thias had done. Mathias’s has been praised for his having brought “ the most men of Italy to Hungary”(6). Italian humanists were also convinced to travel abroad by local aristocrats that convinced them that it would be best for there careers. Leonardo Bruni was invited to England. Also, nobleman who had made their acquaintance while in Sicily invited Lucio Marineo and Pietro Martire d’Anghiera to Spain. Humanism’s spread can’t be explained by just humanists leaving Italy to spread their knowledge abroad but also by the amount of foreigners that came to Italy during this period. One hundred and thirty two visitors came to Italy during this time including soldiers, merchants, diplomats, artists, and other scholars. Burke illustrates,” The curve of visitors is worth noting fourteen visitors in the first half of the fifteenth century, 44 between 1450 and 1499, a peak of 63 between 1500 and 1549, and between 20-30 from 1550 to1600” (7). Many of these visitors came to Italy to learn the humanist scholarship from the leading humanist that taught at several universities including, “the University of Pavia, the University of Ferrara, the University of Bologna, and especially the University of Padua.” Willibald Pirckheimer attended the University of Padua and is one of the most famous German humanists. In some cases, students would be sent to Italy to study canon law, which was common, but became interested in the humanist scholarship after meeting a humanist and changed their minds and later became humanists. The most famous example is that of Petrarch, which I explained in the first paragraph. Spitz had the example of, “ Rudolf Agricola from the Netherlands went to Italy in 1468 and began studying law at the University of Pavia but later moved to the University of Ferrara to engage in the studia humanitatis”( p.406). Several others who abandoned law for humanistic...
