View source for Cecco d'Ascoli

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'''Cecco d'Ascoli''' (1257 – September 26, 1327) is the popular name of '''Francesco degli Stabili''' (sometimes given as '''Francesco degli Stabili Cichus'''), an Italian encyclopaedist, physician and poet. Cecco (in [[Latin]], ''Cichus'') is the diminutive of Francesco, Ascoli was the place of his birth. The [[lunar crater]] [[Cichus (crater)|Cichus]] is named after him.
==Life==
Born in [[Folignano]], near Fonte a cagnà in Case di Coccia, he devoted himself to the study of [[mathematics]] and [[astrology]]. In 1322 he was made professor of astrology at the [[University of Bologna]]. It is alleged that he entered the service of [[Pope John XXII]] at [[Avignon]], and that he cultivated the acquaintance of [[Dante]] only to quarrel with the great poet afterwards; but of this there is no evidence.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
Having published a commentary on the ''[[Tractatus de Sphaera|Sphere]]'' of [[John de Sacrobosco]], in which he propounded audacious theories concerning the employment and agency of [[demon]]s, he got into difficulties with the clerical party, and was condemned in 1324 to certain fasts and prayers, and to the payment of a fine of seventy crowns. To elude this sentence he went to [[Florence]], where he was attached to the household of [[Carlo di Calabria]]. His pseudo-science and plain speaking had made him many enemies; he had attacked the ''[[The Divine Comedy|Commedia]]'' of Dante, and the ''Canzone d'amore'' of [[Guido Cavalcanti]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The physician [[Dino del Garbo]] was indefatigable in pursuit of him; and the old accusation of impiety being renewed, Cecco was again tried and sentenced for relapse into [[heresy]]. He was burned at Florence the day after the sentence, in his seventieth year.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
==Publications==
[[File:It. sett.le, cecco d'ascoli, liber acerbe etatis, xiv sec., pluteo 38v 01.JPG|thumb|300px|''Liber acerbe etatis'', XIV sec., [[Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana]], pluteo 38v 01]]
[[File:Cecco - Acerba, Anno MCCCCLXXXIIII die XII febuarii (!) - 2374087 ic00362000 Scan00008.jpg|thumb|Incipit of ''Acerba'', 1484]]
Cecco d'Ascoli left many works in manuscript, most of which have never been published. The book by which he achieved his renown and which contributed to his execution <ref>https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0262.xml {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref> was the ''[[Acerba (book)|Acerba]]'' (from ''acervus''), an encyclopaedic poem, of which in 1546, the date of the last reprint, more than twenty editions had been issued.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} It is a compendium for the contemporary natural science of the time, including "the order and influences of the heavens, the characteristics and properties of animals and precious stones, the causes of phenomena such as meteors and earthquakes—and of commonplace moral philosophy".<ref>[http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198183327.001.0001/acref-9780198183327-e-734 Oxford Reference - Cecco d'Ascoli]</ref> The work actually consists of four books in {{lang|it|sesta rima}} (six-line [[stanza]]s in a specific rhyming scheme). The first book treats of [[astronomy]] and [[meteorology]]; the second of [[astrology]], of [[physiognomy]], and of the vices and virtues; the third of [[mineral]]s and of the love of animals; while the fourth propounds and solves a number of moral and physical problems. Of a fifth book, on [[theology]], the initial chapter alone was completed.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
==Works==
* {{Cite book|title=Illustre poeta Ceco d'Ascoli con comento|volume=|publisher=Candido Bindoni|location=Venezia|year=1550|language=it|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1256344}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Bibliography==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Cecco d’Ascoli|volume=5|page=593}}
*{{cite book|title=Acerba etas|editor=Marco Albertazzi|location= Trento|publisher= La Finestra editrice |year=2005}}
*{{cite book|title=Studi stabiliani|editor=Marco Albertazzi|location= Trento|publisher= La Finestra editrice |year=2002}}
*{{DBI|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/francesco-stabili_(Dizionario-Biografico)|first=Sara|last=Ferrilli|title=STABILI, Francesco|volume=93}}
*{{cite book|last= Thorndike |first= Lynn |title=History of Magic and Experimental Science, vol. 2|location= New York|publisher= MacMillan |year=1934 |pages= 953–4, 959}}
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[[Category:13th-century births]]
[[Category:1327 deaths]]
[[Category:14th-century Italian physicians]]
[[Category:14th-century Italian writers]]
[[Category:Italian poets]]
[[Category:Italian male poets]]
[[Category:People executed for heresy]]
[[Category:Executed Italian people]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Teramo]]
[[Category:Victims of the Inquisition]]
[[Category:People executed by Florence]]
[[Category:People from Teramo]]