num_pages: 128
description: Petrarch's Liber sine nomine is a collection of nineteen letters on the corruption of the papal court at Avignon, and on Petrarch's hopes for the reestablishment of the temporal spiritual preeminence of Rome. These letters represent the impassioned criticism of an intelligent observer who had first-hand knowledge of the corruption of Avignon, "the newest Babylon." Avignon is "where frankness is called foolishness, cunning is called wisdom, God is despised, money worshipped, the laws trodden underfoot." Rome, where Petrarch believed the papacy rightfully should be located, was "the holy mother, the queen of cities." Indeed, his indictment of the papacy was so unremitting, that Petrarch had to exclude the letters from his collected Epistolae familiares, hold them back from publication until after his death, and remove the names of his correspondents as well as most clues to their identities.
language: English
title: Petrarch's Book Without a Name
titlecomplete: Petrarch's Book Without a Name
genres: History
ratings_count: 10
publisher: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies