Bianco da Siena

Bianco di Santi alias Bianco da Siena or Bianco da Lanciolina (Anciolina, 1350 circa - Venice, 1399) was an Italian mystic poet and an imitator of Jacopone da Todi. He wrote several religiously-inspired poems (lauda) that were popular in the Middle Ages. First a wool carder, he eventually became a member of the poor Jesuates, founded by Giovanni Colombini.

Biography

According to Feo Belcari, Bianco da Siena was native of Lanciolina di Valdarno (at present Anciolina, in the province of Arezzo), but he worked as a wool carder at Siena.[1]

His date of birth is uncertain, but probably took place around 1350, since Belcari defines him as very young in 1367, when he entered the Jesuates. This company was founded towards 1360 by Colombini and his friend Francesco Vincenti: they proposed a life of poverty and penitence. In May 1367, Bianco da Siena entered the company and left Siena with them to ask the approval of Pope Urban V. The Jesuates were received with benevolence at Viterbo, where the pontiff stayed with the project to bring the Holy See to Rome. In the meantime, they were suspected of heresy: Colombini assuaged these suspicions, however, several members left the company. During the return to Siena, Colombini fell ill and died at Acquapendente 31 July 1367.

Because of the intervention of the Roman Curia, the Jesuates became a religious order: the members had to give up their roaming life and settled in Tuscany and in Umbria. Bianco da Siena stayed some time in Siena, then went to Città di Castello, which he left before 1383. Afterwards, he travelled with a colleague in Umbria and in Tuscany and he stopped in Pistoia. He settled in Venice, where he died in 1399.[2][3][4][5]

Poetry

Bianco da Siena wrote several religiously-inspired poems. These were widely read in the Middle Ages and they are in many manuscripts. One hundred and twenty-two poems were published, spanning more than twenty thousand lines of verse.[6][7][8][9]

Posterity

Richard Frederick Littledale translated multiple poems into English that have come into common use in the Church.

[13]

Bibliography

Notes

  1. Prose di Feo Belcari edite ed inedite sopra autografi e testi a penna. Tipgrafia Salviucci. 1843. pp. 23–32. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  2. The dating of Bianco da Siena's death was established thanks to Tommaso Caffarini's witnessing: Fernanda Sorelli, " Per la biografia del Bianco da Siena, gesuato: una testimonianza di Tommaso Caffarini (1403) ", Atti dell'Istituto veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti, 126 ( 1977-1978 ), p. 529-536.
  3. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Franca Brambilla Ageno Dizionario Biografico degli italiani.
  4. Enciclopedia Treccani .
  5. Biographia degli Scrittori Sanesi. Rossi. 1824. pp. 128–. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  6. Laudi spirituali: Codice inedito. G. Giusti. 1851. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help); |first2= missing |last2= in Authors list (help)
  7. Le opere volgari a stampa dei secoli xiii e xiv ed altre a' medesimi riferibili o falsamente assegnate. G. Romagnoli. 1861. pp. 1–. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  8. A Companion to Catherine of Siena. BRILL. 25 November 2011. pp. 227–. ISBN 90-04-20555-1. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help); |first2= missing |last2= in Authors list (help); |first3= missing |last3= in Authors list (help)
  9. Salinger, Margaretta (1942). "A New Panel in Giovanni di Paolo's Saint Catherine Series". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1 (1): 21. doi:10.2307/3257088. Margaretta Salinger A New Panel in Giovanni di Paolo's Saint Catherine Series, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer, 1942), p. 22.
  10. John Julian, A dictionary of Hymnology, New York, Dover Publication, 1957. John Julian, A dictionary of Hymnology, New York, Dover Publication, 1957, p. 141; LindaJo H. McKim, The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion, Louisville (Kentucky), Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993, p. 223.
  11. Singers and songs of the Church, sketches of the hymn-writers. 1869. p. 37. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  12. Hymnary.org - Bianco da Siena
  13. Manual on Hymn Playing: A Handbook for Organists. GIA Publications. 1992. pp. 47–. ISBN 978-0-941050-31-9. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
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