculo serves as the manifestation of that tradition. In exploring these 18 four themes, I will show that there is—not only a diverse form of humanism that is innately Sicilian—but, Sicilian humanism heavily influences the Spanish humanist circles, and therefore, the Spanish empire.

Sicilianità: The Concept of Sicilian National Identity

Before I begin my analysis I wish to clarify my conceptualizations of Sicilianità and Sicilian national identity. The island of Sicily in the fifteenth and sixteenth century was not a “nation-state”, in fact, Sicily was not even its own city-state such as Venice and

Florence. As part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the island was technically tied to the southern Kingdom of Naples, though until the rise of King Alfonso I of Aragon, politically Sicily often operated as an independent part of the Kingdom. Therefore, the national identity I am referring to is not one tied to the concept of the nation-state.31

Rather, the concept of national identity in the case of quattrocento and cinquecento Sicily is a regional manifestation. This regional qualification of the Italian state has been previously discussed in reference to the established Italian city-states.32

Differences in the island’s cultural makeup existed politically, geographically, and socially from the rest of the Italian peninsula for centuries. The Vespers serves as an example of the distinct political atmosphere in Sicily which broke Sicilians away from the dominant Anjou monarchy of the Southern Kingdom during the Middle Ages, and

31 Benedict Andersen, Imagined Communities, (London: Verso, 2006).

32 Julius Kirshner ed. The Origins of the State in Italy 1300-1600, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009). Here Kirshner acknowledges while Italian states were regional states which consolidated power, they lacked autonomy and modern notions of sovereignty. 19 petitioning to the Pope for a monarch of their choosing, is demonstrative of Sicilian agency. Sicily’s proximity to Greece and the legacy left on the island by Magna Graecia forged its unique Hellenistic heritage. Analyzing Sicily in this way also complicates accepted historical views of national identity, in that it indicates the construction of a

“national identity” which pre-dates the modern nation-state. As historian Patrick Geary suggested in, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe, we cannot project the concept of the modern nation-state nor of modern national identity on to the ancient world, and I would add on to the early modern world.33 Further, Sicily as a space complicates accepted paradigms of national identity as it falls under, not only a European sphere of influence, but also under an African and Middle Eastern sphere of influence as it rests in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, strictly European conceptualizations of national identity are innately flawed for such a space. However, there is no question that through the writings of Siculo and Schifaldo there is an undeniable Sicilianità which permeates their work. Most important, is the very fact the Sicilian humanists are claiming

Sicilianità for themselves.

Within the writings of Siculo and Schifaldo, both Sicilian humanists define a clear sense of what it means to be Sicilian, why the island of Sicily is distinct from Italy and

Greece, and how cultural traditions, political institutions, and social mores differ from other Mediterranean ethnic groups. Therefore, Schifaldo and Siculo are claiming a nationhood, a patria, and a name for “their people.” Thus, the national identity of

Sicilians is indicated by these factors of Sicilianità. Playing with the concept of Italianità as discussed by northern Renaissance humanists such as Machiavelli and Guicciardini,

33 Patrick Geary, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), 19. 20

Siculo and Schifaldo presented clear evidence of the cultural construct of “Sicilian-ness” this is what I mean when discussing the concept of Sicilianità. To be clear, Sicilianità is not a term which was ever employed by either Siculo or Schifaldo. I have chosen to term the elements of Sicilian national identity with Sicilianità because the elements of nationhood invoked by Machiavelli’s Italianità are the same as those invoked by Siculo and Schifaldo. Sicilianità, is my term for, the cultural, intellectual, political, social, geographical, historical, and linguistic semblance of Sicilian nationhood. Therefore, through the writings of Siculo and Schifaldo I argue that there is undoubtedly a sense of

Sicilian national identity during the Renaissance as much as there was a Florentine,

Venetian, Lombard, or Neapolitan identity. Further, Sicilianità contributed to the

Renaissance and to the growth of humanism in meaningful and important ways.

21

CHAPTER II

TOMMASO SCHIFALDO AND THE SICILIAN SCHOOLS

Intellectual pursuits and the thirst for knowledge were of the utmost importance in fifteenth and sixteenth century Sicily, and Sicilian intellectual history has not been well documented through the existing historical record. There were thriving academies for learning Latin and Greek in Sicily during the Renaissance, such as the gymnasium

Graecum established in Messina in 1421 and the magister scholae parvulorum established in Palermo in 1458.34 Some of the most influential instructors of the

Renaissance—particularly in regards to humanist pursuits—were Sicilian such as

Costantino Lascaris and Giovanni Naso da Corleone.35 It is precisely within this rich intellectual tradition developed through Sicilian humanism that the writings of Lucio

Marineo Siculo and Tommaso Schifaldo are placed. Both are Sicilian humanists and both are concerned with ideals of “professorship” and teaching human letters, much of which entails teaching and utilizing vernacular languages. Above all, captured in the writings of both scholars is a sense of Sicilianità (a distinct construction of Sicilian national identity).

In this chapter I will delve into the intellectual traditions in which Siculo and

Schifaldo were trained, and demonstrate how within the writings of Schifaldo there is

34 Caro Lynn, A College Professor of the Renaissance: Lucio Marineo Siculo Among the Spanish Humanists, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1937), 45.

35 Ibid., 1-45. 22 evidence of Sicilian humanistic principles of education and professorship. The writings and traditions set by both Siculo and Schifaldo also demonstrate the importance of

Sicilian scholasticism within the Italian humanist movement. Tracing the themes of the ideals of professorship, the glorifying of vernacular writing, the importance of Greek mythology and philosophy, and evidence of Sicilian national identity, the writings of

Tommaso Schifaldo will be the main subject of discussion in this chapter since he was himself a professor in the Sicilian schools. Going further, through the writings of

Schifaldo, I suggest that the Sicilian Renaissance had a significant impact on the Spanish

Renaissance—while the influence of Schifaldo on Spanish humanism is not direct which differs from Siculo who taught in Spain—Schifaldo, being a professor, propagates the tradition of Sicilian humanism and scholasticism in a way which is equally important to the intellectual movements of the northern Italian city-states. While it is certainly true that the northern Italian cities such as Florence, Venice, and Rome were undoubtedly indelibly influential to the Renaissance, patronage patterns open to the south through the

Spanish court, made Sicilian humanism uniquely exportable to the Iberian world.

In order to understand the writing of Schifaldo, and Siculo subsequently, it is first necessary to understand how the Sicilian scholastic system was organized during their lifetimes. It is also necessary to show how the Spanish monarchy played a role in its development, while underscoring its Hellenistic tradition. King Alfonso I contributed to the development of Sicilian scholasticism when he established the first university in

Sicily. Tommaso Schifaldo and Lucio Marineo Siculo were trained in this scholastic environment, and its influence is clearly felt in their writing. During the life times of both

Siculo and Schifaldo the most important centers for learning in Sicily were,

23 unsurprisingly, in the three largest and most economically sound cities of the island:

Catania, Palermo, and Messina. Catania was the first city in Sicily to establish a university. When Alfonso I (the Magnanimous) became King of Aragon, Castile,

Sardinia, and Sicily in 1416 he moved the capital of Sicily from Catania to Palermo. As a means of compensating the city of Catania for its lost title of Capital City—and after he sought further territorial ambitions resulting in the acquisition of Naples in 1443—

Alfonso and Pope Eugenius IV issued the bull to authorize the opening of the University of Catania, which officially opened its doors in October of 1445.36 Until the opening of the University of Catania the vast majority of learning in Sicily was done through small academies, such as the aforementioned gymnasium Graecum and the magister scholae parvulorum.

It is evident that there was a clear necessity for a Sicilian university since,

“Catania and other Sicilian communities had been giving their young men subsidies to study at mainland universities; a local university would make this unnecessary.”37 In addition, it is relevant to note that the need to provide subsidies for young men in Sicily to study on the mainland is indicative of the fact that interest in the study of human letters was indeed present in Sicily. While the University of Catania remained small, and thrived particularly in the fields of law, medicine, and rhetoric, its very existence and establishment serve as evidence that there was a development and active cultivation of

Sicilian scholarship. Nearly all of the professors who were employed at the University of

36 Paul F. Grendler, The Universities of the Italian Renaissance (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002), 106.

37 Ibid., 106.

24

Catania were Sicilian and they catered to an almost entirely Sicilian student body.38 The

University of Catania would go on to be of seminal importance in the training and professional life of Lucio Marineo Siculo.

The city of Palermo, unlike the cities of Catania and Messina, did not have its own university until the early 1800s. However, during the Renaissance Palermo was still highly influential in terms of education. The papal bull issued to the city of Catania stipulated that as part of their studium generale they would have to have classes dedicated to the studies of Greek and Latin; however—for unknown circumstances—these classes and faculties do not appear in any of the documents referring to the faculties of study in the University of Catania.39 In Palermo, with the establishment of the magister scholae parvulorum in 1458 which was a citywide establishment of public grammar schools for boys, the city officials assured that four times the regular stipend of a professor of arithmetic would be paid to a professor of humane letters, and this professor’s rank and title would be magister scholarum.40

The fervor for the vast study of Greek and Latin in Palermo is perhaps partially due to the great influence of Dominican monks who were easily found roaming the city; however, the tradition of Greek scholasticism runs deep in the history of Sicily from before the days of the Roman Empire when Sicily was Greek speaking and part of the

Hellenistic world. There were also two professors in Palermo in the 1470s Jacopo

Mirabella, and Giovanni Naso da Corleone who garnered acclaim throughout the island

38 Ibid., 107.

39 Caro Lynn, 45.

40 Ibid., 45. 25 of Sicily for their learned ways in Greek and Latin. Giovanni Naso became particularly well known as an instructor of Greek and was made the Magister Scholarum of Palermo in 1477.41 When Siculo learned of Naso’s accomplishments as an instructor of Greek he traveled from Catania to Palermo to work with the great master of the Greek language.

The University of Messina was established nearly 150 years after the University of Catania. To be exact, the University of Messina opened its doors in December of 1596; however, similar to Palermo, before the University of Messina opened its doors, the city was a thriving environment of intellectuals and humanists dedicated to the study and pursuit of Greek and Latin, as well as the study of humane letters. The Society of Jesus, an order of Jesuits—again as was the model of the Dominicans in Palermo—provided the first communal scholastic system in Messina.42 Moving through the fifteenth century, however, Messina became a well known center for the study of Greek in particular, as was previously mentioned by David Abulafia. Much of this reputation, in the city of

Messina specifically, was a result of the famed professor Costantino Lascari, a scholar of

Byzantine descent who taught courses in Greek language and literature in Messina, where he settled in 1466.43

Lascari, or Lascris as he is more commonly referred to, influenced many other

Sicilian scholars and humanists such as Pietro Faraone and Tommaso Schifaldo who shall subsequently be discussed in further detail. Aldus Manutius, the Venetian founder of the

41 Ibid., 46.

42 Paul F. Grendler, 121-22.

43 Alessandra Tramontana, L’eredità di Costantino Lascari a Messina Nel Primo ‘500 (Messina: Università Degli Studi di Messina, 2011), 124. (my translation). 26

Aldine Press, acknowledged that Messina was “the second Athens for those who study

Greek.”44 Aldus Manutius was arguably the most prolific publisher of the Renaissance, his acknowledgement of Messina as the “second Athens” is incredibly important, and lends credence to the argument that humanism was alive, well, and thriving on the

Mediterranean island. It is also worth noting, that the first book printed by the Aldine press was the Grammatica Greca by Costantino Lascaris in 1495.45 Thus, not only does this lend credence to Sicily as an incredibly important center for the study of Greek, but this also shows the significance of the work of Costantino Lascaris and the importance of his Greek grammar book outside of Sicily itself.

Tommaso Schifaldo was particularly influenced by the intellectual environment in

Messina; though Lucio Marineo Siculo was also highly influenced by the teachings of

Costantino Lascaris, geographically Siculo stayed more within the bounds of Palermo and more so in Catania until, of course, he left in 1484 to accept a professorship at the

University of Salamanca in Spain.46 There is much less known about the life of Tommaso

Schifaldo, and there is no evidence to suggest that Siculo and Schifaldo knew each other in any way. Schifaldo was born in the city of Marsala located in the province of Trapani, on the western corner of Sicily in 1430. No one is certain when he died, but the last recorded documents of his life are from 1500.47 Based on the subject of his writings it appears that Schifaldo was a professor on the proper readings of Perseus. Schifaldo’s

44 Ibid., 124. (my translation).

45 Ibid., 125. (my translation).

46 Caro Lynn, 58-60.

47 Alessandra Tramontana, In Sicilia a Scuola con Persio: Le Lezioni Dell’Umanista Tommaso Schifaldo, (Firenze: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, 2000), 8-9. 27 writings are important because, they provide evidence that his work is that of a humanist endeavor, since Schifaldo is teaching secular Greek mythology. The language utilized by

Schifaldo also speaks to humanist endeavors. While his lessons are written in Latin, they are not classical Latin and seem to be instead a mix of Latin and a form of Sicilian dialect.48 This is evidence of the humanist movement and its inclination to give importance to vernacular language.

Schifaldo and the Latin-Sicilian Vernacular

Themes of pedagogy and professorship are captured within the writings of

Tommaso Schifaldo. The topic of teaching the Greek myth of Perseus ties into the

Sicilian tradition of Hellenistic scholarship. This particular collection on the teachings of the Greek myth of Perseus by Schifaldo is titled Commentarioli in Persium. The collection is divided in to two chapters of story-like sections which indicate that they are

Schifaldo’s teaching notes and lessons but structured into small vignettes, and the third section is a type of glossary or dictionary which breaks down the etymologies of terms and is combined with a history of the literature discussed in the previous sections.49 In the first two chapters of Commentarioli in Persium Schifaldo goes line by line in explaining various Roman interpretations of the Greek myth of Perseus. Schifaldo then, sets his interpretation apart creating the dual-sided vignette of each lesson. Schifaldo’s interpretations differed slightly as he claimed that the Romans misunderstood the

48Ibid., 9.

49 Alessandra Tramontana, “Commentarioli in Persium” In Sicilia a Scuola con Persio: Le Lezioni Dell’Umanista Tommaso Schifaldo, (Firenze: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, 2000). Published in Tramontana. (My translation). 28 intentions behind the Greek myth. Thus, Schifaldo linked his interpretation of Perseus with the Hellenistic tradition emphasized in Sicilian scholasticism. In Schifaldo’s methodology of disproving the Roman readings of Perseus he established a scholastic tradition of reading the myth which was distinctly Sicilian. This is evident of Schifaldo’s

Sicilianità which is evident in Sicilian scholastic tradition, and in many other forums.

Sicilianità is also present in the very language Schifaldo utilized in order to write

Commentarioli in Persium. While Schifaldo’s lessons are written in Latin, they are not classical Latin; but rather, a mix of Latin and a form of Sicilian dialect. It is interesting that Schifaldo would choose to do this. Certainly a return to the vernacular is a humanist ideal; however, in employing Sicilian dialect Schifaldo is trying to elevate the Sicilian language itself to a form acceptable in a scholastic setting. In placing the importance of

Sicilian on the same level as Latin Schifaldo is placing Sicilian dialect within the vernacular of the scholastic elite.

In the notes Schifaldo made in Commentarioli in Persium, there were several times when he references a “codex” by a scholar named Giacomo Adragna in order to interpret the Latin roots of Persues through his Sicilian blended Latin. Adragna often appears in Schifaldo’s notes followed by the title “il Palermitano” next to his name, indicating he is from Palermo.50 Schifaldo using Adragna’s apparent methodology lends credence to, not only Sicilian scholastic training and tradition, but also of prior Sicilian-

Latin blended translations. While, Commentarioli in Persium gives no indication of whether Schifaldo and Adragna had any personal contact at the very least Schifaldo appears to be familiar with Adragna’s work. In addition, this is evidence that this form of

50 Ibid., 21 (my translation).

29 blended languages was not just an experimental endeavor by Schifaldo, but was being employed by at least one more Sicilian scholar, and I would argue many other Sicilian scholars were dabbling in the same sort of linguistic play; therefore, this is one indicator of a Sicilian humanism blossoming on the island and Sicilian humanism is in turn an indicator of Sicilianità.

Schifaldo’s linguistic analysis is equally as fascinating as his writing style.

Schifaldo is reading Perseus, which he notes as a Roman satire in Greek literary form.

Thus, Schifaldo expounds upon whether the origin of the satire is originally Roman or

Greek.51 For Schifaldo, selections of Greek mythology are perfectly “natural” and

“fundamental” for Latin writers to take and place in Latin literary forms.52 According to literary historian Alessandra Tramontana, “Sicilian humanists did not view themselves as nationally detached from their Greek ancestry; therefore, it makes perfect sense that a

Sicilian humanist like Schifaldo would find Greek literary tropes in Latin literary forms such a natural occurring phenomenon.”53 The interlacing of Greek and Roman tradition is very common in Sicilian humanist methodology and thought. This Greco-Roman framework permeates all of Schifaldo’s work and will be evident in Lucio Marineo

Siculo’s work as well. This Greco-Roman methodology is also deeply interwoven in

Schifaldo’s notes on pedagogy, and professorship found in Commentarioli in Persium.

51 Ibid., 27 (my translation).

52 Ibid., 28 (my translation).

53 Tramontana., 32 (my translation).

30

Professorship, Pedagogy, and Greek Tradition

As was previously explained, Schifaldo structured his lessons in a story-like manner through which he elucidated basic facts, for example he explained the character of Perseus and what his role was in the narrative, and from time to time Schifaldo would stop to provide definitions of particular terms. For example, underneath the word nimpha,

Latin for nymph, Schifaldo writes “G. nymphs are attracted by water.”54 The “G.” at the beginning underscores Graecum, referencing the Greek origin of the word. Schifaldo constructs his lessons on Perseus in Commentarioli in Persium within the Greco-Roman framework explained in the previous section. At the beginning of his lesson on Perseus

Schifaldo discusses the art of Roman satire, which again, he quickly tied back to Greek tradition. Schifaldo argued that the Roman satires were written so that “the metric structure is that of the Romans, but the ideals are Greek.”55 Schifaldo goes further stating that “the satire of the Romans could only be born from Greek comedy.”56 Schifaldo’s interpretation of the historical origins of the literary genre of Perseus is indicative of how he viewed Sicilian national identity. The stressing of the greatness of the Hellenistic tradition, speaks to Schifaldo’s identifying with a Hellenistic past rather than a Roman past. This becomes more evident later in his work, and I shall discuss it in further detail when discussing Schifaldo’s writings as evidence of Sicilianità.

In addition, Schifaldo believed that literature and history should be written in a way which was glorifying antiquity and ancient tradition, but they should simultaneously

54 “Commentarioli in Persium”, Published in Tramontana, 66. (My translation).

55 Ibid., 67 (my translation).

56 Ibid., 67 (my translation). 31 be moralistic and didactic. For Schifaldo the purpose of understanding these ancient texts should be to impart ethical lessons. Teaching Perseus in a way which is didactic and provides answers to moral dilemmas is suggested by the structure of Commentarioli in

Persium. The vignettes in which Schifaldo’s lessons were organized are done by having each story placed in opposition to the consecutive story. Both of the stories form one unit which provided two opposing sides of a moral dilemma. This form is one of a Sicilian

Hellenistic tradition, which will be repeated by Siculo, and which was also employed by

Jacopo da Lentino in the writing of the first sonnet nearly two hundred years prior to

Schifaldo and Siculo. This form permeating Sicilian humanists, whether they are scholars of literature, history, or philosophy, is evidence of a persisting Hellenistic methodology and pedagogical form carried through Sicilian scholasticism.

Indeed, for Schifaldo scholars and professors in order to be successful must morally and ethically challenge their students as a means of strengthening logic and reason. For example, in his lessons on teaching Perseus, Schifaldo referred to Aristotle’s

On the Soul in order to explain how pupils must understand knowledge and the purpose of knowledge. Schifaldo particularly referenced the section where Aristotle expounded upon how the understanding of the Soul helps find truth, and how the Soul is the beginning of life. Schifaldo explained that, “as many philosophers such as Aristotle have pointed to the soul as the center of life, so has man been placed at the center of knowledge.”57 This argument posed by Schifaldo is exemplary in showing the blend of northern and southern Italian humanist ideals. This is not only indicative of a southern

Hellenistic tradition and calls upon ancient Greek works in order to provide a

57 Ibid., 92 (my translation). 32 pedagogical map for learning, but it centers man as the object of study rather than God which is a core concept in Renaissance humanist philosophy.

Greek scholastic tradition studied within a Roman forum is without a doubt a hallmark of Sicilian humanism. This is not surprising given that Sicily was considered part of the Hellenistic world, and only came under the rule of the Roman Empire after the

Punic Wars (264-146 BC). However, it is evident that this Hellenistic tradition was maintained through the Sicilian scholastic system. As David Abulafia notes, Sicilian humanists particularly instructors of Greek, were important both on the island and abroad. There is no shortage of examples, “Giovanni Aurispa di Noto (d. 1459) was a pioneer who taught Greek in Bologna, Florence, and Ferrara.”58

It is also important to note that Hellenistic tradition—while certainly present and heavily influential throughout Sicily—was particularly strong on the eastern side of the island with the scholastic center being the city of Messina. The previously mentioned

Costantino Lascaris settled in Messina, and was one of the most influential professors of

Greek, whose expertise were sought by humanists from all over Europe.59 Aldus

Manutius himself acknowledged the importance of Messina in the study and learning of

Greek, and first published the Greek Grammar book of Lascaris. In addition, during the first Punic War, which ended in 241 BC, the western side of Sicily containing the city of

Palermo and in the east the city of Catania fell under Roman control. The city of Messina,

58 David Abulafia, “The Diffusion of the Italian Renaissance: Southern Italy and Beyond.” Renaissance Historiography, Jonathan Woolfson ed. (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005), 46.

59 Alessandra Tramontana, L’eredità di Costantino Lascari a Messina Nel Primo ‘500 (Messina: Università Degli Studi di Messina, 2011), (my translation).

33 in the far eastern corner of Sicily, was not fully under Roman control until the second

Punic War. As historians Jonathan Prag and Josephine Quinn argue in their book The

Hellenistic West, “The difference in fortune between war-ravaged central and western

Sicily, after the first Punic War, incorporated under Rome’s sway after 241 BC, and the stability and prosperity of the flourishing eastern part of the island, which formed

Hieron’s independent kingdom was stark.”60 Prag and Quinn even go further arguing that

Roman national tradition was quite minimal in influencing the existing Sicilian culture.61

While these events certainly unfolded long before the birth of Schifaldo they provide context for the development and maintenance of Hellenistic tradition in Sicily, and more importantly demonstrate why Messina was such an important center of the learning of

Greek and the Hellenistic tradition.

Tommaso Schifaldo is an example of a Sicilian humanist who provides evidence of the active intellectual, humanist community of educators that existed in Sicily through the 1400s and 1500s. Siculo will later serve as an example of the exportation of Sicilian training and humanism. It is imperative to recognize that the Hellenistic tradition was maintained in Sicily and blended with different Italian, Hebrew, Arabic, and a variety of other national influences which led to a hybrid and uniquely Sicilian scholastic tradition.

As scholars argue in the book Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century, “If Sicily was such a favorable place, it was not only because the chancery was trilingual, but because intercourse with the Byzantines was uninterrupted. In such places, a man brought up in the Latin West could learn Greek; only rarely was it possible to study Greek with a

60 Jonathan R. W. Prag and Josephine Crawely Quinn, The Hellenistic West, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 79.

61 Ibid., 79. 34 master in France or England.”62 It is evident through Schifaldo’s writing that Latin and

Greek elements were incorporated in the Sicilian scholastic system, and these methods of teaching were maintained through the invasion and the assimilation of Sicily in to the

Roman Empire, and then persisted through the Renaissance. In the Renaissance, with new intellectual interest in the ancients growing, Sicily contributed through the continued study and teaching of Hellenistic tradition. It is through this maintained Hellenistic scholastic tradition that the intellectual environment in Sicily lent itself to the study, understanding, and development of Sicilianità.

Schifaldo and Sicilian National Identity

All of Schifaldo’s writing in Commentarioli in Persium speaks to a clear sense of a Sicilian national identity that is neither Italian, Iberian, Roman, nor purely Greek.

While a heavy emphasis on Hellenistic principles and traditions differentiates Sicilian humanism and scholasticism from northern Italian humanism, Sicilian thought is the product of national blending; therefore it cannot be fully Greek in nature. However, the ancient Greeks are very much revered and Greek influence is the most heavily felt presence when it comes to understanding the construction of early modern Sicilian national identity.

Certainly the elevation of Sicilian dialect and the blending of Sicilian dialect with

Latin is a clear indication that Schifaldo believes in the strength and integrity of Sicilian

62 Robert Louis Benson, Giles Constable, et. al., Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991), 427. 35 culture by elevating the status of the dialect to a language of the learned. However,

Schifaldo’s writings in Commentarioli in Persium provide more substantive evidence to show that there was indeed a distinct “Sicilianità.” This “Sicilianità” becomes particularly evident in the third section of Commentarioli in Persium. As was previously stated, the third section of Commentarioli in Persium is a blended glossary of the etymology of some words together with a literary history the myth of Perseus. In the glossary Schifaldo traces many of the words back to Greek origins, and in some cases, corrects word origins that were originally attributed to the Romans and argues that in fact they are Greek. Schifaldo uses many words but perhaps the best example of his tracing this lineage can be seen with the word beatulus. According to Schifaldo, “beatulus is not to be mistaken with beatus which is a word of Latin origin. Rather, beatulus is of Greek origin and to use it as it was used by the Romans is to misunderstand its true meaning.”63

Schifaldo goes further as he argues, “Romans often oversimplified the Greeks.”64 This statement suggests Schifaldo’s arguing that Greek influence is greater than Roman influence in literature, and certainly historical evidence lends credence to Schifaldo’s argument when it comes to the island of Sicily.

There are two passages in this third section of Commentarioli in Persium where

Schifaldo firmly stipulates that Sicily’s national origins come indeed from the Hellenistic world. The first passage of interest is Schifaldo’s passage number 56 entitled “What type are we”, this title is in reference to the literary history of which Schifaldo subsequently discusses; however, linguistically Schifaldo gives the sense that he is not discussing

63 “Commentarioli in Persium”, Published in Tramontana, 174. (My translation).

64 Ibid., 174 (my translation).

36 literature alone.65 By titling this passage “What type are we” Schifaldo indicates a living subject, perhaps a group of people, rather than the opposite of an inanimate object or entity such as a literary genre which would be implied by a title such as “What is it.”

Schifaldo continues on this passage by explaining, “Many great Greeks came in to

Italy through Magna Graecia and became our authors; they were immortal writers who combined their talent with our virtue. This is our mixed literary heritage…”66. Magna

Graecia was the part of Southern coastal Italian lands which was mainly occupied by

Greeks, before infiltration from the Romans, it included most all of the coastal lands of

Sicily except for the western corner, and most of the southern Italian coastal lands around the Tarentine Gulf. Schifaldo pointing to a mixed literary heritage in Sicily is implying a uniquely Sicilian, or at the very least, southern Italian school of literature which indicates a national distinction from the north of the Italian peninsula and from Greece itself.

In the next sentence in this passage Schifaldo’s language becomes a bit cryptic.

Schifaldo writes, “The right side interprets and suggests, but on the left side reside its true descendents, our virtue and our intelligence were the tools which rendered these writings great.”67 While it cannot be argued with complete certainty what “two sides” Schifaldo was referencing, given the context of the previous statement, it is evident that Schifaldo is talking about the two coastlines of Greece and Magna Graecia. Particularly the “left” coastline directly across would point to Sicily. This becomes even more evident in

65 Ibid., 166 (my translation).

66 Ibid., 166 (my translation).

67 Ibid., 166 (my translation).

37

Schifaldo’s use of “our”, it is “our tools” and “our intelligence” that bring forth the greatness of these writings. Thus, it is Sicilian intellectual culture that breathes life into these ancient texts. Schifaldo closes this passage by stating, “…it is by our virtue that we become great learners and decipherers of these works.”68 Here, Schifaldo also upholds the recurring Renaissance motif of virtue further lending credence that he is in fact a

Sicilian humanist scholar. According to this passage then, for Schifaldo, the greatness of

Sicilian culture is rendered through a Greek intellectual heritage but is magnified and reflected through the natural talents of those inhabiting Sicily.

In passage 39 of the third section of Commentarioli in Persium Schifaldo’s construction of Sicilian culture and identity become quite clear. The subject of this particular passage is the naming of the island of Sicily itself along with its inhabitants. In this passage Schifaldo is very direct as he writes, “Sicilians first said we are the Kingdom of Sicily, Italy is our brother, but we are true Sicilians our people are called Sicilians and this is our first title, our second line of heritage is Greek mixed with our bucolic ancestors.”69 Schifaldo is making a clear statement proving that there are Sicilians during the Renaissance that recognize themselves as Sicilians, separate from Italians, and with

Greek heritage but clearly not Greek.

Schifaldo continues distinguishing Sicilian identity from others in this passage by stating, “Some believe we are Partenope, but we are called the Kingdom of Sicily; therefore our descendents must be called Sicilian, perhaps Trinacarian could also be

68 Ibid., 166 (my translation).

69 Ibid., 160 (my translation).

38 observed as a proper name.”70 Schifaldo is also distinguishing Sicilian identity here from

Neapolitan identity—by mentioning Partenope an ancient Greek name for the city— which is significant during the Renaissance because of the unity of Naples and Sicily under the crown of Aragon. For Schifaldo, while the two kingdoms may be politically connected they are nationally distinct. In addition Schifaldo again ties Sicily to its Greek heritage in suggesting that Trinacrian is an acceptable term for inhabitants of the

Mediterranean island. This is, of course, because of the Kingdom of Trinacria which was the Greek name for Sicily before it fell under the power of the Roman Empire, and the

Romans simply Latinized the name to Trinacrium. It is interesting to note that in this passage, as he does in his literary explanations, Schifaldo is more likely to tie Sicilian identity to a Hellenistic tradition rather than a Roman tradition.

However, in closing this passage Schifaldo ties the greatness of the Romans to the discovery of Greek texts, and most importantly, this discovery of Greek texts by the

Romans according to Schifaldo comes through Sicilian scholastic tradition. Schifaldo writes, “Our great authors have realized this dream and she [Sicily] has inspired men of celebrity, how can the testimony of Livy, Diodorus Siculus, and Pliny be denied, here many intellectuals and literary scholars have studied so we must no longer walk in ignorance.”71 For Schifaldo, there is clear proof that the ancients recognized Sicily therefore Sicily must be distinguished and distinct from any other national or geographical entity. Mentioning Pliny and Livy, also ties Sicily to the greatness of Rome while Schifaldo is sure to emphasize Sicily’s Greek descent much more than the island’s

70 Ibid., 160 (my translation).

71Ibid., 160 (my translation). 39

Roman lineage. This argument Schifaldo makes, is perfectly logical given Sicily’s history with the Hellenistic world and Hellenistic tradition. Diodorus Siculus—who also makes an appearance in Lucio Marineo Siculo’s work—was a historian and chronologist for the

Roman Empire who was himself Sicilian. Schifaldo’s argument in this section is clear: If the ancients, both Greek and Roman, recognize Sicily how can we not? This is evidence that, at least among intellectuals, during the Renaissance there was some representation of Sicilian national identity.

Schifaldo and the Spanish Crown

Tommaso Schifaldo engaged very little with the Spanish crown, unlike Lucio

Marineo Siculo who taught in Spain, however, there is evidence that Schifaldo did write about the Spanish monarchy. In his writing Schifaldo references a poem he wrote in celebration of the final battle of La Reconquista in Granada in 1492 when, in Schifaldo’s words, “the most Catholic King Ferdinand won victory over the Muslim threat.”72

Certainly this one line referenced by Schifaldo suggests happiness and rejoicing with the

Spanish victory; however, that is a far cry from identifying nationally with Sicily’s

Iberian monarchy. This is the only reference in Commentarioli in Persium where the

Spanish are mentioned.

According to Alessandra Tramontana, only one page of the poem which Schifaldo references has been found, because he dates the document in a specific way Tramontana

72 Ibid., 15 (my translation).

40 suggests this work may have been presented to a court, but presently it is not certain.73

While there is very little known about Schifaldo’s life and his involvement with the socio-political culture in early modern Sicily, certainly this poem is indicative of his involvement with the discourse of Spanish power in Sicily. Since there is no evidence of

Schifaldo traveling outside of Messina, certainly Schifaldo would not have been exposed to the Spanish intellectual circles Siculo was later exposed to. It is possible that Schifaldo would have had contact with Spanish nobles in Sicily, but without further evidence at this point one can only speculate. However, more research on this Sicilian humanist is required in order to perform a more complete analysis on Schifaldo’s views and relationship with the Spanish.

Conclusion

Though there is little known about the life of Tommaso Schifaldo, he is an important figure for the understanding of early modern Sicilian national identity, and to understand the scholastic traditions and philosophies which formed Sicilian humanism.

Schifaldo stresses Greek tradition with Sicilian skill in the growth of Sicilian intellectualism, and is an example of the training that was received by so many Sicilian pupils including Lucio Marineo Siculo. Schifaldo, and scholars like him, were instrumental in preparing the way for the establishment of the intellectual and scholastic tradition inherited by the great humanist Siculo.

73 Alessandra Tramontana, In Sicilia a Scuola con Persio: Le Lezioni Dell’Umanista Tommaso Schifaldo, (Firenze: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, 2000), 15. 41

Schifaldo was Sicilian, and did not hide it or see himself as anything but Sicilian.

Schifaldo’s own words prove the existence of a Sicilian national identity that was influenced by Greek thought but still distinct from Greek culture, and was not Roman,

Italian, or Spanish. This is incredibly important since Schifaldo himself is acknowledging the existence of a uniquely Sicilian population. These elements of Sicilianità will be echoed subsequently in the work of Lucio Marineo Siculo.

42

CHAPTER III

LUCIO MARINEO SICULO: A SICILIAN HUMANIST IN SPAIN

Many of the themes discussed in the writings of Tommaso Schifaldo are echoed in the writings of Lucio Marineo Siculo. Siculo’s work Obra Compuesta Por Lucio

Marineo Siculo…de Las Cosas Memorables de España, is a manifestation of Sicilian

Hellenistic tradition and Sicilian scholastic training. Though Siculo wrote this history of

Spain with different intentions and under different circumstances from Schifaldo’s

Commentarioli in Persium, the themes of Hellenism, elevation of the vernacular, professorship, and a constructions of Sicilian national identity are still very much present.

However, unlike Schifaldo, Siculo has a direct connection with Spanish academia and the

Spanish elite. Thus, since Siculo held such a powerful position at one of Spain’s most elite universities he serves as an example of an agent of both Sicilian national identity and an agent of Spanish empire.

Originally named Lucas di Marinis, Lucio Marineo Siculo was born in the city of

Vizzini in the Provence of Catania circa 1444. At the time of Marineo’s childhood,

Vizzini was a small bucolic haven scattered in the hills of Sicily, approximately forty miles from Catania and of equal distance from Syracuse. Very little is known of

Marineo’s childhood; however, what is known is that young Lucas was born to a large family of common class and was illiterate until the age of twenty-five. At the age of

43 twenty-five Marineo began to read by listening to his older sister Catherine as she taught her child of five years to read. Although Siculo had little support from his parents,

Marineo cultivated a love of humane letters through his learning to read; therefore, feeling that his time for learning was running short, Marineo left Vizzini to study in

Palermo where he fell under the tutelage of the famed Giovanni Naso.74

Where Schifaldo serves as an example of the Sicilian humanist tradition, Siculo’s works instead serve as an example of the application of Sicilian humanist thought and tradition. After he studied for a couple of years under Giovanni Naso, Lucio Marineo

Siculo taught at the magister scholae parvulorum of Palermo in 1479. It was during his days in Palermo that Siculo caught the eye of Spanish nobleman Don Fadrique

Henríquez, son of Don Alfonso Henríquez who was a first cousin of King Ferdinand of

Spain.75 Don Fadrique lured Siculo away from Palermo with the promise that he would be a personal tutor for the newly married Fadrique’s future children. Previous historians have suggested that Siculo intended that his move to Spain would allow him to gain a professorship at one of Spain’s bigger and more prestigious universities; however, there is no evidence to suggest that this was the case. Fadrique’s wife, sadly, was never able to conceive and Siculo instead took the position of Chair of Letters at the University of

Salamanca in 1484.76

74 Caro Lynn, 40-44.

75 Ibid., 55.

76 Ibid., 57. 44

The Importance of Language

The University of Salamanca was very prestigious and of extreme importance during the Spanish Renaissance. Aside from being the oldest university in

Spain, Salamanca held most of the six Colegios Mayores, along with the University of

Alcalá, and The University of Valladolid. The Colegios Mayores were smaller colleges held within larger universities such as the college of Santa Cruz at Valladolid and the college of Cuenca at the University of Salamanca. These schools were “…distinguished from others by their wealth, special graduation privileges which reduced examination fees for members by as much as one half, and the regulation that baccalaureate was necessary for admission.”77 As prominent historian Richard L. Kagan states “…from their inception, these colleges were expected to provide their universities with an academic elite.”78 These colleges served as the instruments by which Spain created its national currency, this was the national currency Spain would then use to build its empire. Therefore, when Siculo became the head of the Department of Humane Letters at the University of Salamanca it was not only an important position, but a powerful position as well.

The power of academic institutions in Spain during the early modern period was very closely linked with the power of the government. The reforms of 1480, established by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel, changed the composition of the consejo real from being a corrupt institution with most of its members being caballeros to a majority of its

77 Richard L. Kagan, Students and Society in Early Modern Spain (The Library of Iberian Resource Online: Acccessed 6 May 2016), 67.

78 Ibid., 67. 45 members being letrados. The letrados were young, newly ambitious professionals who were university trained—most often in jurisprudence, but also in humane letters—and were members of the academic elite which would be selected to act as members of the

Spanish royal council.79 It became common practice to appoint letrados to the Spanish court and to consult with them in the course of making political decisions. Thus, the

Spanish academic elite could affect political policy in very important ways. Having a high position at one of Spain’s elite institutions placed academics in very close proximity to the Spanish courts. Therefore, the histories written in Spanish academic institutions, such as those written by Siculo, were highly valued by the Spanish court.

Siculo arrived in Spain during a very dynamic period in Spanish history. In 1479

Spain signed the Treaty of Alcáҫovas with Portugal, “by which (among other contested questions) Portugal accepted Castile’s claim to the Canaries…”, thus in this period, Spain continued with its imperial endeavors in the Canary Islands.80 In 1492, approximately eight years after Siculo’s arrival, Spain successfully toppled Islamic rule in Granada, ending La Reconquista.81 1492 would also be the year in which Spain would gain access to the “new world” which offered numerous new opportunities for Spanish expansion.

Therefore, it is evident that, in this period, Spain sought to establish itself as an imperial global power. In order to accomplish such a feat, the Spanish monarchy worked to propagate its power and its image of power to the whole of Europe through the use of its

79 Helen Nader, 129.

80 Peter Bakewell and Jaqueline Holler, A History of Latin America to 1825, (New York: John Wiley and Sons Publication, 2010), 82.

81 David Coleman, Creating Christian Granada: Soceity and Religious Culture in the Old World Frontier City, 1492-1600 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013), 1.

46 national currency. For example, in the conquest of the Canary Islands Queen Isabel quickly realized “… the religious adhesion of the conquered was crucial to wielding sovereignty effectively.”82 Aside from the physical takeover of lands Spain used language, history, and religion to propagate Spanish culture and to build an empire. Thus, the intellectual endeavors of the Spanish became as important as their imperial ambitions.

It was during his twelve years at the University of Salamanca that Siculo wrote

Obra Compuesta Por Lucio Marineo Siculo…de Las Cosas Memorables de España. This particular work was not printed until 1539—six years after Siculo passed—however, it was one of multiple history texts written by Siculo. The work itself is a collection of

Spanish history which Siculo dedicates to “Emperor Charles V and Empress Doña Isabel

Catholic Monarchs of Spain.”83 Compuesta Por Lucio Marineo Siculo…de Las Cosas

Memorables de España, is of particular interest because it is different from Siculo’s other historical writings. Las Cosas Memorables de España, unlike Siculo’s previous historical works on Spain De Hispaniae Laudibus and De Rebus Hispaniae Memorabilibus, was the only one written in Spanish instead of Latin. This linguistic difference between the three historical works is very important. In De Hispaniae Laudibus and De Rebus

Hispaniae Memorabilibus Siculo stresses much more the greatness of Spain by tying it back to ancient Rome. Thus, the histories are even written in the language of the Romans.

However, while Siculo certainly tied the greatness of Spain to ancient Rome in Las Cosas

Memorables de España, it was done in a much more subtle fashion. The greatness of

82 Peggy K. Liss, Isabel the Queen: Life and Times (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), 34.

83 Lucio Marineo Siculo, Obra Compuesta Por Lucio Marineo Siculo…de Las Cosas Memorables de Espana, (Munich: The Bavarian State Library, 1539), ii. (My translation).

47 ancient Rome in Las Cosas Memorables de España is what led to the greatness of Iberian culture, but not necessarily the greatness of Spain. Again, Siculo emphasizes the greatness of Iberian culture in this instance by using the Spanish vernacular. Las Cosas

Memorables de España, was also the only one of Siculo’s three histories on Spain to be commissioned directly by the Spanish monarchy. The commission of the last of Siculo’s historical works by the Spanish monarchy would certainly influence Siculo’s narrative emphasis on Iberian culture rather than ancient Roman culture. While Siculo expounds more on Iberian culture in Las Cosas Memorables de España it is still evident that he is operating within the Greco-Roman framework of Sicilian scholastic tradition. Though

Siculo addresses Iberian culture more in comparison with his other two works, he still unmistakably credits Roman culture with their military success and Hellenistic tradition for their intellectual prowess.

Las Cosas Memorables de España is a total of 493 pages and opens with a series of letters between Siculo and other members of the elite Spanish class. As shall be subsequently presented, these letters are as important as Siculo’s historical narrative. The letters presented from Siculo and the way Siculo captured various events in Spanish history represented the expansion of the Spanish empire through national currency, and also serve as exemplary writings through which to trace the four previously delineated themes of Sicilian humanism. After the letters Siculo, wrote two lengthy prologues in which he explained, to his most honorable patrons Charles V and his wife Isabel of

Portugal “Some offer you pearls and precious stones…some offer you exotic creatures lions and tigers… I being of poor birth…offer your Majesties this book which I have

48 written in honor of Spain and in memory of your progenitors.”84 Siculo repeatedly wrote that his sole purpose in this book was to capture the greatness of Spain, and to honor his royal patrons —whose patronage , it is worth noting, maintained Siculo at the University of Salamanca and ensured his future employment— which gave particular recognition to the importance of history and national memory. Siculo wrote, “Understanding the value of history and knowing how precious it is (to be certain princes) I hope to do your

Majesties a great service in this history of things to be taught about your Spain.”85 This line represents how Siculo understood the effect history had on the public. In other words, in this sentence it is evident that Siculo was acutely aware of how history was used as a propaganda tool by monarchs and the elite. Thus, Siculo acted as an agent of the Spanish empire as he simultaneously wrote the history of Spain and produced a benevolent image of his patrons, the King and Queen, through that history. The rest of

Las Cosas Memorables de España is organized in chronological chapters beginning with

Spanish geography and moving into the flora and fauna found in Spain, and ultimately

Siculo discussed the history of Iberian civilization, and the final chapters move into the early modern period and the greatness of the Spanish monarchy, political, social, and imperial endeavors.

It is well known that the Spanish monarchy during the Renaissance commissioned humanists to write histories and grammar books to use as tools for spreading empire.

Perhaps the most famous example of this is Antonio Nebrija’s Gramática Castellana written in 1492—which would then become the grammar book brought to the New

84 Ibid., ii (my translation).

85 Ibid., iii (my translation).

49

World— this is the book where Nebrija famously writes, “Language has always been a companion of empire.”86 Siculo was commissioned in the same way as Nebrija to write a history of Spain for the Spanish Crown to be used as a tool of Spanish power. After all, as historian Richard Kagan writes, “History was also integral to the monarchy’s growth and propaganda machine…”87. Through his position at the University of Salamanca Siculo became part of the Spanish “propaganda machine.” In addition, Siculo and Nebrija were well acquainted contemporaries at the University of Salamanca. Both men wrote histories of Spain for the consumption, and by appointment of, the Spanish crown. However,

Nebrija and Siculo had a contentious relationship. Nebrija was a vehement Spanish nationalist, and in being so despised Siculo so much so that “he reportedly refused to walk on the same street as his Sicilian colleague.”88 Nebrija also took issue with Siculo’s narrative of Spanish history.

Siculo wrote several other Spanish history books besides Las Cosas Memorables de España; however, most of the others were written in Latin and those most familiar to

Nebrija most likely would have been De Hispaniae Laudibus published in 1496, and De

Rebus Hispaniae Memorabilibus published in 1533.89 In each of these histories Siculo ties the greatness of the Spanish Empire to the greatness of Rome. Siculo’s “work emphasized Spain’s debt to the Romans, and heralded the apotheosis of Hispania restored to its ancient borders…In particular, Marineo Siculo sought to bring Spain back

86 Richard L. Kagan, Clio and the Crown: The Politics of History in Medieval and Early Modern Spain, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), 16.

87 Ibid., 46.

88 Ibid., 17.

89 Caro Lynn, 286. 50 into Roman history…”90. Siculo’s method of tying the greatness of Spain to the greatness of Rome in these two previous historical texts is also evident in his use of Latin. Siculo utilized the language of the Romans to emphasize the influence of Rome in Spanish history. However, in Las Cosas Memorables de España, Siculo used Spanish to tie the history of Spain to the greatness of Rome. Las Cosas Memorables de España, was one of

Siculo’s later works which suggests that the movement of using the vernacular had, at this point, reached the level of the scholastic elite. In addition, Las Cosas Memorables de

España was written in the period when Siculo and Nebrija were rivaling each other in writing histories of Spain. This provides evidence of how Siculo used language as a tool for constructing his historical narratives.

Nebrija repudiated deeply by Siculo’s writing of Spanish history in this way, his profound nationalism for Spain would not allow for such thoughts. After reading De

Rebus Hispaniae Memorabilibus Nebrija said, “I do not consider it quite safe to rely on foreigners for historical truth…and least of all on Italians who call us barbarians and peasants and insult us with derogatory epithets.”91 To combat Siculo’s version of Spanish history, Nebrija wrote his Muestra de la Historia de las Antiguidades de España in which he gave Spain a “prehistory that had Iberian civilization beginning well before that of

Greek city-states, and which sought to demonstrate the antiquity of Spanish culture as well as its independence from Rome.”92 Nebrija’s suggestion that Siculo’s historical

90 The Oxford History of Historical Writing: Volume III: 1400-1800, Masayuki Sato et. al. Ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 433.

91 Richard L. Kagan, 17.

92 Masayuki Sato et. al. Ed., 433.

51 objectivity would be colored by his nationality is fascinating. Certainly this is because of

Nebrija’s own nationalistic preferences in his writing of Spanish history; however, to the contrary, Siculo’s historical objectivity instead is colored by humanist thought.

Siculo’s historical objectivity was also colored by Sicilian scholasticism and

Hellenistic tradition. Siculo makes no secret of his Sicilian heritage, personally or scholastically however he went on to become well respected in many Spanish humanist circles. When writing a letter to a former history student, Alfonso Segura, in his old age

Siculo closed by saying, “…you have turned to gold the princes of Aragon and the heroes of Castile…by the touch of that gold-tipped brush which is your just inheritance from

Acorax, Atisias, Agorgias, Epicarmus, Theocritus, and Empedocles—learned Sicilians all.”93 This is the Sicilian pride reflected in Siculo’s work and the scholastic tradition which he brought with him to Spanish humanist circles, and the tradition in which he trained his own students as is clearly evidenced by this letter. Thus, Siculo without question had influence in Spanish humanist circles and in the training of his students at the University of Salamanca.

The Explanation of Origin: Rome and Sicily

Before Siculo delved into the history of Spain in his 493 pages of Las Cosas

Memorables de España, he meticulously catalogued the natural resources found in Spain.

Siculo’s topics of exploration included: metals and minerals, various types of flora and fauna, wines of Spain, animals and fish, among many other things. Siculo used ancient

Roman and Greek scholars and philosophers as his guides to explain the geographic

93 Published in Caro Lynn, 206. 52 features found in Spain. In the margins of the manuscript Siculo referenced the names of the ancient philosophers and scholars he drew upon in each particular section, and he cites a myriad of people including Pliny, Homer, Virgil, Ovid, and many more. What becomes quickly evident in these sections is how often Siculo ties back the origin of many of Spain’s resources back to Rome but also to Sicily. To give a minor example,

Siculo explains the superiority of the fish found in the Spanish seas calling them

“precious” and “unfound in many other parts of the world”, however, Siculo is certain to mention that the only other places such fish are found is in “Rome and Sicily.”94

Siculo’s discussion in this section becomes reminiscent of Schifaldo’s writings in the third section of Commentarioli in Persium, where Schifaldo outlines the etymologies of words. In Las Cosas Memorables de España, however one section where Siculo discussed the origin of names of Spanish territories, or territories in Europe which held political or economic significance in regards to their relationship with Spain stands out.

For example, the first of the Italian territories which Siculo focuses on is Venice. Here

Siculo called upon the work of Roman historian Tacitus as he wrote, “Cornelius Tacitus said: In past times there arrived in Italy those people called Eneos, or as they are known better Venetians. For this name, the land which they settled became known as Venice.”95

What Siculo does here is interesting because he calls upon Roman historiography by utilizing the work of Tacitus, but gives the original Greek term Eneos for Veneti or

Venetians. This Greco-Roman framework will be employed by Siculo throughout his

94 Lucio Marineo Siculo, iii. (My translation).

95 Ibid., f iiii. (My translation).

53 history in Las Cosas Memorables de España. Referring to the Greek through the Roman progression is evidence of Siculo’s training in the Sicilian scholastic tradition.

The next sentence after the discussion of the naming of Venice from Siculo is even more intriguing. Siculo wrote, “…let us move to the Eliseos: those which the

Greeks have named Eolios …which are found in the sea of Sicily. They were therefore named the Sicilies, and belonged to Sicily and her Sicilians.”96 The subject of Siculo’s discussion is the archipelago of the Aeolian Islands located off of the north eastern coast of Sicily in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The small group of islands is named after Eolios the

Greek god of the winds. What is important to note about Siculo’s discussion of the islands is first his claim that they belong to Sicily, rather than Spain, the Kingdom of

Aragon, or to Italy.

However, perhaps even more pertinent is the last sentence wherein Siculo states that the islands belong to “her Sicilians.” Siculo is directly stating his acknowledgement of the inhabitants of Sicily as Sicilians. This lends credence to the argument that Siculo, like Schifaldo, defines Sicilians as separate from Italians, Greeks, and Spaniards, they are in fact Sicilian. Implicit in Siculo’s statement is the Greek heritage of the islands, and of

Sicilian culture which was also greatly emphasized by Tommaso Schifaldo, as Siculo stated that the Greeks named them Eolios, and Siculo simultaneously recognized the agency of Sicilians in establishing territories of their own, just as he does in his discussion about Venice. In addition, Siculo sets Venice and Sicily against each other, similar to how Schifaldo sets his vignettes in his lessons, as two sides contributing to one

96 Ibid., f iiii. (My translation). 54 discourse. Again, this structure is indicative of Siculo’s Sicilian scholastic training in the

Hellenistic tradition.

History, Sicilian Hellenistic Scholasticism, and Sicilianità

Much of the Italian Renaissance was driven by the underlying movement to restore the greatness of ancient Rome; as a result, many Italian humanists would often make links historically, linguistically, and philosophically to Rome. For example, in one of the letters from Las Cosas Memorables de España Siculo wrote to Conde Don

Baltasar. The recipient of the letter was actually Baldassare Castiglione the writer of the famed The Book of the Courtier, who found himself in Spain as Ambassador to the Holy

See under Pope Clement the VII. As Ambassador to the Holy See, Castiglione traveled with the court of Charles V to Toledo, Granada, Seville, among other Spanish cities.97

Baldassare Castiglione was a very important figure in Renaissance history. The Book of the Courtier was widely read and well regarded in aristocratic circles for establishing the rules of how one must behave in order to be the perfect courtier.98

In the previously mentioned letter from Las Cosas Memorables de España Siculo asks Castiglione where he could go in Spain to see historically important Spanish sights.

Specifically, Siculo asked Castiglione, “in Spain which cities were colonies or held the

97 Julia Mary Cartwright Ady, Baldassare Castiglione the Perfect Courtier: His Life and Letters, 1487- 1529 (The University of California: John Murray, 1908), 273-292.

98 Peter Burke, The Fortunes of the Courtier: The European Reception of Castiglione’s Cortegiano (London: John Wiley and Sons, 2013), 54.

55 highest populations of Roman nobles.”99 These cities would have been the most important for an Italian humanist in the endeavor to restore the greatness of Rome. In addition—to argue against Nebrija’s assertion that Italians could not be trusted to write a history of Spain—when Siculo began studying Latin, and changed his name as many humanists did, Lucas di Marinis became Lucio Marineo Siculo indicating his allegiance to Sicily or if not allegiance suggesting that he was not ashamed of his Sicilian background. The same cannot be said for any Italian identity of Siculo, if he in fact would have seen himself as “Italian” given that Italy would not be unified for quite some time, otherwise Siculo may well have been Lucio Marineo Italo. Siculo’s very name is evidence of one of the themes of Sicilian humanism and humanists mentioned previously.

Siculo’s name is an indicator of Sicilian national identity, and evidence of Sicilianità being projected outside of the island of Sicily itself. Like Schifaldo, this indicates that

Siculo identifies himself as Sicilian, and not as an Italian, Spanish, Roman, or Greek.

This same letter by Siculo to Baldassare Castiglione is intriguing for other reasons as well. Immediately after he asked about which parts of Spain fell most under Roman influence Siculo asked Castiglione “In the same way where are the columns that were given to Hercules at the end as a sign of his works.”100 Here Siculo invoked a discourse propagated by Nebrija, as well as other Spanish humanists, in which a clear link was made to ancient immortal mythology as a way of justifying Spanish heredity and right to the crown. “To provide the basis for classical ethnology for the Spanish monarchy, historians also turned to the myth of Hercules, who served as Brutus did for the Britons

99 Lucio Marineo Siculo, iiii. (My translation).

100 Ibid., iiii (My translation).

56 and Francus for the Franks, to link ancient Spain to the myths of the classical world.”101

According to the mythos of Hercules, after his tenth labor Hercules came to the frontiers of Europe and Africa. In order to commemorate the completion of his tenth labor

Hercules built a land bridge connecting the two continents, and then Hercules proceeded to build a trench through the land bridge. This trench allowed the Atlantic Ocean to flood into a valley creating the Mediterranean Sea, and the northern shore became the Strait of

Gibraltar. The two sides are the Pillars of Hercules.102 This not only serves as evidence of the importance of Greek mythology—which was mentioned previously in the analysis of

Hellenistic tradition traceable in the writings of both Siculo and Schifaldo—but, this again situates Siculo as an agent of the Spanish Empire and simultaneously a scholar within the Sicilian humanist tradition. Siculo is helping to construct Spanish greatness; however, here there is indication that Siculo’s work is distinctly Sicilian. I argue then that

Sicilian humanism had an influence on the Spanish Empire through the exportation of

Sicilian scholasticism by Sicilian intellectuals.

While always connecting a history or literature to the greatness of Rome is not distinctly a Southern Italian or Sicilian trend in the work of Renaissance writers and scholars, there are other characteristics in Compuesta Por Lucio Marineo Siculo…de Las

Cosas Memorables de España that may well be distinct to Siculo’s writing precisely because they were traditions taught through the Sicilian schools. Contemporary Italian scholars suggest, for example, that beginning a history—such as Compuesta Por Lucio

Marineo Siculo…de Las Cosas Memorables de España—with letters showing ones

101 Masayuki Sato et. al. Ed. , 434

102 Marc Alexander, Gibraltar: Conquered by No Enemy (Charleston: The History Press, 2011), 1.

57 methodology for the historical work was originally based in the Hellenistic culture which so heavily dominated the island of Sicily until the Punic Wars (264 BC-146 BC); however, this scholarly tradition was maintained through the Reign of Frederick II, and finally was a technique employed by the great Greek scholar Costantino Lascaris.103 As was previously suggested, this form of back and forth debate, and intellectual discourse is an innately Greek feature carried through most Sicilian literature, which can be seen in the original sonnets written by Jacopo da Lentino. The debate form gave the sonnet its structure; however, the sonnet is then changed and becomes synonymous with the love poetry written by Petrarch.104 This is indicative of the strong Greek influence on Sicilian humanism, which was acknowledged and utilized in the writing of Tommaso Schifaldo.

Another interesting component of Siculo’s letter to Baldassare Castiglione, is how he closed, and signed his farewell. After Siculo asked Castiglione where he can go to see and write of the greatness of Spain, “so that I do not return to Italy denied of the greatness of this province”105, Siculo goes on to end the letter by closing with “for the

Praise. Honor and glory of Sicily.”106 In the original text Siculo uses specifically the

Latin word “fama.” The concept of fama (glory in Latin) is one of earthly reputation, and another concept which dates back to Cicero and ancient Rome. The concept of fama for

Cicero and other Roman authors “constituted one of the essential building blocks of the

103 Alessandra Tramontana, L’eredità di Costantino Lascari a Messina Nel Primo ‘500 (Messina: Università Degli Studi di Messina, 2011), 128. (my translation).

104 Tusiani, Joseph. The Age of Dante. New York: Baroque Press, 1974.

105 Lucio Marineo Siculo, iiii. (My translation).

106 Ibid., iiii. (My translation).

58

Republic: ‘The leading men of state must be fed glory.’”107 In signing his letter this way,

Siculo once again suggested his allegiance to Sicily, not to Spain or Italy. While the concept of fama was demonized in some circles—as it often was linked to undesirable qualities such as vainglory and self-interest—“…few humanists dared challenge the proposition that individuals who performed noble and virtuous deeds for the benefit of their city, country, or prince, or even more importantly, for God, merited fama.”108 Thus,

I argue that Siculo perceived himself as performing virtuous deeds in the name of Sicily.

Once again, Siculo proudly links himself with his Sicilian national identity.

Aside from Siculo’s letters, however, de Las Cosas Memorables de España provides an extensive pre-history of Spain. In the pages of this lengthy work Siculo discussed everything from the landscape of Spain to the rise of the house of Aragon; however, in addition to the pre-history of Spain produced by Siculo he also discussed at length “The Traditions of the Ancients in Spain” as well as “The Origins of the Spanish

Language.”109 Book IV of La Obra Compuesta por Lucio Marineo Siculo is particularly intriguing, and it is titled “Of the Colonies Made by the Romans in Spain and the

Surnames of Their Households.”110 As was previously mentioned, Siculo immediately opened this section of Las Cosas Memorables de España, by tying Spain’s history immediately back to the greatness of Rome and to the mythos of Hercules.

107 Richard L. Kagan, 40.

108 Ibid., 40.

109Lucio Marineo Siculo, (My translation).

110 Ibid., iiiic. (My translation). 59

This section of Siculo’s historical analysis serves as quintessential example of his

Italian humanist philosophy blended with his Sicilian Hellenistic scholastic training.

While Siculo ensures that Hercules did indeed contribute to some of the greatness of

Spain—particularly in regards to founding great cities around Cadiz and Seville—Siculo claims that the military strength of Spain comes from the Romans. Siculo writes, “…the ancient colonies by Cadiz, or as others have said in Seville: all of those are called signs and results of the works of Hercules…For the bridges and fortresses: and many other ancient structures from antiquity found in Spain: not to Hercules but certainly to the

Romans can they be attributed, principally to Julius Cesar.”111 Siculo continued in this way throughout each section of Las Cosas Memorables de España to weave an intricately blended Greco-Roman methodology similar to what is seen in Schifaldo’s work in the way he approaches the literary genre of the satire. It is in the use of this methodology that

Siculo’s Sicilian national identity is present.

In the chapter of Las Cosas Memorables de España entitled, “The Traditions of the Ancients in Spain” Siculo’s historical narrative progressed and called upon the work of previous historians in order to trace the history of the Iberian civilization. Many of the historians whom Siculo cites are Sicilian as well; again this reaffirms Siculo’s Sicilian training and calls attention to Siculo’s national identity. Siculo begins this section in similar fashion to the previous two, by establishing that the ancient “authors wrote their histories in Greek and Latin”—thus, reinforcing the Greco-Roman tradition of his work through the languages utilized by the ancients—and opening his narrative with the great

Roman general Scipio who was famous for his military prowess in the Second Punic

111 Ibid., ciiii. (My translation).

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War, and for ultimately defeating Hannibal.112 However, as he continued to recount the rise of the history of the rise of Iberian culture, Siculo called upon the work of Diodorus

Siculus, a Sicilian historian and chronologist who wrote from 90 to 30 BC.

Diodorus Siculus, was from Agyrium a city in the province of Enna in Sicily, and he wrote extensively on the Celtiberian civilization of the early centuries BC. Siculo used

Diodorus’s work in order to establish a historiography of Iberian culture. Schifaldo had also referenced Siculus in his writings of Roman satire in Commentarioli in Persium.

Siculo devoted a good deal of this chapter to Diodorus and the Celtiberians. It is important to understand the context of Diodorus’s work, and how Siculo then applied it to his own history. Diodorus Siculus wrote his histories in Greek, and wrote histories for both the purposes of entertaining his audiences while simultaneously making moral arguments. The goal of history for Siculus was to be didactic, otherwise it was without purpose. Thus, Siculus would write teleological historical tales for the purposes of instruction. The emphasis on writing in Greek is quite intriguing, and is better understood when understanding Diodorus’s audience.

Diodorus Siculus wrote in a period when many Italian, but particularly Sicilian cities were becoming wealthy. Though Sicily had already been absorbed into the Roman

Empire, Siculus wrote for Sicilian elites living in the bigger cities.113 This is important because by reaching his audience in Greek and writing histories in a way which made them didactic as both Schifaldo and then Siculo did, Siculus provided evidence to suggest that Hellenistic traditions were preserved in Sicily even though the language of the

112 Ibid., dii. (My translation).

113 P.J. Stylianou, A Historical Commentary on Diodorus Siculus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 1-8. 61

Romans was Latin not Greek. Siculus’s work also provides evidence that at least a substantial number of Sicilian elites remained Greek speaking even though they fell under the rule of the Roman Empire. This is not to say that everyone in all parts of the

Roman Empire spoke Latin as their vernacular language. However this is important because it demonstrates that Hellenistic tradition in Sicily was preserved in its original language. Thus, this fortifies the development of the scholasticism to come and the endurance of the preserved ancient pedagogical methodologies. This then is indicative of the blended linguistic and scholastic tradition in which Lucio Marineo Siculo was educated, and this is a tradition he clearly draws upon in his work. Once again, this provides a link—not only to the Sicilian national identity born in Siculo’s work—but, between Sicilian scholarship and Spanish humanism.

Sicilian Rebellion: The Vespers & the Construction of National Identity

Moving chronologically through Spanish history, Siculo moves to the Crown of

Aragon and its acquisition of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. While Siculo’s account of how Sicily fell into Spanish hands is not far removed from the narrative of modern historians, his language when discussing the rebellions which occurred in Sicily is quite different. Sicily had long been a land of social unrest, which began with the Vespers

(1282) and continued through the seventeenth century. In the discussion of the Kingdom of Aragon, Siculo elaborated on quite a few Sicilian rebellions. The first of these rebellions captured by Siculo occurred in Messina, Palermo, and Ragusa during the reign of Charles V. Siculo used specifically the term novedades, as previously explained by

62 historian Michael Levin, which had a very specific meaning as understood by the Spanish generally it referred to novelties, changes, or upsets.114 Siculo writes, “When King

Charles [V] learned of these novedades coupled with the movement and rebellion in

Sicily…he quickly began to think of how to remedy them.”115 Giving no certain number

Siculo went on to explain that King Charles V, fearing novedades in other parts of Italy, sent “many armed soldiers” into Sicily and along the Southern coastline to capture any of those rebels who were trying to escape Spanish punishment for their actions.116

While Siculo explained that all of those whom caused the chaos in Messina,

Palermo, and Ragusa were properly punished he closed this narrative by stating, “…the prisoners taken were a large number, a large number of men who suffered for Sicily.”117

Ending this narrative in this way implies a certain amount of empathy for these men. In the repetition of “a large number of men” and acknowledgement of their suffering for

Sicily, Siculo does not paint these rebels as traitors to the Spanish crown. To the contrary, this ending is implicit of some compassion or understanding of the Sicilian rebels.

Remembering that the Hellenistic tradition in which Siculo was trained was one in which history was to be written in a way which is meant to be didactic, what lesson is Siculo teaching his reader by ending this narrative about these Sicilian rebels in such a way? In utilizing this language, Siculo is silently applauding the actions of these rebellious

Sicilians while still being reverent of his Spanish patrons.

114 Michael Levin, 12.

115 Lucio Marineo Siculo, lxxxi. (My translation).

116 Ibid., lxxxi. (My translation).

117 Ibid., lxxxi. (My translation). 63

In the next section in his continued history of Sicilian rebellion, instead of continuing to move chronologically, Siculo jumps backward to the reign of King

Manfred of Sicily (1258-1266), and focuses on the abuses of the French in Sicily. Siculo titles this particular section “How the Sicilians Rebelled Against the French: Among other Things.”118 Siculo wrote in the opening line of this section, “Many were the damages and wrongs done against the Sicilians by the French.”119 Before continuing with the words of Siculo, it is necessary to note that Siculo—while he is not Spanish himself— is writing for the Spanish crown, and is employed through the patronage of the Spanish monarchy. Therefore, it is pertinent to keep the contentious relationship between France and Spain in mind when reading this section.

It is just as pertinent to remember the complicated relationship between France,

Spain, and the south of Italy in particular since both France and Spain claimed dynastic rights to the Kingdom of Naples. The power struggle between France and Spain for Italy would not come to an end until 1559 with the signing of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrèsis, the treaty in which the French renounced all dynastic rights to Italy and ultimately ended the Habsburg-Valois War. In addition Siculo is addressing the rebellion of the Sicilian

Vespers in this section which occurred after the death of King Manfred in 1282, when

Sicily was under the rule of Charles of Anjou. The Sicilian Vespers became a symbol, not just in Sicily, but throughout the Italian peninsula of the strength of peasant rebellion. In fact, the heroic place the Vespers hold in Italian history is even captured in the Italian national anthem, and was one of the images of Italian strength which was used to

118 Ibid., l. (My translation).

119 Ibid., l (My translation). 64 construct Italian national identity during the Risorgimento when Italy became unified as one nation in 1860. With a clear indication that Siculo felt a strong connection to his

Sicilian heritage, all of these political and social factors make this reading of Siculo’s very complex, and complicate the way in which he captures the image of the Vespers.

Siculo explains that after the death of King Manfred of Sicily and of Emperor

Conrad IV, Sicily fell into the hands of Charles of Anjou. Siculo described the French forces of the King as, “…all French men, they are cruel with a prideful nature, distasteful, easily given to fury, intolerable in conversation, and killed an infinite amount of

Sicilians.”120 Evidently, Siculo is not depicting the French in any way but violent, oppressive, and barbaric. This less than kind description of the French in Sicily is not surprising given the context of Siculo’s heritage and patronage. However, Siculo’s description of the Sicilians which follows, while simultaneously not surprising is intriguing. Siculo wrote, “Such was the furious fantasy of those governors: such was the cruelty of those barbaric people that to them Sicilians were not seen as free men: more universally to them Sicilians were slaves and captives.”121 While Siculo properly captures the violent propensity of the Anjou regime against the Sicilians, Siculo’s language indicates that he viewed Sicilians as “free men.” This speaks to how Siculo views the inhabitants of Sicily, they are simply Sicilians, and have no need to be subjugated to the rule of an outside power.

As Siculo continues in this passage he discusses the punishments issued to those

Sicilians who were seen to be defiant to the French crown. Among these punishments he

120 Ibid., l (My translation).

121Ibid., li (My translation). 65 includes beheadings and public executions. Siculo wrote specifically, “When one’s patrimony was too great: then the more dangerous it would be: whoever was so filled with this richness that it would pour out of them, they were considered traitors to King

Charles…”122. The use of the term “patrimony” by Siculo is demonstrative of the way

Siculo views Sicilian national identity. The Spanish term Siculo utilizes specifically is patrimonio which when translated in English often becomes heritage or culture; however, it is also the Spanish translation for patrimony. The context of this phrase written by

Siculo would only work if patrimonio is translated as patrimony. It is the patrimony of

Sicilians which can betray the rule of King Charles of Anjou. In order for Sicilians to have patrimonio they must also have culture, heritage, and they must see themselves as distinguished from the French, the Aragonese, and the Italians. Siculo again lends credence to the existence of Sicilianità.

Siculo continues on with the narrative of the Vespers as he wrote in further detail about the cruelties endured by Sicilians under the rule of the Anjou King. Siculo claims that “for many years” Sicilians endured these abuses, and that it became common for

Sicilian women to have “carnal injuries perpetrated against them.”123 The narrative of the

Vespers Rebellion in 1282 differs only in minor ways from what many contemporary historians have written about the famous rebellion. According to Siculo the Vespers occurred the night before the Easter holiday just before the evening vigil near a local church in the small town of Monreale in the province of Palermo. Siculo explains that the local populations came out “dress up for the festival” which was set to follow the evening

122 Ibid., li. (My translation).

123 Ibid., li. (My translation).

66 service. While many contemporary historians suggest that the initial violence which started the Vespers rebellion occurred inside the church124, according to Siculo the violent exchange began outside the church as town locals prepared for the evening festivities.125 According to Siculo a group of French soldiers passing through town saw the festival preparations, and began to “bother” some of the local men. When the soldiers noticed that the local men were armed, “they turned their gaze toward the beautiful women and began grabbing their breasts in a most disgraceful manner, with no shame, and even less honor.”126 Siculo then writes, “At this, the Sicilians could suffer no longer, they began the fight by punching them and throwing rocks, some took to their arms and used them, they did this so quickly that soon there was not a Frenchmen standing.”127

According to Siculo the success of these villagers against a group of trained

French soldiers, “bolstered the confidence of the rest of Palermo”, and in a short time the rest of Sicily.128 Historically the Vespers Rebellion led to the removal of the house of

Anjou from power in Sicily. Siculo ends his narrative very much within the traditions of his Sicilian training, that is to say, Siculo ends with a quote from Cicero and simultaneously it is a quote in which Siculo can provide the moral of his tale. Siculo stated, “For this confirms the statement made by Marcus Tullius Cicero who said, ‘There is no greater necessity to princes or to men of noble birth than to be virtuous and just to

124 Steven Runciman. The Sicilian Vespers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958).

125 Lucio Marineo Siculo, li. (My translation).

126 Ibid., li. (my translation).

127Ibid., li. (my translation).

128 Ibid., li. (my translation).

67 their states and their subjects.’”129 By ending the story of the Vespers in this way Siculo shows not only his Sicilian scholastic training, but he also shows his humanist practice as he ends this narrative with a moral given by perhaps the most revered ancient Roman intellectual, Cicero.

In addition the use of “virtue”, here by Cicero and by Siculo, carries much meaning for scholars of the Renaissance. Similar to the use of fama previously, scholars of humanist philosophical thought were meant to be men of virtue. Virtue is a complex concept for Renaissance writers, scholars, philosophers, and politicians. Baldassare

Castiglione—to whom Siculo previously wrote his letters—discussed the concept of virtue at length in The Book of the Courtier. Castiglione defined virtue as he stated,

“Thus virtue may almost be said to be a kind of prudence and wit to prefer the good…”,

Castiglione sets this definition of good in opposition to vice which he defined as, “…a kind of imprudence and ignorance which lead us to judge falsely…”130. Machiavelli also sets virtue in contrast to vice or vizio in The Prince.

In discussing virtù Machiavelli appears to be envoking the same meanings as

Castiglione, that is that le virtù refers to good qualities. While in chapter XV of The

Prince entitled “Concerning Things for which Men, and Especially Princes, are Praised or Blamed” Machiavelli warns that “…a man who wishes to act entirely upon his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him so much among that is evil.”131

However, Machiavelli uses virtù in a different way in his closing chapter where he

129 Ibid., li (my translation).

130 Conte Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier (New York: Scribner & Son’s, 1903), 254.

131 Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, (New York: Bantam Classics, 1983), 56. 68 addresses Italianità. Machiavelli in discussing Italianità employs the humanist practice of recapturing and returning to a more glorious Italian past, he stated, “…then at the present time, in order to discover the virtue of an Italian spirit, it was necessary that Italy be reduce to the extremity she is now in…”132. Machiavelli then ends his work by quoting

Petrarch, who wrote that “virtue against fury shall advance the fight…the old Roman valor is not dead…nor in the Italians’ breasts extinguished.”133 Virtue, then for

Machiavelli becomes the unifying force needed to recapture the greatness of ancient

Rome, and further captures Italianità. This is the context in which Siculo is using the term Virtue, except Siculo is reaffirming Sicilianità. Further Siculo utilizes the term to impart the lessen to his readers of what happens when men do not behave virtuously.

Historian John Marino suggests the concept of virtue was born through Spanish rituals in Naples during the Renaissance. In the book Becoming Neapolitan: Citizen

Culture in Baroque Naples, Marino traces five main themes: “The Cult of Saints”, “The

Architecture of Devotion”, “Spanish Good Government”, “The Coming Millennium”, and “Civic Humanism and Court Society.”134 As Marino traces the ritual aspect of each of these themes a major unifying motif surfaces, and that motif is virtue. It is interesting to note that Marino places the birth of the concept of Virtue in the Italian south during the reign of the Spanish monarchy and the infiltration of Spanish ritual into Neapolitan tradition. Siculo certainly lends credence to his argument and provides evidence for the

132Ibid., 85.

133 Ibid, 87.

134 John A. Marino, Becoming Neapolitan: Citizen Culture in Baroque Naples, (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011), 25-26.

69 importance of Virtue in Renaissance Spanish and Italian tradition. As Siculo states through the words of Cicero, the most important quality for princes and those of noble birth to possess is the quality of virtue.

After thoroughly explaining the rebellion of the Sicilian vespers, Siculo goes on to explain how Sicily came to be under the rule of the crown of Aragon. Siculo explained that once King Charles was captive in Messina—one of the last cities to fall to the

Sicilian rebels against the Anjou—the Sicilians sent their “supplications” to King Pedro of Aragon, because he was married to Constance the daughter of the late King Manfred of Sicily; therefore, because of the lineage of his wife King Pedro of Aragon was believed by Sicilians to be the rightful ruler of their kingdom.135 Throughout this section however, Siculo continues to describe the French with very derogatory language. Nearly every time the French are mentioned Siculo refers to them as “cruel”, “barbaric”,

“dishonest”, “dishonorable”, “shameful”, “lacking in virtue”, and many, many others.

However, when discussing King Pedro of Aragon, Siculo uses significantly different adjectives “honest”, “honorable”, “respected by King Manfred.” This is certainly a clear indication of Siculo’s purpose to write for his Spanish patrons, and to write a history which glorifies Spain. However, this is also evident of perhaps Siculo’s idea of Sicilian national identity. Siculo being Sicilian certainly had heard of the Vespers and would feel less affinity with the French in this narrative. In addition, because during Siculo’s lifetime Sicily was part of the broader Spanish empire Siculo would have certainly would have known more about the Spanish crown.

135 Lucio Marineo Siculo, lii (my translation). 70

In reading Siculo’s narrative of the Vespers, there is a clear protagonist (the

Sicilians) and a clear antagonist (the French). Given the context of the scholastic tradition in which Siculo was trained, Siculo’s patronage, and the complex socio-politcal relationships between Spain, France, Italy, and Sicily it is not surprising to see which historical agents become demonized and which historical agents are represented as virtuous and great. What is important however is that Siculo constructs a Sicilianità.

Siculo constructs a Sicilian national identity which is strong, independent, rich with culture, and distinct from any of the major powers trying to lay claim to the island and the southern half of the Italian peninsula. The Sicilians are indeed the unsung heroes of this narrative with a sense of patrimonio so strong they were able to topple the Anjou monarchy on the island.

The House of Aragon and Sicily: Siculo as an Agent of Spanish Empire and

Sicilianità

The next section of Siculo’s history is focused on the transition to the rule of the house of Aragon in Sicily and it is titled, “How Don Pedro King of Aragon Came to be in

Sicily and What He Accomplished There.”136 Siculo’s very first sentence immediately speaks to how he wishes to portray the Aragon King and the people of Sicily. Siculo wrote, “Greatly moved, the King of Aragon, along with the reason and direction of the

Sicilians (to whom he listened carefully) came to clearly recognize the will and desire

136 Ibid., lii (my translation).

71 they held…”137. Immediately Siculo depicts King Pedro as a reasonable and just monarch who takes into account the will of the people, and simultaneously Siculo depicts the

Sicilians as reasonable and guiding the monarch in the proper direction. It is interesting to note how Siculo places the Sicilians in a position in which they give reason and direction to the incoming King. Thus, Siculo is showing the culture and intellect present within the

Sicilian population.

Siculo continued this as he wrote, “…it appeared to him [King Pedro] that he have to lose his previous disposition and intentions to win the respect of a Kingdom so nationally rich and esteemed as Sicily.”138 Once again, as in the previous statement

Siculo is reverent of his patronage will describing Sicily as an island that is “rich in culture” and “esteemed.” This section differs then from the section where Siculo discusses the rebellions in Sicily. Siculo uses the Vespers to construct Sicilian national identity, and indeed proves that such identity did exist and was recognized by his contemporaries. Siculo also uses the Vespers to vilify the French who continue also to be rivals with the Spanish during his lifetime. However, this section on the house of Aragon establishing rule in Sicily is meant to show, the just and virtuous rule of the Spanish monarchy while continuing to establish a narrative of Sicilian national identity. Thus,

Siculo, in the establishment of such a narrative becomes an agent of Spanish empire and an agent of Sicilian national identity.

Siculo ends this short section saying that King Pedro was “grateful for the assistance” of the Sicilians upon his arrival, and the King was “only concerned with

137 Ibid., lii. (my translation).

138 Ibid., lii. (my translation). 72 maintaining the honor and the prosperity of the Island of Sicily.”139 The use of the word

“maintaining” is interesting since by utilizing it Siculo suggests the unbroken honor which had and continued to persist in Sicily. Siculo also adds how King Pedro was able with “numerous soldiers” to drive King Charles out of his hiding place in Messina in to the north of Italy, but this was only accomplished through the “first honorable and successful rebellion from the Sicilians.”140 While certainly Siculo establishes the power, virtue, and just action of the crown of Aragon, Siculo constantly maintains the honor of

Sicily and the Sicilians who rebelled. This serves as evidence of Siculo’s recognition of

Sicilian national identity and the unbroken tradition of its existence.

Conclusion: Siculo and Professorship

Siculo, unlike Schifaldo, does not engage specifically with the discourse of professorship and methodologies of proper ways teaching literature or history. As I mentioned briefly before Las Cosas Memorables de España was written for different purpose than Commentarioli in Persium. Tommaso Schifaldo’s Commentarioli in

Persium, were written with the purpose of being his teaching notes. Schifaldo’s writing was not commissioned by any aristocrat, and they were meant to be seen only by himself.

While Schifaldo’s notes certainly displayed elements of humanist vernacular admiration,

Sicilian Hellenistic tradition, and Sicilian national identity, they’re main purpose was to instruct. Thus, Commentarioli in Persium is written specifically to instruct and lacks the

139 Ibid., lii-liii (my translation).

140 Ibid., liii (my translation). 73 political implications of Siculo’s work; however, as of yet, Schifaldo’s political work has not been properly studied and analyzed.

Las Cosas Memorables de España by Lucio Marineo Siculo was written as a product of Siculo’s patronage from the Spanish Monarchy as he was being compensated for his position as Head of the Department of Humane Letters at the University of

Salamanca. Siculo was to write a history which glorified Spain in order to create the national currency upon which Spain would expand its imperial endeavors. While Siculo never betrays his Sicilian patrimonio, and in fact incorporates elements of Sicilianità which construct his conception of Sicilian national identity, his position in regards to this particular work of history is to give a narrative of the greatness of Spain. However,

Siculo still ties the greatness of Spain and Iberian culture to a Roman past. The political aspect of Siculo’s work is also clearly visible. Siculo’s vilification of the French, coupled with his exaltation of the Spanish, and woven with the maintenance of a distinct Sicilian identity all speak to the socio-political climate in which Siculo operated, and his own ideas of Sicilian identity.

In addition, it is evident in Siculo’s writings that he applies Schifaldo’s methodologies and lessons to his work. Siculo incorporated a Greco-Roman methodology into his work, and followed the Sicilian Hellenistic scholastic tradition in which history was written with the purpose of imparting a moral or ethical lesson upon the reader. It is also clear in Siculo’s work, and in the letter he wrote to his former student, that he is proud of his Sicilian training and the intellectual tradition in which he was taught, and he intended to maintain that tradition and pass it on. Siculo himself follows a historiography of predominantly Sicilian and Roman historians. Siculo and Schifaldo had similar ideas 74 of Sicilian national identity which are reflected in the works of both men. This is clear evidence—since there is no indication that Siculo and Schifaldo ever knew or met each other—that there was some idea of Sicilianità which permeated the Mediterranean island and this Sicilian identity was one which the people of that island identified with. They saw themselves, in fact, as Sicilians.

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CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

Tommaso Schifaldo and Lucio Marineo Siculo are two excellent representatives of the Sicilian humanist movement. Their works serve as evidence, not only, of the occurrence of a southern Italian Renaissance, but they also show that the south of Italy played an integral role in the Renaissance. While the north of Italy was bursting with intellectual fervor in the 1400s, so was the south. The under-representation of the

Kingdom of Naples, and Sicily in particular, in Renaissance historiography has caused a crucial part of Renaissance philosophy to go unexplained. In understanding the

Hellenistic tradition cultivated in Sicily and its dissemination through the Kingdom of

Naples, it is clear to see how the Greek tradition of the south mingled with Roman tradition of the north, and how it was exported and used through the building of the

Spanish empire. Further the writings of these two humanists show that there existed a

Sicilian national identity, and more importantly prove the contributions of Sicilian humanists to Renaissance thought and philosophy.

Closing the historiographical gap in Sicilian history and understanding what was happening in Sicily during the early modern period is imperative to the study of the development of the Renaissance throughout Western Europe. Understanding Sicily as a part of the early modern Spanish empire establishes the occurrence of a Spanish

76

Renaissance as well which has been previously disputed by some historians. Sicily, and

Sicilian humanism assisted—in tandem with Spanish humanists and Spain’s imperial endeavors—in the creation of Spain’s national currency which allowed for the cultivation of a Spanish empire. Therefore, the writings of Lucio Marineo Siculo and Tommaso

Schifaldo prove the importance of the island of Sicily in the development of humanist philosophy and thought during the Renaissance.

Tommaso Schifaldo

Tommaso Schifaldo’s Commentarioli in Persium is clear evidence of the continued Hellenistic scholastic tradition present on the island of Sicily during the

Renaissance. Schifaldo’s notes demonstrate the unbroken Hellenistic tradition in intellectual thought in Sicily which flourished on the island from before the days of its rule under the Roman empire. Schifaldo displayed the continuity of this tradition by constantly tying elements of Sicilian scholasticism back to the greatness and tradition of the ancient Greeks. Schifaldo goes so far as to place more value on the lessons of the

Greeks rather than the lessons of the Romans. The greater affinity toward a Greek tradition, displayed by Schifaldo, is unique to Sicilian humanism. This is evident in the value Schifaldo places in his lessons on the teaching of a moral or ethical lesson through the teaching of literature and history. This serves as an example of the Hellenistic traditions which Schifaldo employs in his work. The structured debate format of his vignette’s also speak to Schifaldo’s training in Hellenistic and Sicilian Scholastic

77 tradition. These are elements which are explored and emphasized in Sicilian humanist thought. Thus, Tommaso Schifaldo was a Sicilian humanist.

Tommaso Schifaldo’s work also demonstrated humanist ideals in the way it was written. Schifaldo’s blended Latin-Sicilian dialect proves that Schifaldo was interested in elevating vernacular languages, but in elevating Sicilian dialect Schifaldo is making

Sicilian particularly a language of the learned. In the elevation of Sicilian to a scholastic language Schifaldo proved that Sicilian was a language which belonged among the scholastically elite. Thus, this proved that Schifaldo believed in a Sicilian national identity. Schifaldo gave further indication of how he viewed Sicilian national identity in his discussion of the naming of the island of Sicily. Schifaldo emphasized that Sicily is called Sicily because, “her people”, the Sicilians, gave her that name. Schifaldo goes further, emphasizing that “Italy is our brother”, and Sicilians are descendents of Greek ancestry, however Sicilians are not to be confused with “Partenope” (inhabitants of

Naples). By distinguishing Sicilians in this way, Schifaldo emphasized a unique Sicilian national identity separate from all those he mentioned previously. Schifaldo also referenced a unique Sicilian national identity when he referenced the “mixed literary heritage” of the island. Schifaldo, acknowledged that the “mixed literary heritage” of

Sicilians made their work diverse from Italian, Greek, or any others. It is national mixing which made Sicilian culture uniquely Sicilian.

While Sicily was under the rule of the crown of Aragon during Schifaldo’s lifetime there is little to suggest his involvement with the Aragonese court. Certainly

Schifaldo would have had some understanding of how the court functioned and how

Sicily in turn functioned as a subject of the Spanish crown; however, there is no mention 78 of the Spanish crown in Commentarioli in Persium. As mentioned previously, Schifaldo did write a poem on King Ferdinand’s victory in Granada of the Muslims in 1492, but very little is known about the poem itself and the purposes for Schiflado’s writing it. It has been suggested that perhaps the poem was presented to a Spanish court in Sicily but at this time there is very little evidence to suggest whether this truly did occur.

Tommaso Schifaldo’s Commentarioli in Persium is a work of Sicilian humanism which clearly demonstrates Sicilian scholasticism and professorship, combined with elements of Sicilianità. Schifaldo’s pedagogy and methodology proves the existence of an unbroken Hellenistic tradition within the scholastic culture of Sicily. While the direct connection between Schifaldo and the Spanish crown is tenuous at best, I still argue that he is both an agent of Sicilian national identity, and an agent of Spanish empire. In being a professor of literature at Messina, Schifaldo serves as an example of the Sicilian scholastic tradition in which other Sicilian humanists, such as Lucio Marineo Siculo, were trained; therefore, Schifaldo through the training and teaching of his pupils, indirectly imparts the Sicilian scholastic tradition, and the Hellenistic tradition upon other

Sicilian humanists who carry it with them into Spanish humanist circles. Schifaldo’s

Commentarioli in Persium is an example of the methodology, while Lucio Marineo

Siculo’s Obra Compuesta Por Lucio Marineo Siculo…de Las Cosas Memorables de

España, is an example of the methodology applied.

Lucio Marineo Siculo

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Lucio Marineo Siculo wrote Obra Compuesta Por Lucio Marineo Siculo…de Las

Cosas Memorables de España while he was Head of the Department of Humane Letters at the University of Salamanca. While Siculo’s writing was certainly still the product of

Sicilian humanist training and thought, it was written under different circumstances and with different purposes than Schifaldo’s Commentarioli in Persium. Siculo wrote Las

Cosas Memorables de España, under the patronage of the Spanish crown with the intention of writing a history which glorified Spain. Unlike Schifaldo’s work which consists of notes on how to teach Perseus, and delineates the history of the genre of literature in which Perseus is written with the exception of the notes on the etymology of words in the final section. Thus, Siculo’s Las Cosas Memorables de España has a direct political element which is lacking in Schifaldo’s work.

However, Siculo’s work shares many of the same elements visible in Schifaldo’s work. Siculo was well aware of how history, philosophy, language, and literature worked together in order to build national currency. Since Siculo began his work at Salamanca during a time when the crown of Spain was interested in expanding its imperial endeavors, Siculo’s position as the head of Humane Letters at Spain’s most prestigious university made him an instrument in the creation of Spanish national currency. Las

Cosas Memorables de España then, was written by Siculo in Spanish in order to glorify

Spain, and to be used as tool to spread Spanish culture during the Age of Exploration.

This image of Spain which Siculo was working, along with many other humanists and scholars, to propagate was further emphasized through the use of the Spanish vernacular.

The greatness of Spain was even carried through the greatness of the Spanish language.

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Siculo’s scholastic training and Hellenistic background becomes evident as he writes the history of Spain. Siculo links the greatness of Spain to the greatness of Rome, which causes contention with Spanish humanist Antonio Nebrija who was also a colleague of Siculo’s at the University of Salamanca. There is also a Greco-Roman framework within which Siculo sets his historical narrative which is similar to the one employed by Schifaldo. This can be seen in Siculo’s beginning with his letters to

Baldassare Castiglione, suggesting the Hellenistic tradition in which he was trained by delineating his methodology within the letters. As Siculo ties the origins of Spanish culture to Rome, he is also certain to mention Sicilian national origins as well. This is certainly done to also link Roman greatness to Hellenistic tradition. In order to do so,

Siculo utilizes a Sicilian and Roman historiography predominantly emphasizing, once again, his Greco-Roman methodology. Siculo is very clear in his maintenance of his scholastic tradition and he intended to propagate it. This is evident in the letter he wrote to his former student, and in the way he discussed Sicilian identity, and is also evident in the way he placed the origins of “greatness” in his narrative of Spanish history in Sicily as well as in Rome. In doing so, Siculo also enhanced the national currency of Sicily itself.

The letters to Castiglione from Siculo and the linguistic choices he makes to discuss Sicily throughout Las Cosas Memorables de España also speak to how Siculo views Sicilian national identity. Through the use of fama, virtue, and patrimonio establish a unique Sicilian character separate from Italian and Spanish national identities. For humanists, in particular, the use of like fama (glory) which tie directly back to Cicero, and holding the ideal that men must be men of virtue as Castiglione defined virtue were

81 core concepts which held a vast amount of importance. Therefore, Siculo in describing

Sicilians in this way, and coupled with their strong sense of Sicilian patrimonio, elevated the greatness and indeed the existence of Sicilian heritage to that of equal rank with the

Spanish, Florentines, or the Venetians.

The way Siculo constructed the narrative of the Sicilian Vespers signifies how

Siculo was simultaneously an agent of Spanish empire, as well as an agent of Sicilian national identity. Siculo’s narrative of the Vespers was also indicative of the socio- political context under which Siculo was writing Las Cosas Memorables de España.

Siculo used language which glorified the bravery, courage, and strength of the Sicilians who served as the protagonists of his narrative. Siculo then vilified the French, the clear antagonists of his narrative, while praising the Spanish who played a just and heroic role.

While the event of the Sicilian Vespers took place roughly two hundred and fifty years before Siculo was writing Las Cosas Memorables de España during Siculo’s lifetime there existed the contentious relationship between Spain and France.

In addition The Kingdom of Naples, which included Sicily during Siculo’s lifetime, had been the battleground for French and Spanish power during the early modern period as both France and Spain claimed dynastic rights to the Neapolitan crown.

This, then, complicated Siculo’s feelings of loyalty toward either country in the Kingdom of Naples itself. Since Siculo’s patronage is to the Spanish crown however—and it could be argued that Sicilians felt more affinity with the Spanish because of the atrocities committed against the Sicilians by the Anjou monarchy—Siculo constructed a narrative emphasizing that the French were “violent”, and “barbaric”, and the Spanish were “fair”, and “good.” However, Siculo’s construction of the Sicilians is important. 82

Siculo constructed Sicilians as their own people emphasizing multiple times that they were not Spanish or Italian but Sicilian. Siculo also recognized the agency of

Sicilians in overthrowing the Anjou monarchy and petitioning to be ruled by the crown of

Aragon because Queen Constance, the wife of King Pedro of Aragon, was the daughter of King Manfred, the late King of Sicily. Siculo in the end does not ultimately relinquish full power over Sicily to King Pedro of Aragon. While certainly King Pedro is the victor of this narrative, according to Siculo, it is with the “reason and direction” of the Sicilians that King Pedro becomes the successful ruler of such an “esteemed and nationally rich” island. Siculo is gave power to the Aragonese crown, but not through the relinquishing of

Sicilian agency. Therefore, Siculo is truly an agent of Spanish empire and an agent of

Sicilian national identity as he empowers Sicilian national identity through the narrative of Spanish greatness.

Schifaldo and Siculo: Indicators of Sicilianità

It is evident in the writings of both Siculo and Schifaldo that there is an essence which is distinctly Sicilian. While certainly both humanists share qualities with northern

Italian humanists, there are elements in their work which distinguish them as well. Many of these distinctions have to do with Sicilian reliance on Hellenistic tradition and training which is so strongly felt because it was carried through the Sicilian scholastic system.

This Hellenistic tradition is not only heavily drawn upon in the works of Siculo and

Schifaldo, but it is also clearly acknowledged by northern Italians, such as Aldus

Manutius, that Sicily is the place to study Greek. In addition, Sicily had the best

83 instructors of Greek during the Renaissance whom were well known even in northern

Europe such as Costantino Lascaris, and Giovanni Naso. Both Siculo and Schifaldo acknowledge this tradition and employ this tradition within their work, which makes their work a work of Sicilian humanism.

Both Siculo and Schifaldo use vernacular languages as a tool to further their purposes. Siculo draws on the importance of Spanish culture by writing Las Cosas

Memorables de España in Spanish, rather than Latin which is the language of the

Romans, and Schifaldo elevates Sicilian dialect in blending it with Latin to make it a language of academic circles. Further both men construct Sicilians as an agentive group with a strong sense of culture and patrimony, separate from Italian or Spanish identity.

While it is necessary to do further research before ultimately arguing the importance of Sicilian humanism in relation to northern Italian humanism, I believe the works of Siculo and Schifaldo capture more than the existence of Sicilian national identity. Through the strong ties to Hellenistic tradition seen in Sicilian humanist writing and form of writing—such as the debate format, and the moral and ethical didactic nature of the works of both Siculo and Schifaldo—it is evident that the humanist movement was not one which started in the north of the Italian peninsula and filtered down. Rather, the continuity of the Hellenistic scholastic tradition in Sicily, which there is evidence pre- existed the Roman Empire, was a movement that with the rediscovery of ancient texts filtered up the Italian peninsula. I am not suggesting then that this movement simply filtered up through Italy, and thus, Sicily is responsible for the Renaissance in its entirety; however, I am suggesting that the humanist movement in Italy as it is known today is a blended tradition of both the north and south of the Italian peninsula. Therefore, elements 84 of southern humanism, particularly those of a scholastic and Hellenistic tradition filtered up while the political and Latin traditions of the north filtered down, and they blended.

The blended tradition of the northern and southern Italian humanist movements is something I intend to focus on more in future research. I also intend to focus more on the relationship between Spain and the south of Italy including Sicily. I would like to understand the movement of southern intellectuals between Sicily and Spain and how this affected humanist circles in Renaissance Spain. In looking at Siculo’s work and legacy at the University of Salamanca it would be useful to understand what his broader sphere of influence was, among colleagues and students.

Further, it would pertinent to find other Sicilian humanists who worked in Spain as many historians indicate that this was a common practice. The influence of Sicilian humanism on Spanish scholarly circles would lend credence to the argument that Sicilian humanism was uniquely exportable precisely because Sicily was under the rule of the

Spanish crown. This challenges the accepted paradigm that Italian humanist thought was exported through the whole of Europe because of the Italian Wars with France beginning in 1494. Perhaps exportation of humanist ideals had already begun through the south of

Italy. While Siculo’s work indicates this more research is required, however Siculo’s work certainly provides this evidence.

The relationship between Sicily and Spain, and the exportation of Sicilian humanist ideals also speaks to the certain existence of a Spanish Renaissance. While the existence of a Spanish Renaissance has been disputed in the past, and Sicily has been very underrepresented in Renaissance scholarship, looking at the two in tandem shows a

85 distinct movement of Renaissance and humanist ideals. Therefore, Sicily which was often politically and economically troubled through the early modern period persisted in being nationally and intellectually productive which the aided in the building of a Spanish

Imperial power.

Several key points can be drawn out of each one of the sources previously discussed in each chapter. One is that the Italian south is pivotal to the creation of

Renaissance ideals. Sicily in particular is the birth place of poetry and mythology, and

Naples served as an exemplary city of Renaissance governance and values. While there is certainly more work to be done, and more to be said about the Italian south during the

Renaissance, it is evident that it was not a backward, cultureless, stain on the face of the

Italian peninsula. Rather it was a birthplace of philosophy, art, and architecture. While the general public may utter the names of the great northern Renaissance artists and thinkers—such as Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci—with more frequency, the north of Italy has been far more extensively researched. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in many ways is still waiting to be discovered; however there can be no doubt that once discovered the great thinkers and artists of the south, will be seated at the table of greatness with their Northern counterparts.

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