ARBERIAONLINE

Historical Albanians (ethnic Albanian people or people of full or partial Albanian ancestry) who are famous or notable.
Arbërorë in the world, preferably from early Middle Ages to early modern times.

«The Estiennes, the great family of French philologists of the Renaissance, were of Albanian origin». (Faik Konica)

Lypim të dhëna mbi prejardhjen e Henri Estienne I (c.1460-*1520)..



Fred Schreiber, The Estiennes, New York, 1982: «The one and only certain fact which we may infer concerning the antecedents of Henri Estienne, before the appearance of his name in the 1502 colophon, is that he had established himself as a printer and bookseller by means of a practice typical of the Renaissance booktrade: that of marying the widow of a master-printer, who had died without heirs able to carry on the family business. In this case the master-printer was Johann Higman, Wolfgang Hopyl’s former partner.. From Higman and Hopyl, Henri Estienne inherited a close working relationship with the leader of the humanist movement in France, Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples.. we have seen that Estienne's very first production was a work of Lefèvre. In fact, of Estienne's total output of about 130 editions, it is difficult to open any one without finding in it Lefèvre's name as author, editor, translator, or contributor.. Estienne's publications were consequently marked strongly by Lefèvre's own principal intellectual concerns, which included, besides the philosophy of Aristotle, biblical exegis, patristic literature, the tradition of medieval Christian mysticism, and the mathematical and physical sciences. Thus Estienne became a highly specialized publisher-printer to the University booktrade.., supplying students and scholars with the required scientific, philosophical, and liturgical texts».

'Robert Estienne, Royal Printer: An Historical Study of the Elder Stephanus', Elizabeth Armstrong, 1954: «In Rue Jean-de-Beauvais, one of the main channels through wich flowed the life of the Paris Univerisy, Henry Estienne, in the course of 1504-05, as a recently fledged university printer, installed his business. The antecedents of the business are esier to trace than those of the man. - Nothing is known of Henry Estienne before his sudden appearance as Hopyl's associate in 1502. - MS. fr. 18153 in the B.N. contains records of various Estienne families (mostly submitted in support of claims to nobilty in the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries); some of these give information about Estiennes, in which the favourite Christian names of the Paris Estenne family are to be found.. But it is not until the end of the XVI century that one meets in this collection personages who can definitely be identified as members to this family.».

Ngjerë këtu asgjë nga burimet e mirënjohura, ndërsa gjetëm këto rreshta nga një libër francez i vjetit 1789, "Histoire du livre en France depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'en 1789", Edmond Werdet: «Au XV siècle, la famille des Estienne se divise en deux branches: la seigneurie de Lambèse reste dans la branche aînée, issue de Béranger; le chef de la branche cadette, Geoffroy, épouse Laure de Montelives, dont l'écusson de famille porte un Olivier. Geoffroy eut pour fils Raimond, qui fut son héritier, et Henri, qu'il déshérita, en 1482, pour s'être adonné à l'imprimerie, qui venait d'être introduite en France en 1470. Quoique Henri I ait pris un soin tout particulier d'indiquer sa demeure sur les titres et à la fin de ses éditions, il n'est plus possible aujourd'hui de reconnaître la place même d'où jaillirent tant de science et de lumière, de même qu'à Venise personne ne saurait vous enseigner où fut la maison des Alde. Mais on sait positivement que l'imprimerie des Estienne était située au haut de la rue Saint-Jean-de-Beauvais, plus anciennement appelée rue du Clos-Bruneau, à une petite distance du collège de Beauvais, et vis-à-vis de l'école de droit canon, qui avait été fondée en 1384 par Gilbert et Philippe Ponce. Nous ne nous serions pas arrêté à cette particularité de la demeure des Estienne si tous les écrivains qui en ont fait mention ne l'avaient rendue à peu près méconnaissable. - Sur quelques livres on voit deux arbres et sous chacun un aigle; dans un cercle est placé le titre du livre, et au-dessous un écu vide. Quelquefois sur la banderolle tenue par les anges on lit cette devise: 'Plus olei quàm vini'; mais aux deux éditions de la Logique d'Aristote de 1503 et 1510, elle est remplacée, dit M.A.F. Didot, par ces mots qui semblent un présage de l'avenir réservé à la famille des Estienne: 'Fortuna opes au ferre, non animum potest'. - Henri I Estienne eut trois fils, qui embrassèrent la profession de leur père et s'y distinguèrent tous trois, bien qu'à des degrés fort différents. Le nom de sa femme est inconnu..».

Që këndej tuke shkruar '1482, Henri, Geoffroy Estienne' doli ky libër i rrallë i vjetit 1773, që mbartë të dhëna më të plota se libri 1789ës: 'Dictionnaire de la noblesse.. de France', Aubert de la Chenaye Desbois, 1773:



Estiennes - en proveçal d'Esteve, en latin Stephani, en Provence, est une des plus anciennes de la Province. Pierre d'Estienne dhe Guillame I d'Estienne, chevaliers Albanaise; ils portent un chapeau chargé de quelques plumes. Pra, ky libër i rrallë na kallëzon se emri i vërtet i Henri I Estienne ishte Guillame II d'Estienne; burimi i parë thotë se trashëgimia e Henri I Estienne i kaloj Raimondid, kushëririt të tij, më 1482; burimi i dytë thotë se trashgimia e Guillame II Estienne i kaloj Raimondid, kushëri të tij, më 6 Qërshor 1482. - Te rreshtat e fundit kallëzohet prejardhja arbërore e Guillame I d'Estienne, djali i vëllat të Pierre I d'Estienne, stërgjyshi i Guillame II/Henri I d'Estienne, themeluesi i shtypshkronjës Estienne më 1504 dhe i pari i një familje dijetaresh të mirënjohur aso kohe. Në se s'do e shkruante atë fjalì më sipër Faik Konica, patjetër s'do e kishim gjetë këtë të rrallë gjë mbi stërgjyshin shqiptar të Henricus Stephanus. @ArbëriaOnline.
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The Estiennes



Family of Parisian and Genevan printers of the 16th and 17th centuries, distinguished through five generations in scholarship as well as in their craft. The first of the line was Henri Estienne, d. 1520, who was by 1502 established as a printer in Paris. Before his death more than 100 books, some of them of great typographic beauty, had issued from his press. His foreman, Simon de Colines, succeeded him and married his widow. Some years later, probably in 1526, Henri's son, Robert Estienne, b. 1498 or 1503, d. 1559, took over his father's shop, and Colines then founded a new establishment. Robert, a capable scholar, devoted himself to printing only scholarly works, many of which he himself edited. He put out editions of classical authors, dictionaries and lexicons, and, more especially, critical editions of the Bible. He enjoyed the favor of Francis I and became king's printer for Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. The printer's mark used by him, the Olive Tree, was apparently designed by Geofroy Tory, who is said to have been a proofreader for the elder Estienne; some of the Estienne types were designed by Claude Garamond . Robert Estienne, a thorough humanist, upheld the cause of the Reformation. Long-continued attacks upon him by the faculty of the Univ. of Paris and by political opponents of the king caused him to move to Geneva in 1550. He set up a press there and continued to print books until his death. His own Latin dictionary, Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1531), probably compiled with the aid of other scholars, is a monumental work. His grammatical treatises on French are also of great importance. One of Robert's brothers, François Estienne, d. 1553, was of minor importance as a bookseller, but another brother, Charles Estienne, c.1504-1564, succeeded Robert in the management of the Paris establishment in 1551. Educated in medicine and skilled in classical learning, Charles wrote many works on medicine, agriculture, and other subjects. A number of his books were printed by his brother, Robert, and by his stepfather, Colines. Among his best-known works are an encyclopedia, one of the earliest appearing in France, a treatise on dissection, and Praedium rusticum, which appeared later in English editions. The second Henri Estienne, 1531?-1598, the greatest scholar of the family, was one of Robert's sons. He inherited his father's press on the express condition that it should not be moved from Geneva. He was a well-trained scholar and devoted years to searching for manuscripts. Although humanism was far advanced, he, nevertheless, discovered numerous works of classical authors of which he issued first editions. His editions of Greek and Latin works are remarkable for their accuracy and textual criticism. The greatest monument to his scholarship is, perhaps, his Thesaurus Graecae linguae (1572). Henri II also championed the use of the French language and wrote valuable treatises on the French tongue and on French grammar; the most important is La Precellence du langage françois (1579), in spite of its gross errors in philology. His satirical Apologie pour Herodote (1566) brought him trouble with the Consistory of Geneva, and after the publication of Deux Dialogues du nouveau langage françois italianizé (1578) he went to France to escape censure in Geneva. He was imprisoned for a short time on his return and afterward became a wandering scholar. The books he printed did not equal those of his father in typographic beauty. He marks, however, the highest point of the family's career, although the Estiennes continued prominent as printers until late in the 17th century.

Koçu Mustafa Bey, the "Ottoman Montesquieu", from Korça

Koçu Bey, in full Kuricali Koçu Mustafa Bey, Kuricali [- Korçari?], Koçu also spelled Koçi (?, Korça, Albania - 1650, Constantinople), was a Turkish minister and reformer, a notable early observer of the Ottoman decline. Originally from Albania, Koçu Bey was sent to Constantinople, where he was educated in the Imperial Palace. He later entered the service of a number of Ottoman sultans, finding particular favour with Murad IV (1623-40) and İbrahim I (1640-48), whose adviser he became. Koçu Bey is best known for his treatise Risale-i Koçu Bey (The Treatise of Koçu Bey), a brilliant study of the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Written during a period when the empire was beginning to encounter serious problems at home as well as abroad, Koçu Bey's work sheds a great deal of light on the Ottomans awareness of their plight. Unacclaimed at the time of their writing, this treatise and a similar later one are now regarded by scholars as some of the finest analyses of Ottoman decline.



Koçu Bey, an Ottoman official of Albanian birth, was recruited by the devşirme and joined the palace staff, where he became the intimate adviser of Sultan Murad IV (1623-40). The memorandum which he composed for the Sultan in 1630 on the state and prospects of the Ottoman Empire has been greatly admired both in Turkey and among Western scholars, and led Hammer to call Koçu Bey 'the Turkish Montesquieu'. On the editions and translations of his treatise see Franz Babinger, Die Geschichtsschreiber der Osmanen und ihre Werke, 1927.

Koçu Bey, the confidant of Sultan Murad IV, wrote a celebrated memorandum on the causes of the Empire's weakness. In it he described how the Ulema had forfeited the love and veneration of the people by following worldly ambitions to the neglect of scholarship. «If, instead of regarding ignorant and learned as equal, preferment were to be given to men of learning and wisdom, they would speedily regain their earlier standard. It is not right for appointments in the hierarchy to depend on the candidate's having influential friends: posts must be given to those who have the greatest learning. The proper qualification for the office of judge is neither age nor pedigree, but learning. Nowadays.. they give that office to the old. In the sight of God, senility is not an essential qualification for a judge. Schools too should be entrusted to those capable of elucidating the minutiae of learning. It is an injustice to scholarship to prefer an ignoramus, just because he is old, to a scholar. So long as a candidate for office is learned and pious, it does not matter if he is a beardless youth».

Vasile Lupu -Ruler of the Romanian Province of Moldavia in 1634-1653 Basil, byname Basil the Wolf, Romanian Vasile Lupu (born c. 1595—died 1661, Constantinople), ambitious and enterprising prince of Moldavia (1634–53) who introduced the first written laws and printing press to his principality. Albanian in origin, Basil acceded to the throne of Moldavia in the spring of 1634. He intrigued throughout his reign to acquire the Walachian throne as well, and in 1637 and 1639 led unsuccessful expeditions against the ruling prince of Walachia, Matthew Basarab. Basil’s military expenses and payments to his Turkish overlords taxed his subjects; but his rule also brought important cultural improvements through the creation of Greek monastic schools, the first codification of Moldavian civil and criminal law (1646), and the establishment of the first printing press in the country at Iaşi. In 1653 he was briefly evicted from his throne by Matthew Basarab and the Prince of Transylvania, but regained his crown with the help of the cossacks of Bohdan Chmielnicki, hetman of the Ukraine and also his son-in-law. He subsequently pressed into Walachia, but was decisively beaten at Vinta (July 1653). Deposed by his own boyars, he fled to the Khan of the Tatars, and thence to Constantinople, where he died in prison. His reign was one of the longest in the history of Moldavia.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/55016/Ba

Arnaut Rami -Corsair and the hostage-taker of Cervantes- I replied that I was a slave of the Arnaut Mami (for I knew as a certainty that he was a very great friend of his), and that I wanted some herbs to make a salad. He asked e then whether I were on ransom or not, and what my master demanded for me. Miguel Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote. He was captured by the pirate Arnaut Mami in September of 1575, and the Trinitarian responsible for his release five years later in 1580 was Juan Gil.(6) It is thought that Cervantes was buried in a Trinitarian habit.(7) El corsario albanés que condujo a Cervantes a la prisión de Argel Convertido ya en El manco de Lepanto -por las heridas sufridas en la famosa batalla- y tras extender su carrera militar por Corfú y Túnez, el 26 de septiembre de 1575 Miguel de Cervantes decide regresar a España a bordo de la galera El sol . A la altura de la localidad catalana de Cadaqués, la nave es atacada por la del corsario Arnaut Mami ( Mami El Albanés ), que conduce al escritor a Argel para convertirlo en esclavo.

http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias/not ... kid=180833
http://www.online-literature.com/cervan ... uixote/45/

Giorgio Basta Giorgio Basta, Count of Huszt (1544–1607) was an Italian general of Arbëreshë descent, employed by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to command Habsburg forces in the Long War of 1591-1606 and later to administer Transylvania as an Imperial vassal to restore Catholicism as a predominant religion in Transylvania. Giorgio Basta (cunoscut în istoriografia românească şi cu numele românizat Gheorghe, n. 1544, Roccaforzata- d. 1607, Praga) a fost un general italian, de origine albanez, angajat de împăratul Sfântului Imperiu Roman de Naţiune Germană Rudolf al II-lea pe postul de comandant al forţelor armate habsburgice în războaiele antiotomane (1591-1606) şi al trupelor austriece staţionate în Transilvania între anii 1600-1605. A jucat un rol important în istoria României, fiind cel care a ordonat uciderea aliatului său, voievodul Mihai Viteazul. Cronica uciderii lui Mihai Viteazul 18 septembrie, la bătălia de la Mirăslău, Mihai Viteazul este înfrânt de Basta. Urmează o serie de înfrângeri ale voievodului român în lupta cu oastea polonă, Mihai fiind nevoit să ia drumul Vienei în ianuarie 1601. În primăvara acestui an, Mihai apelează la împăratul Rudolf al II-lea, care mediază disputa cu Basta. După intervenţia împăratului, cei doi se împacă şi primesc misiunea de a supune Transilvania, unde Sigismund Bathory revenise în domnie. În 3/13 august 1601 are loc Lupta de la Gorăslău (Guruslău), unde forţele unite ale lui Mihai şi a lui Basta, îl înfrâng pe Sigismund Bathory. Cu toate acestea, la 9/19 august, din ordinul lui Basta, Mihai Viteazul este ucis pe Câmpia Turzii. După asasinarea lui Mihai şi înfrângerea lui Bathory, Basta ajunge comandant militar al Transilvaniei, dar cruzimea sa reuşeşte să atragă nemulţumirea generală. Sub conducerea sa, nelegiuirile şi omorurile se înmulţesc în toată Transilvania. În 1604 cheamă la Cluj pe nobilii unguri, prilej cu care spânzură pe câţiva din ei. Tot atunci Rudolf al II-lea decide să îl recheme, astfel Transilvania scapă definitiv de Basta. Retras din cariera militară, scrie câteva tratate militare. Moare la Praga în 1607. Memoriile Memoriile lui Basta au fost redactate de Spontoni, sub titlul Historia della Transilvania, raccolta dal cavalier Ciro Spontoni e registrata dal cavalier Ferdinando Donno',' Veneţia.

http://enciclopediaromaniei.ro/wiki/Giorgio_Basta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Basta

Le pirate Khair-ed-Din Barbarossa, un des plus grands marins de son temps..



Khizir Khayr ad-Dîn (Barbaros Hızır Hayreddin Paşa, خير الدين ) (ou Chair ad Din, Cheireddin) dit Barberousse, grand amiral de l'Empire ottoman, frère cadet d'Arudj Reïs, né en 1476 dans l'île de Lesbos (Mytilène), mort le 4 juillet 1546 en Costantinople. Il a été Pacha et de Beylerbey dans la régence d'Alger. Il fut, tout comme Andréa Doria un grand marin.

Son père Yacoub Reïs, potier de Mytilène, originaire de Yannitsa, et sa mère Catalina étaient chrétiens, d'origine sans doute Albanaise, mais d'autres théories soutiennent qu'il était issu d'une mère grecque. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khayr_ad-Din_Barberousse

Of his brother, Arouj Barbarossa: "Having, by his success in piracy on the coast of Barbary, made himself master of 12 galleys.. he rendered himself so formidible, that.. the ruler of the country about Algiers, called in his assistance against the Spaniards. Being admitted into Algiers he caused (the ruler) to be strangled.. and himself proclaimed king". (- Enc. Americana, 1829-54, p. 561)

"Ekrem Rechid wrote of him (Khair), 'he saw the earth, the entire earth with its continents, its seas, its coasts and its vast expanses of desert, and he dreamed of a wonderful empire which could stretch all the way from the East to the West - to the West, beyond the ocean, and the New World. He dreamed of populating the New World with virile men and of planting there his Standard and his Religion. He dreamed of conquering the Indies and of reaching China..'. This poetic conception of the great Kheir-ed-Din is, perhaps, not so far removed from the truth. Yet it is also true that he pursued his objectives (whatever they may ultimately have been) in a pragmatic fashion".

"From this time [1543] he seems to have declined active service, and to have given himself up to a voluptuous life among his female captives, until the age of 80, when he died.. With the ferocity of a corsair, he possessed some generous sentiments, and obtained a character for honor and fidelity in his engagements". (- Enc. Americana, 1829-54, p. 561)

"In Turkey he is the subject of many children's books, and he often appears in cartoon magazines where he features as a cross between a Ottoman Francis Drake and Robin Hood.. His life violent, his death peaceful, and his achievements extraordinary, the Turkish annals for the year 1546 records simply 'The king of the Sea is dead'".



http://trefaucube.free.fr/index.php?id=45
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakup_A%C4%9Fa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasan_Pash ... barossa%29

Lica Palli, la 'novella Saffo' (1798-1875)..

1827, ad Angelica Palli, Alessandro Manzoni:
Prole eletta dal Ciel, Saffo novella
che la prisca Sorella
di tanto avanzi in bei versi celesti
e in santi modi onesti,
canti della infelice tua rivale,
del Siculo sleale
nello scoglio fatal, m'attristi; ed io
ai numeri dolenti
t'offro il plauso migliore, il pianto mio.
Ma tu credilo intanto ad alma schietta,
che d'insigne vendetta
l'ombra illustre per te placata fora,
se il villano amator vivesse ancora.
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[col][Porsí arbëreshët e Italisë..] Angelica Palli Bartolommei (alb. Lica Palli, gr. Αγγελική Πάλλη) nacque a Livorno il 22 novembre 1798 da genitori greci: il padre, Panajotti, console greco a Livorno, era epirota [dalla Çameria, terre albanesi, dal 1914 poi furono occupate dalla Grecia], e la madre Dorotea era lacedemone [αρβανιτες?]; di famiglia agiata, studiò con maestri molto noti nell'ambiente livornese, e iniziò a improvvisare versi fino dall'adolescenza. Le sue attenzioni da scrittrice si intensificarono anche sull'Epiro. Studiò il greco antico e il moderno, ed ebbe a maestro nelle lettere italiane il chiarissimo De Coureil. In Albania, Angelica Palli non era molto conosciuta, neanche oggi è molto conosciuta. Un ricercatore, Niko Stylos, ne ha scritto un saggio dal titolo "Vajza çame e dhjaspora". Niko Stylos raccontando di lei dice: "era uno dei nomi più grandi dell'accademia.. in Italia.. ha scritto poesie in lingua albanese e gli albanesi non la conoscono". Dedicò molte poesie all'Epiro agli Albanesi e ai Greci. Nel 1814 scriveva la sua prima tragedia, "Tieste", nel 1819 divenne membro dell'Accademia Labronica, assumendo il nome di Zelmira, e continuò a organizzare riunioni letterarie nel salotto della sua casa. Fu, come il padre, appassionata della cultura classica e fu molto apprezzata sia come scrittrice che come poetessa, tanto da essere denominata “novella Saffo”. Nel 1824 la scrittrice, unica donna a essere ammessa al Gabinetto scientifico-letterario, fu ospite a Parigi di Giovan Pietro Vieusseux che la invitò a collaborare all'Antologia, ma la Palli, non sentendosi in grado di sostenere la collaborazione richiesta, non accettò la proposta. Sposò Giovan Paolo Bartolomei, appartenente ad una delle più importanti famiglie livornesi dell’epoca, e, come il padre, convinta assertrice della libertà e dell’ autodeterminazione dei popoli, profuse ingenti mezzi per aiutare il risorgimento italiano. Fu infatti l’animatrice del salotto di Palazzo Bartolomei sugli Scali del pesce nel quartiere di Venezia, che fu il maggior centro della propaganda mazziniana negli anni compresi tra il 1820 e il 1840. Il salotto fu frequentato da illustri personaggi, tra i quali spiccano i nomi di Domenico Guerrazzi, Carlo Bini, Alessandro Manzoni e Lamartine. In quegli anni Angelica Palli scrisse soprattutto prose e novelle di ispirazione sociale e pedagogica, si orientò verso la letteratura civile e iniziò a collaborare a giornali e strenne moderate, quali soprattutto "La Viola del Pensiero". Intensa fu la sua attività politica: nel 1847 si occupò dell'organizzazione delle milizie volontarie toscane e, l'anno successivo, prese a collaborare al giornale fiorentino "La Patria" inviando le notizie che le giungevano dal campo. Morì nel 1875 mentre stava per realizzare una scuola superiore femminile. Livorno, per onorarla, intitolò a suo nome l’Istituto Magistrale e una strada. Poiché dimorò per alcuni anni a Fauglia nei mesi autunnali, i caldi colori delle nostre campagne e la dolcezza dei nostri tramonti saranno stati ispiratori di alcune delle sue liriche che le valsero la lode dei più grandi ingegni del suo tempo.
-------|Una poesia in albanese di Angelica Palli:

- U s'ika ka turpi,
po ika nga halli:
për një djalë mali
po më diqte malli.
U s'ika ka halli,
po ika ka turpi:
për një djalë mali
më digjej vuxhuti.
- Si një zok u bëçë,
të erdha një natë:
të gjeta në gjumë,
nek flërje në shkallë.
U ulçë të putha,
të putha në ballë:
hape sitë e qeshe,
më zure në qafë.
Të thaçë «mos folë
se na ndjen jot-ëmë,
që ka rënë e fle
poshtë atje në lëmë!».
Ti më the «mos folë,
se na ndjen im-atë,
që po fle në dhria,
dhe na bën hatanë!».
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Niccolò Leonico Tomeo (1456-1531), The Grecist of Albanian origin.


Leonico Tomeo, Niccolò. Dee annoverarsi tra' primi, che, odiando il barbaro metodo di valersi delle antiche versioni del filosofo Aristotele, e di seguire i delirii e le follie degli arabi commentatori, prese a esaminare studiosamente le opere nel loro original greco, ed a purgarle dai gravissimi errori ond'erano imbrattate. Era egli nato a Venezia nel 1456 ed era oriondo dall'Albania, ove suo padre era nato. Studiò in Firenze la lingua greca alla scuola di Demetrio Calcondila, e tanto in essa si avanzò, che potè poscia intraprendere ciò che non si era ancor fatto, a spiegare Aristotile nell'original testo greco. A tal fine fu egli chiamato a Padova fin dal 1497. Il Facciolati soggiungne, che il Leonico passò poscia nel 1504 a Venezia a tenervi scuola di lingua greca e latina. Il Beccadelli, racconta, che in Padova egli ebbe a suo maestro il Leonico, uomo dottissimo, e che lo udì spiegare in greco molti libri di Aristotele e di Platone. In Padova egli era parimenti nel 1525, quando il Bembo faceva questo elogio: "Maestro Leonico, uomo e di vita e di scienza filosofo illustre, e dotto ugualmente, nelle Latine e nelle Greche lettere; ed è sempre visso e dimorato in esse". Il Bembo scrisse della molteplice erudizione e dell'amabile carattere di questo filosofo: "Leonico Thomaeo VEneto mitioribus in literis pangendisque carminibus ingenio amabili, philosophiae vero in studiis, et academica peripateticaque doctrina praestatnti; nam et Aristotelicos libros Graeco sermone Patavii primus omnium docuit, scholamque illam a Latinis interpretibus inculcatam pervolvit, et Platonis majestatem nostris homnibus jam prope abditam restituit, multaque praeterea scripsit, muklta interpretatus est, multos claros viros eruditt, praeter virtutem bonasque artes tota in vita nullius rei appetens". E veramente fu il Leonico uomo che con esempio assai raro congiunse insieme i serii studi della filosofia co' piacevoli dell'erudizione e della eleganza. I dieci Dialoghi su diversi argomenti, altri filosofici, altri morali, altri di diverse materie, sono scritti in uno stile assai colto, e lo stesso deve dirsi dei libri De vari Historia, opera che ci scuopre ad un tempo e le molte cognizioni da lui acquisitate leggendo, e lo studio da lui fatto sulla lingua latina. La stessa eleganza si scorge nelle traduzioni ch'egli ci ha date di parecchie opere d'Aristotele, di Proclo e di altri antichi filosofi, alcune delle quali illustrò ancora co'suoi commenti.
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Nicholas Leonicus Thomaeus or Tomaeus was a lesser known Renaissance humanist and Aristotelic scholar and teacher who lived in Padua and Venice until 1497. The Venice-born of Epirotic origin, a student of Demetrios Chalkondylas in Florence, taught philosophy at Padova from 1497 onwards and is said to be the first modern scholar to have based his Aristotle lectures on the original Greek text. He taught Greek philosophy and especially the texts of Aristotle and Plato. He held the post for Aristotelian philosophy at the University of Padua; he achieved fame there as the first professor to teach Aristotle in the original language. Influenced by Marsilius Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, Leonico tried to wed the Platonic doctrine of ideas to Aristotle's psychology. He turned down the Venetian chair of Greek (left vacant by Giorgio Valla), but assisted Aldus Manutius. Tomaeus is known among philologists for his contribution to the translation of Plato's work Moralia. Tomaeus had among his students a young Nicholas Copernicus. There are letters written by Erasmus that attest to his respect for Tomaeus's personality and extraordinary scholarship. Among the editions that Tomaeus published were many of literary importance. He translated the work of the Greek traveller Pausanias and also of the physician Galen.

«The experiences of English students in Padua was crucial to shaping English humanism, legal dhe political theory and practice, medicine, and natural philosophy during the Tudor period. The university and city of Padua were "the most favoured foreign destination for English students in the period between 1485 and 1603", and here English students were introduced to humanistic studies by classical scholars such as Niccolo Leonico Tomeo, were taught the civil and canon law which prepared them for diplomatic and ecclesiastical careers, ands were exposed to the "medical humanism" and humanistic natural philosophy of the Paduan studium. Indeed, Woolfson argues that "Padua did what Italy as a whole is always supposed to have done for Renaissance England", introducing Englishmen to the study of Greek and humanistic Aristotelianism». (J.Woolfson, Padua and the Tudors, 1485-1603, 1998).
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The First Picture of a Dental Forceps in a Printed Book

Niccolò Leonico Tomeo authored numerous volumes on a variety of themes, and was principally responsible for reintroducing the works of Aristotle in the original Greek. In one of Tomeo’s works, he included a picture of forceps holding an extracted tooth. This was the first time a forceps was pictured in a printed book.

The invention of printing in Europe, using movable type, is credited to Johann Gutenberg who published the first printed Bible in 1455. Just 70 years later, there appeared a book which contained the very first printed picture of a dental forceps. Surprisingly, it was not a book on dentistry! It was the work of the Renaissance scholar, philosopher and Aristotelian, Niccolo Leonico Tomeo, and was published by Bernardinius Vitalis in Venice in February 1525. The author, since 1497 a professor of philosophy at Padua University, set out to explain some of the theories of the great Greek philosopher-cum-scientist, Aristotle. Leonicò Tomeo was born in 1456 or 1457 and died in March of either 1531 or 1533. He authored numerous volumes on a variety of themes, his last work De Varia Historia, Libri Tres published in Venice in 1531, shortly before his death. He was an author of extraordinary beauty and style, and was principally responsible for reintroducing the works of Aristotle in the original Greek. As a result of Tomeo’s writings, new attention was paid to Aristotle and a whole era of academic study of his works was opened.

Tomeo’s Work on Aristotle.

Aristotle is thought to have authored more than 150 philosophical treatises; only 30 of which have survived to our day. They cover an enormous field of philosophical problems, ranging from biology (he is called "The Father of Biology") to physics, morals, ethics, esthetics, and politics. In the Middle Ages, leading scholars such as Pico della Mirandola and Francesco Piccolomini, as well as Tomeo - all of whom studied at Padua - enthusiastically endorsed Aristotle’s theories. However, with the coming of the Renaissance, key scholars such as Francis Bacon, Erasmus, Thomas More, and Galileo challenged Aristotle’s theories. Aristotle differed from the more modern thinkers in his belief that the universe never had a beginning, would never change and would never end. To him it was finite. But to Isaac Newton, the cosmos was fundamentally different; it was open, differentiated and infinite. And when Copernicus brought forth his theory that the earth and planets circled the sun, Aristotle’s universe was overthrown forever.

Tomeo’s Elucidation of Aristotle’s Theory of Motion.

One of Aristotle’s most well-known works was his treatise Meteorology. Today the word refers to the study of the weather, but Aristotle meant it in a broader sense, using it to discuss the nature of the earth. The book, which is the subject of this paper, is Opuscula Nuper in Lucem Aedita, and whose title self-effacingly characterizes the book as only a “little work". Included in this work by Tomeo is one of the earliest printed commentaries on Plato’s work, Timaeus, which dealt with his beliefs on the nature of phenomena including physiology, nutrition, disease and locomotion. Plato was Aristotle’s teacher and thus many of the teacher’s doctrines were further examined by the pupil. Aristotle had an overriding interest in physics. He wrote extensively on various aspects of the field and dealt at length with what he regarded as the laws of motion. He enunciated four basic rules regarding motion. So Tomeo set out to clearly define what Aristotle was. And to illustrate the fourth of Aristotle’s rules of motion - that which brings about change of place - used the example of a tooth being extracted from its bony socket. «Why can doctors more easily pull out teeth with forceps, than with the hand alone?» he asked and went on to discuss how the leverage action of the forceps added to the mechanical force needed to move the tooth. To illustrate this he included in his treatise a picture of a forceps holding, in its beaks, an extracted tooth.






A portion of a page from Tomeo’s book with the first printed picture of a dental forceps.

This is the very first time a forceps was pictured in a printed book. As far as a picture in a printed book is concerned, a search has turned up none earlier than Tomeo’s work. Even the Artzney Buchlein, the first book devoted entirely to dentistry, wasn’t published till five years after Tomeo’s work. Thus a work dealing with a resurrected study of aspects of the universe by an ancient Greek philosopher, serendipitously gives us the first printed picture of a tooth extraction forceps.
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In the middle of XV century, in European Renaissance, it was necessary to study the Aristotle in original Greek, because translations from Arab in Latin had caused considerable alterations in the meaning of original texts. This task in the beginning was trusted to Leonico Tomeo, which, not only opened the way for the studying of the Aristotle in original, but himself made important interpretations about philosophic and social problems and gave his arguments about concepts of natural sciences, as for motion, atoms etc. He translated some works of Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy etc, from the Greek to Latin. The work of Tomeo gave revolutionary results and prepared the way for the scientific method of Galileo, which from Padua, where worked and lived Tomeo and later, Galileo, propagates in all European universities.

http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/nic ... ografico)/
http://www.internetculturale.it/opencms ... metaindice
http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/ ... thomae.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Leonicus_Thomaeus
http://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonik_Tomeu