Ambrose the Camaldolite

AMBROSE THE CAMALDOLITE (Ambrogio Traversari, Lat. Traversarius): Prominent humanist; b. at Portico (36 m. n.e. of Florence) 1386; d. Oct. 20, 1439. He became general of the Order of the Camaldolites in 1431. Pope Eugenius IV. sent him to the Council of Basel, but his exertions in behalf of his master were unsuccessful, as were also his efforts at Ferrara and Florence, 1438-39, toward a union with the Greeks. As an enthusiastic humanist Traversari offers “the first example of a monk in whom the polite scholar is in conflict with the Holy spirit” (G. Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung des klassischen Altertums, i., Berlin, 1893, p. 321). At the table of Cosimo de’ Medici where the most learned met, he took an active part 151 in the conversation about the authors of antiquity. He studied especially the Greek ecclesiastical authors.

K. Benrath.

Bibliography: His epistles, with life by L. Melius, were edited by P. Canneto, Florence, 1759. Consult Creighton, Papacy, ii. 270-272, 277-278, 379.