Family in 1976 Giovanni was born at
Mirandola, near
Modena, the youngest son of
Gianfrancesco I Pico,
Lord of Mirandola and Count of
Concordia, by his wife Giulia, daughter of Feltrino
Boiardo, Count of
Scandiano. The family had long dwelt in the
Castle of Mirandola (Duchy of Modena), which had become independent in the fourteenth century and had received in 1414 from the
Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund the fief of Concordia. Mirandola was a small autonomous county (later, a duchy) in
Emilia, near
Ferrara. The Pico della Mirandola were closely related to the
Sforza,
Gonzaga and
Este dynasties, and Giovanni's siblings married the descendants of the hereditary rulers of Ferrara, Bologna,
Carpi,
Forlì and
Piombino. Giovanni's maternal family was singularly distinguished in the arts and scholarship of the
Italian Renaissance. His cousin and contemporary was the poet Matteo Maria Boiardo, who grew up under the influence of his own uncle, the Florentine
patron of the arts and scholar-poet
Tito Vespasiano Strozzi. Giovanni had a paradoxical relationship with his nephew
Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola, who was a great admirer of his uncle, yet published
Examen vanitatis doctrinae gentium (1520) in opposition to the "ancient wisdom narrative" espoused by Giovanni, described by historian Charles B. Schmitt as an attempt "to destroy what his uncle had built."
Education , 1842,
Musée d'Arts de Nantes A precocious child with an exceptional memory, Giovanni was schooled in Latin and possibly Greek at a very early age. Intended for the
Church by his mother, he was named a papal protonotary (probably honorary) at the age of 10 and in 1477, he went to Bologna to study
canon law. At the sudden death of his mother three years later, Pico renounced canon law and began to study philosophy at the
University of Ferrara. He may also have been a lover of Poliziano. From 1480 to 1482, he continued his studies at the
University of Padua, a major centre of
Aristotelianism in Italy. It was an
astrologically auspicious day that Ficino had chosen to publish his translations of the works of Plato from Greek into Latin, under Lorenzo's enthusiastic patronage. Pico appears to have charmed both men, and despite Ficino's philosophical differences, he was convinced of their Saturnine affinity and the divine providence of his arrival. Lorenzo would support and protect Pico until Lorenzo's death in 1492. Soon after this stay in Florence, Pico was travelling on his way to Rome where he intended to publish his
900 Theses and prepare for a congress of scholars from all over Europe to debate them. Stopping in
Arezzo he became embroiled in a love affair with the wife of one of Lorenzo de' Medici's cousins, which almost cost him his life. Giovanni attempted to run off with the woman, but he was caught, wounded and thrown into prison by her husband. He was released only upon the intervention of Lorenzo himself. Pico spent several months in
Perugia and nearby Fratta, recovering from his injuries. It was there, as he wrote to Ficino, that "divine Providence ... caused certain books to fall into my hands. They are
Chaldean books ... of
Esdras, of
Zoroaster and of
Melchior, oracles of the magi, which contain a brief and dry interpretation of Chaldean philosophy, but full of mystery." Pico was introduced in Perugia to the mystical Hebrew
Kabbalah, which fascinated him, as did the late classical Hermetic writers, such as
Hermes Trismegistus. The
Kabbalah and
Hermetica were thought in Pico's time to be as ancient as the Old Testament. One of Pico's tutors in Kabbalah was
Rabbi Johannan Alemanno (1430s – c. 1510), who argued that the study and mastery of magic was to be regarded as the final stage of one's intellectual and spiritual education. According to Brian Copenhaver, Pico also relied on translations by
Flavius Mithridates, a convert and prolific forger. Flavius supplied Pico with doctored Kabbalistic and seemingly pro-Christian texts, which persuaded Pico "that mysteries of the Kabbalah were keys to heaven for Christians." This contact, initiated as a result of Christian interest in probing the ancient wisdom found in Jewish mystical sources, resulted in unprecedented mutual influence between Jewish and Christian Renaissance thought. Pico based his ideas chiefly on Plato, as did his teacher, Marsilio Ficino, but retained a deep respect for Aristotle. Although he was a product of the
studia humanitatis, Pico was constitutionally an
eclectic, and in some respects he represented a reaction against the exaggerations of pure humanism, defending what he believed to be the best of the
medieval and Islamic commentators, such as
Averroes and
Avicenna, on Aristotle in a famous long letter to
Ermolao Barbaro in 1485. It was always Pico's aim to reconcile the schools of Plato and Aristotle since he believed they used different words to express the same concepts. It was perhaps for this reason his friends called him "Princeps Concordiae", or "Prince of Harmony" (a pun on Prince of Concordia, one of his family's holdings). Similarly, Pico believed that an educated person should also study Hebrew and
Talmudic sources, and the Hermetics, because he thought they represented the same concept of God that is seen in the
Old Testament, but in different words. He finished his "Oration on the Dignity of Man" to accompany his
900 Theses and travelled to Rome to continue his plan to defend them. He had them published together in December 1486 as
"Conclusiones philosophicae, cabalasticae et theologicae", and offered to pay the expenses of any scholars who came to Rome to debate them publicly. He wanted the debate to begin on 6 January, which was, as historian Steven Farmer has observed, the feast of
Epiphany and "symbolic date of the submission of the pagan gentes to Christ in the persons of the Magi". After emerging victorious at the culmination of the debate, Pico planned not only on the symbolic acquiescence of the pagan sages, but also the conversion of Jews as they realised that Jesus was the true secret of their traditions. According to Farmer, Pico may have been expecting quite literally that "his Vatican debate would end with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse crashing through the Roman skies". In February 1487,
Pope Innocent VIII halted the proposed debate, and established a commission to review the orthodoxy of the
900 Theses. Although Pico answered the charges against them, thirteen theses were condemned. Pico agreed in writing to retract them, but he did not change his mind about their validity. Eventually, all 900 theses were condemned. He proceeded to write an
apologia defending them,
Apologia J. Pici Mirandolani, Concordiae comitis, published in 1489, which he dedicated to his patron, Lorenzo. When the pope was apprised of the circulation of this manuscript, he set up an inquisitorial tribunal, forcing Pico to renounce the
Apologia, in addition to his condemned theses, which he agreed to do. The pope
censured 900 Theses as: This was the first time that a printed book had been banned by the Church, and nearly all copies were burned.
Death , , showing (l–r)
Marsilio Ficino,
Cristoforo Landino,
Poliziano and
Demetrios Chalkondyles In 1494, at the age of 31, Pico died under mysterious circumstances along with his friend
Poliziano. It was rumoured that his own secretary had poisoned him because Pico had become too close to Savonarola. Forensic tests showed that both Poliziano and Pico likely died of arsenic poisoning, possibly at the order of Lorenzo's successor, Piero de' Medici. Subsequent scientific investigation found that while Pico may have died from acute arsenic poisoning (intentional or otherwise), there was not enough evidence to conclude the same for Poliziano, and levels of arsenic found in his remains may have been from chronic exposure or have taken place post-mortem. == Writings ==