Renaissance Text Series (RTS), Vol. 19

Early Renaissance Invective and the Controversies of Antonio da Rho

The Milanese Franciscan Antonio da Rho (1395-1447) has mostly left his mark as a humanist, even though he received the traditional Franciscan theological training and consistently styled himself a theologian. Rho found classical invective to be his best defense in his controversies and was among the first of the humanists to use it extensively in his Apology against a certain Archdeacon (1427/28) and his Philippic against Antonio Panormita (1431/32). In his Philippic he defended himself against Antonio Panormita, the author of the Hermaphrodite, who began composing invective poetry that ridiculed Rho with obscene insults. This controversy with Panormita also involved Rho with the broader issue of the utility of the poets and poetry that frequently engaged the early humanists. In his attempt to discredit and vilify Panormita personally and professionally, Rho resorted to any piece of gossip. He exploited allegations about sexual taboos, played to Lombard xenophobia, and even denounced Panormita as a heretic. In reading these texts, the reader has to grapple with things that are profoundly complex. Rho compounds the complexity through the use of the genre of rhetorical invective and by his recourse to its standard themes and topics.