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FRANCESCO PETRARCA, 1304 - 1374
Epytaphium Petrarce
On paper
Northern Italy, first half of the 15th century
Marston MS 80, ff. 151v - 152r
Epitaphs, inscribed on public monuments or collected into manuscripts, signaled a renewed interest in commemorating the dead in the 14th and 15th centuries. In Marston MS 80, Petrarch's epitaph appears at the top of f. 151v: “Frigida francisci …” In addition to Petrarch’s, there are epitaphs for Seneca, the venerable Bede, St. Jerome, Nicola de Carturis, Virgil, and Dante. It is known that Petrarch composed epitaphs for his friends and acquaintances, and he may well have written his own, which can be seen yet today inscribed on his raised tomb in Arquà:
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Frigida Francisci lapis hic tegit ossa petrarce
Suscipe virgo parens animam sate virgine parce
Fessaque iam terris celli requiescat in arce.
(This stone covers the cold remains of Francesco
Petrarca. Embrace, oh Virgin Mother, his soul,
and you who are born of the Virgin forgive it, and
already tired of the earth, may it rest in the high heavens)
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