Giovanni da Serravalle, also known as Giovanni de Bertoldi (c. 1350 – 1445), was a Sammarinese Franciscan and humanist, who became bishop of Fermo and bishop of Fano (1417–1445)."Bishop Giovanni de Bertoldi, O.F.M." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved October 7, 2016. He is now best known for his commentary on Dante.
Life Giovanni de Bertoldi was ordained a priest in the Order of Friars Minor.
In 1385 he was lector at the studium of St. Croce.p. 131 note 50; Google Books. From 1387 to 1390 he taught moral philosophy at the University of Pavia.Luca Carlo Rossi, Le strade di Ercole: itinerari umanistici e altri percorsi : Seminario internazionale per i centenari di Coluccio Salutati e Lorenzo Valla : Bergamo, 25-26 ottobre 2007 (2010), p. 75; Google Books. He taught arts at the University of Perugia for a year from 1400. Lista dei maestri He was appointed bishop of Fermo by Pope Gregory XII, around 1410. On 15 Dec 1417, he was appointed during the papacy of Pope Martin V as Bishop of Fano. He served as Bishop of Fano until he died there on 15 Feb 1445. treccani.it biography
While bishop, he was the Principal Co-Consecrator Jean Heysterbach, Auxiliary Bishop of Augsburg (1436).
Works During the Council of Constance he translated the Divine Comedy into Latin.Walter Ullmann, Medieval Foundations of Renaissance Humanism (1977), pp. 114–5. He did this largely for the benefit of Nicholas Bubwith and Robert Hallam, English bishops attending the council;Wendy Scase, David Lawton, Rita Copeland (editors), New Medieval Literatures (2000), p. 13; Google Books. he was encouraged by Amedeo Saluzzo attending the council, who was a cardinal of the Avignon obedience. Serraville was also a source for stories concerning the young Dante's visits to Paris and Oxford.Henry Francis Cary (translator), The Vision; or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, Volume 1 (1819), p. v; Google Books.Miranda entry for Saluzzo He lectured at Constance on Dante too, producing later a written commentary.Werner Paul Friederich, Dante's Fame Abroad, 1350-1850: the influence of Dante Alighieri on the poets and scholars of Spain, France, England, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States (1950), p. 342; Google Books. It was strongly influenced by Benvenuto da Imola and Stefano Talice da Ricaldone;Steven Botterill, Dante and the Mystical Tradition: Bernard of Clairvaux in the Commedia (2005), pp. 137–8; Google Books. and Serravalle revised Benvenuto's glosses, to support the council's reforming programme.Richard Lansing (editor), The Dante Encyclopedia (2000), p. 208.
Digital Editions:
Notes
External links and additional sources Serravalle's Latin translation of and commentary on the Commedia (for Chronology of Bishops) (for Chronology of Bishops)