DECEMBRIO, PIER CANDIDO

(1399-1477)

   Milanese humanist, most often remembered as a critic of the Florentine humanist and chancellor Leonardo Bruni. His Panegyric of Milan (ca. 1436) was a pro-Milanese and monarchist response to the republican and pro-Florentine outlook represented in Bruni's writings. It was written during Decembrio's many years of service (1419-1447) as secretary to Filippo Maria Visconti, the last Visconti duke of Milan, a dangerous enemy of the Florentine republic. Decembrio also wrote a life of his patron and produced a great number of translations from Greek into Latin and from Latin into Italian. Decembrio also became known as the author of a large correspondence in Latin, much of it written in his role as chancellor. After his patron's death in 1447, Decembrio spent some time in papal service, then lived at the court of King Alfonso V of Naples, and finally at the court of the Este dukes of Ferrara.