"Petrarch" is the English rendition of the surname of Francesco Petrarca, the Italian poet and humanist. Born 1304, in Arezzo. Died 1374 at Arqua.
Francesco Petrarca was the son of a notary named Petracco, who had been expelled from Florence by the Guelph party. While Francesco was still a child, in 1313, Petracco migrated, with his family, to Avignon. Here, in 1327, Petrarch first met Laura, the woman for whom his unrequited love was to inspire so much great poetry (she was married to another man, Count Hugues de Sade). Inspired by Laura, Petrarch wrote numerous love poems, titled Rime in Vita e Morte di Madonna Laura (or Canzoniere).
Apart from his poetry, Petrarch was widely famed as a classical scholar and humanist, in particular as a student of the works of Cicero and Virgil. In 1341, Petrarch was crowned poet laureate at Rome.
Throughout his life, Petrarch was deeply concerned with civil liberties in Italy, championing the republican cause of Rienzi - yet paradoxically, he remained (perhaps because of his accomplishment as an poet) welcome as a guest in the palazzi of the princes and nobles of Italy.
As one of the earliest exponents of the Italian Renaissance, Petrarch was and is much admired by his posterity, and his influence has been enormous.
"Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife
He would have written sonnets all his life?"
- Lord Byron: Don Juan, canto 3, sonnet 8