This section contains 751 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
Encyclopedia of World Biography on Cola di Rienzi
The Roman popular leader Cola di Rienzi (1313-1354) was tribune of Rome during a period of the Avignonese papacy. He led a republican movement that restored for a time the dream, if not the reality, of Roman greatness.
Cola di Rienzo (incorrectly but popularly Rienzi; was born Niccola di Lorenzo Gabrini in Rome. His father was a tavern keeper whose Christian name, Lorenzo, had been shortened to Rienzo. As a boy, living at Anagni, Cola di Rienzi read voraciously of the heroes and deeds of ancient Rome. The poets and historians who told of the glories of the ancient city filled him with a burning zeal to restore its former greatness.
As a very young man, Rienzi attracted attention in Rome when, with eloquence and aided by the presence of monuments of antiquity all around him, he reminded his fellow citizens of the might of the empire. Rome...
This section contains 751 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |