Ser Petracco
Encyclopedia
Notary public
A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...
(s), the same office that Ser Petracco held in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. The family did have a small property in Florence, however were of very little material goods and living basically on the edge of poverty. His wife's name was Eletta Canigianic (1270–1319), the mother to Petrarch, whom he married around 1302.
Ser Petracco was a merchant and also worked for the State. Before he was 35 years old he had already held many high public positions. He was "Chancellor of the Commission for the Reforms" as well as a delegate of an important embassy to Pisa in 1301. At the end of 1302 of his political career he was falsely charged of legal matters in his absence. The sentence was a fine of 1000 Lira
Lira
Lira is the name of the monetary unit of a number of countries, as well as the former currency of Italy, Malta, San Marino and the Vatican City and Israel. The term originates from the value of a Troy pound of high purity silver. The libra was the basis of the monetary system of the Roman Empire...
or the loss of his right hand. He refused to pay the fine and his property was taken from him. He belonged to the bourgeois party of the White Guelphs
Guelphs and Ghibellines
The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in central and northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the split between these two parties was a particularly important aspect of the internal policy of the Italian city-states...
along with the famous poet Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
, being its most illustrious member. They both were then exiled from Florence by the apposing party, the Black Guelphs.
Francesco Petrarch was an "Aretine
Aretine
Aretine can refer to:* A person from Arezzo in Tuscany, Italy* Arretine ware...
" by these mere circumstances - as he always thought of himself really as a Florentine. The family, along with Dante and others that exiled to Arezzo
Arezzo
Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
, were not welcomed there. Ser Petracco had to seek employment elsewhere, however his wife and baby Francesco were permitted to go to their little family house they owned in Incisa with relatives.
A family story goes that Francesco was about seven months old when he and his mother moved back to Incisa. Baby Francesco was being transported in a sling arrangement carried over a servant's shoulder. The servant was mounted on a horse. When they crossed through the flooded Arno river the horse slipped and fell. Baby Francesco and the servant went headlong into the water. With much determination and inner strength the servant saved baby Francesco - nearly losing his life in the process! This shows how a single event in Destiny
Destiny
Destiny or fate refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual...
can ultimately have such a profound effect.
Ser Petracco periodically visited the family in Incisca from his out of town employment. In 1307 Francesco's brother Gherardo was born. About 1310 they were all reunited for a year in Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
. Around 1311 Ser Petracco got employment in Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
where the papal court
Papal court
The Papal Household or Pontifical Household , called until 1968 the Papal Court , consists of dignitaries who assist the Pope in carrying out particular ceremonies of either a religious or a civil character....
had moved to from Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Then in 1312 the boys and his wife moved to Carpentras
Carpentras
Carpentras is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It stands on the banks of the Auzon...
, where they lived happily for the next four years. Ser Petracco lived in Avignon most of this time because of his employment there in the profession of law. In 1316 he then sent Petrarch and his brother to study law at the University of Montpellier
University of Montpellier
The University of Montpellier was a French university in Montpellier in the Languedoc-Roussillon région of the south of France. Its present-day successor universities are the University of Montpellier 1, Montpellier 2 University and Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III.-History:The university...
.