Picodella Mirandola

Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni (1463-94), was the youngest son of Giovanni Francesco Pico, Prince of Mirandola (a small territory afterwards incorporated in the Modenese). In his childhood he displayed marvellous precocity, and the narrow round of instruction in the university of Bologna drove him forth in disgust to seek out new paths of learning as a wandering scholar in Italy and France. Arriving at Rome after about seven years, he issued a list containing nine hundred propositions which he offered to maintain against any antagonist (1486). Some of these being deemed heretical, he published an Apologia, but his orthodoxy remained doubtful till Alexander III. issued a brief in his favour in 1493. The latter part of his life was spent chiefly at Florence, where the influence of the humanists Politian and Ficinus was counteracted by that of Savonarola. His views became more and more austere, and it is probable that if his life had been prolonged he would have joined the preaching friars.