Lauro Quirini

Lauro Quirini (b. 1420–d. 1479) was a major Venetian humanist of the mid-15th century. He was born into a patrician family and pursued academic interests in his early life. He studied at the University of Padua, receiving doctoral degrees in arts in 1440 and law in 1448. Quirini was a recognized master in Greek and Latin, and he used his linguistic skills to spread his love of Aristotle in the original Greek. He participated in a number of controversies with fellow humanists (such as Poggio Bracciolini, Leonardo Bruni, and Lorenzo Valla) and corresponded with others. He translated a number of works into Latin from Greek and wrote a series of treatises concerning nobility. These treatises—which use Aristotelian categories to argue that nobility is an inborn attribute of the patriciate—are one of Quirini’s major legacies. In 1452, though, he relocated from Venice to Crete where his family owned lands. He remained there for the rest of his life, trading in a number of commodities. While on Crete, Quirini acted as a go-between book dealer for Cardinal Bessarion, with whom he maintained a lifelong relationship. As a result of his relocation, Quirini did not participate in Venetian domestic politics, a feature that differentiates him from other Venetian humanists, who usually pursued an active political career alongside their intellectual interests. Quirini’s second contemporary legacy is the series of letters he wrote from Crete concerning his worries about the advance of the Ottoman Empire after its conquest of Constantinople. In true humanist fashion, he particularly highlighted the impact that the fall of this ancient capital had on culture, maintaining that Turkish victories threatened the continued existence and preservation of countless antique manuscripts.

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