AMBROGIO TRAVERSARI. — Theologian and Camaldolese humanist, born at Portico di Romagna on 16 Sept. 1386, died at Florence on 21 Oct. 1439. At the age of fourteen he entered the monastery of S. Maria degli Angeli, the Florentine centre of humanistic culture. There he enthusiastically devoted himself to the study of Latin and Greek letters, in which he became a master to Giannozzo Manetti, the sons of Cosimo de’ Medici, and many members of the patriciate. He maintained relations with the leading men and scholars of his time (N. Niccoli, P. Bracciolini, L. Giustiniani, F. Barbaro, T. Parentucelli), from whom he received visits and letters, codices to correct or transcribe, and manuscripts to review or submit to his judgment.
Traversari carried on a literary activity equal to that of the most ardent humanists. Indeed, for his translations of Greek authors he kept at least three scribes and translated with such speed that even Niccoli was amazed. Famous are his Latin versions of the sermons of St. Ephrem and the Lives of the Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius, both dedicated to his patron, Cosimo de’ Medici. Countless were the codices that passed through his hands, often improved in their text and always in their script, for which he employed excellent miniaturists and calligraphers who still existed at S. Maria degli Angeli.
His elevation to the generalship (which took place in 1431 at the monastery of S. Maria in Urano, near Bertinoro) considerably hindered this activity, which had to give way to another, more difficult and less pleasant one: the reform of his Order, begun in 1431 with visits to the houses of the Congregation and continued until 1434. He left a detailed account of this in his *Hodeoporicum* or *Itinerarium*, which is a realistic documentation of the sorry state in which, generally speaking, religious of the 15th century found themselves.
In 1435 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Council of Basel, where on 26 Aug. of that same year he delivered, in plenary session, a discourse (Mansi, XXIX, 1250-57) in which he struck at conciliar theory (v. Conciliarism), appealing to the principle that in every society there must be one head, one teacher; he warned that the correction of the pope, in case of error or fault, belonged rather to the piety of individual faithful than to the authority of a general assembly.
(from A. Dini-Traversari, A. T. e i suoi tempi, Florence 1812, plate before the title page) Ambrogio Traversari — Effigy from a portrait by P. Dandino, similar to that in the Magliabechian codex containing Traversari’s Letters.
His intervention proved effective with Cardinal Cesarini, president of the Council, whom he, together with others, won back to the cause of the Holy See. At Ferrara (1438) and Florence (1439), where the Council was transferred, Traversari’s presence was perhaps even more valuable, for by his prudence he succeeded in softening the harshness of Eugenius IV’s character, which threatened to compromise every good understanding with the Greeks; and by his profound knowledge of Greek and Latin he facilitated the conduct of the discussions and prepared the way for the happy conclusion. It is not known whether his role was merely that of translator or whether he combined the office of interpreter with that of theologian. One of his statements (Epist. 555) suggests that he entered the lists with his opponent in the doctrinal debate itself. Traversari was entrusted with drafting the decree of union. After a few months he died suddenly. He was buried in the church of the sacred hermitage of Camaldoli.
Little attention has been paid by historians to this great man. Had he not left an *Epistolary* rich in autobiographical information and had he not recounted the events of his generalship in the *Hodeoporicum*, very little would be known of his work. Today his figure has again begun to attract interest, for in Traversari the humanist one notes that it is not so much the cult of classical studies that counts as the man who, amid the excesses of two opposing tendencies, followed the path of right balance.