Ransanus, Petrus

Name:

Ransanus, Petrus Variant names:

• Ranzano, Pietro
• Ranzanus, Petrus

Biographical Details:

Ransanus was a Dominican friar, historian, humanist and scholar who is best known for his work, 'De primordiis et progressu felicis urbis Panormi', a history of the city of Palermo. In 1488 he was sent to Hungary, to the court of Matthias Corvinus as the envoy of the Kingdom of Naples. The queen, Beatrice of Naples commissioned him to write a history of Hungary. Ranzano’s death in 1492 marks the end of an era, that being of multicultural Sicily as that year would coincide with expulsion of the Jews from Sicily. Ranzano’s History of Palermo remains the only Sicilian historical account which takes a significant look at the Jews as well as Jewish culture.

Further Information:

B. Figliuolo, 'Europa, Oriente, Mediterraneo nell'opera dell'umanista palermitano Pietro Ranzano', in Europa e Mediterraneo tra medioevo e prima eta moderna: l'osservatorio italiano (Pisa: Pacini, 1992), 316-361. N. Zeldes, 'The Last Multi-Cultural Encounter in Medieval Sicily: A Dominican Scholar, an Arabic Inscription, and a Jewish Legend', in Mediterranean Historical Review, 21 (2), 159-191.

Categorisation:

Dates: 1428 to 1492 Century: 15th century AD Geographical area: Italy Place: Palermo [Geonames ID cnl00012635] Period: Humanist Characterisation: religious Profession: scholar

Works:

• author
  1. tir00028450 Ransanus, Petrus Oratio in funere Francisci de Toleto, Cauriensis episcopi, habita 1479

Gender:

Male

Birth Year:

1428

Death Year:

1492

CERL Id:

cnp00973881

Author Id:

14644