Albanian philosopher
Marino Becichemo
or
Marin Becikemi
(c. 1468 ? 1526) was an
Albanian
scholar and orator who was a prominent
humanist
in the cities of
Brescia
and later
Padua
in the
Republic of Venice
in the early 16th century. He maintained a humanist school and was a professor in the
University of Padua
. He wrote commentaries about classical Latin literature and was well known for his orations in the region of Venice.
Early life
[
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]
Becikemi came from an Albanian family in
Scutari
(Shkoder), then part of the
Venetian possessions
in Albania.
[1]
[3]
He was probably born in 1468.
Many of the biographical details about his family come from several orations and letters he wrote including a
panegyric
which he wrote in 1503 and directed to the Venetian senate as a laudation for the resettlement of 2,000 Albanian refugees from Shkodra in Italy after the fall of the city to the Ottomans. His grandfather Pietro was, together with Stefano Ionina, an Albanian ambassador serving in Venice.
His grandfather and his brother's grandfather had died in the defense of Drisht against
Stefan Bal?i?
(1429)
His father, Marino, was a secretary of the
Republic of Venice
at the
Ottoman court
for about thirty years.
The only information about his mother comes from
Apostolo Zeno
who writes that she was Bianca Pagnano, daughter of Guglielmo Pagnano who hailed from a
Milanese
merchant family active in Venetian Dalmatia. Becikemi's father, his brothers, his uncle Stefan and many other relatives fought in the
siege of Shkodra
in 1478?79.
[6]
In 1477, he had been sent to nearby
Dulcigno
just before the beginning of the siege. In total, 26 members out of 30 of his family died in the siege of Shkodra ? including his father.
[7]
[6]
Becikemi, who was eleven at the time, was sent to
Brescia
to study. The events of the siege of Shkodra were of great significance to Becikemi who often recalled them and referred to his community even many years after they had settled in Italy as
noi miseri profughi albanesi
("we, the miserable Albanian refugees") and called himself
infelice profugo
(an unhappy refugee).
Career
[
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]
In Brescia, Becikemi studied
Latin
and
Ancient Greek
.
In 1484, at only 17 years of age, he held a speech in the city in honour of mayor
Marco Antonio Morosini
.
At that time, he returned to Dulcigno where he married Caterina, the daughter of the local nobleman Pasquale Dabri whose mother belonged to the
Bruti family
.
[1]
From this point onwards began Becikemi academic career. Between 1492 and 1496 he taught at the grammar school of the
Republic of Ragusa
.
His commentary on classical Latin authors
Castigationes et observationes in Virgilium , Ovidium , Ciceronem , Servium et Priscianum
was published during this time, in 1495, and was dedicated to the Ragusan Senate. In Ragusa he befriended humanist and poet
Ivan Gu?eti?
(1451?1502). He was since October 1496 the secretary of Venetian
patrician
Melchiorre Trevisan
, when the latter was
provvedittore
of the Venetian fleet based in the lands of
Ferdinand II of Naples
, and later
provvedittore generale
in the areas which passed from the
Duchy of Milan
to Venice in 1499. In Brescia, Becikemi tutored the son of
Girolamo Donato
(1495?1497).
In 1500, Becikemi received Venetian citizenship and opened his personal humanist school. In 1501, he lectured in the university of Brescia and in 1503 he became chairman of the city's municipal school. In Brescia, his first works in Latin were published, such as
Observationum collectanea in primum Historiae naturali librum
(1504?1506).
In 1503 he published a panegyric to the Venetian Senate concerning the relief of the refugees after the siege of Shkodra. He wrote commentaries on
Cicero
,
Pliny the Elder
and other
classical philosophers
. At the
University of Padua
he taught rhetoric.
In 1962 Becikemi's panegyric of 1503 was translated into Albanian and English and included with
Marin Barleti
's work,
The Siege of Shkodra
.
[10]
Published works
[
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]
- Castigationes ad Apuleium Victorinum et Ciceronis opus de Oratore etc. necnon praeceptiones de componenda epistola, funebrique et nuptiali oratione
(1495)
- Praelectio in C Plinium …
(1503)
- Panegyricus serenissimo principi Leonardo Lauretano
(1504)
- Variarum observationum Collectanea
(27 August 1504)
[11]
- Observationum collectanea in primum Historiae naturali librum
(1504?1506)
Notes
[
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]
^
His name is spelt in
Italian
:
Marin Becichemo, Marino Becichemi da Scutari
,
Albanian
:
Marin Becikemi
,
Serbo-Croatian
:
Marin Be?i?
/Марин Бечи?. His surname is also spelt Becicco, Bezicco, Bicichemo, Becichio.
[12]
References
[
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]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Barleti, Marin (2012).
The Siege of Shkodra: Albania's Courageous Stand Against Ottoman Conquest, 1478
. Translated by David Hosaflook. Onufri.
ISBN
978-9995687779
.
- Bietenholz, Pieter; Deutscher, Thomas Brian, eds. (2003).
Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation, Volumes 1?3
. University of Toronto Press.
ISBN
0802085776
.
- Clough, Cecil H. (1965).
"BECICHEMO, Marino"
.
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
, Volume 7: Bartolucci?Bellotto
(in Italian). Rome:
Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
.
ISBN
978-8-81200032-6
.
- Gianna Pomata (2005).
Historia: Empiricism and Erudition in Early Modern Europe
. MIT Press. pp. 109, 138.
ISBN
978-0-262-16229-6
.
- John Monfasani (1994).
Language and Learning in Renaissance Italy: Selected Articles
. Ashgate Publishing Company. p. 176.
ISBN
978-0-86078-403-6
.
- Nadin, Lucia (2008).
Migrazioni e integrazione: il caso degli Albanesi a Venezia (1479-1552)
. Bulzoni.
ISBN
978-8878703407
.
- Signaroli, Simone (2009).
Maestri e tipografi a Brescia, 1471-1519: l'impresa editoriale dei britannici fra istituzioni civili e cultura umanistica nell'occidente della Serenissima
. Edizioni Torre d'Ercole.
ISBN
978-88-96755-00-6
.
- Malcolm, Noel (2015).
Agents of Empire: Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in the Sixteenth-century Mediterranean World
. Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-19-026278-5
.
- Downey, Kristin (2014).
Isabella: The Warrior Queen
. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
ISBN
978-0-385-53412-3
.
- Preto, Paolo (2010).
I servizi segreti di Venezia. Spionaggio e controspionaggio ai tempi della Serenissima
. Il Saggiatore.
ISBN
978-88-565-0164-3
.
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