Manuel Chrysoloras

Manuel Chrysoloras
Engraving of Manuel Chrysoloras
Born	ca. 1355 Constantinople
Died	15 April 1415 Free imperial city of Constance
Nationality	Greek
Occupation	Diplomat, scholar and teacher
Years active	1390 – 1415
Known for	Translating works of Homer and Plato into Latin
Notable work	Erotemata Civas Questiones

Manuel (or Emmanuel) Chrysoloras (Greek: Μανουὴλ Χρυσολωρᾶς; c. 1355 – 15 April 1415) was a pioneer in the introduction of Greek literature to Western Europe during the late middle ages.

Chrysoloras was born in Constantinople to a distinguished family. In 1390, he led an embassy sent to Venice by the emperor Manuel II Palaeologus to implore the aid of the Christian princes against the Muslim Turks. Roberto de' Rossi of Florence met him in Venice, and, in 1395, Rossi's acquaintance Giacomo da Scarperia set off for Constantinople to study Greek with Chrysoloras. In 1396, Coluccio Salutati, the Chancellor of Florence, invited him to Florence to teach Greek grammar and literature, quoting Cicero:

Chrysoloras arrived in the winter of 1397, an event remembered by one of his most famous pupils, the humanist scholar Leonardo Bruni, as a great new opportunity: there were many teachers of law, but no one had studied Greek in northern Italy for 700 years. Another very famous pupil of Chrysoloras was Ambrogio Traversari, who became general of the Camaldolese order. Chrysoloras remained only a few years in Florence, from 1397 to 1400, teaching Greek, starting with the rudiments. He moved on to teach in Bologna and later in Venice and Rome. Though he taught widely, a handful of his chosen students remained a close-knit group, among the first humanists of the Renaissance. Among his pupils were numbered some of the foremost figures of the revival of Greek studies in Renaissance Italy. Aside from Bruni and Ambrogio Traversari, they included Guarino da Verona and Palla Strozzi.