The Best Friend of Petrarch
Philippe formed a long lasting friendship with Petrarch from 1337 until his death in 1372. Philippe had a villa not far from Avignon in the village of Vaucluse high on a cliff with a view. Petrarch built a home in Vaucluse after visiting his friend Philippe, who had built his castle on the site of a 7th century BC Oppidem. From Philippe's castle the view was beautiful and is no wonder the bishop selected this lofty spot.
Living just a short twenty minute walk from one another, they developed a very close relationship that lasted a lifetime. Petrarch dedicated a book to his friend, who "treated him as a brother", despite his later status as Cardinal. Among the intimates of Petrarch's old age there seems to be only one name missing in Petrarch's will, which is Philippe's. Their friendship had begun in 1337 when Petrarch moved to Vaucluse. They stayed close friends up until Philippe's death in 1372. The fact that in spite of this undoubtedly very close relationship Petrarch did not include his friend Philippe in his Last Will and Testament is explained by the assumption that Petrarch could not think of any bequest suitable to a man of such high status as that of a prince.
Petrarch made a collection of 350 letters he personally wrote called Epistolae familiares (a.k.a. Familiar Letters). In among these letters in 1346 Petrarch writes what is called De vita solitaria, a treatise composed of two books and dedicated to Philippe de Cabassoles. In Book XXII of Familiar Letters is Petrarch's books of these letters to Philippe which he delivered 20 years after he wrote them. Also in addition to these books of letters he wrote some very special letters that he held out of the set of Epistolae familiares, which was later put into a set of 19 letters called Liber sine nomine. Letters 1 and 12 are letters Petrarch wrote to his friend Phillippe that are in this reserved set of letters "without a name" of the recipient. Petrarch dedicated his work De vita solitaria to his friend Philip. A dedication to him is in the preface.
Historian Wilkens tells of part of a letter Petrarch sent to Philip in 1371 that shows their friendship,
| “ | May God grant that I regain enough health and strength to make it possible for me to fulfill my heart's desire - a desire made still stronger by the news of your being here among us - my desire to see you once more. But in this, as in all else, God's will be done. If that desire is not to be fulfilled on earth, I shall see you again, God willing, in our heavenly fatherland. Oh may Christ the Lord not deny me this, that after my death I may no longer be separated from him who was so dear to me in this mortal life! | ” |
Read more about this topic: Philippe De Cabassoles
Famous quotes containing the words the best and/or friend:
“The best is the enemy of the good.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent; do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is nearby than kindred who are far away.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Proverbs 27:10.