Author Archives: petrini1

1645 – William Scott (2nd Baronet of Thirlestane), Scottish lawyer, lyricist, and neo-Latin poet. 1763 – János Batsányi, Hungarian poet, writer, translator, editor, and literary critic. 1771 – José Mamerto Gómez Hermosilla, Spanish writer, journalist, and literary critic. 1817 – Isabella Letitia Woulfe, British writer known for a popular and acclaimed debut novel, Guy Vernon,Continue reading “May 11 Writer Birthdays”

0893 – Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani, Yemeni Arab writer, poet, historian, linguist, grammarian, geographer, chemist, astronomer, and astrologer. 1843 – Benito Pérez Galdós, prolific Spanish novelist, short-story writer, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, painter, and politician who was the leading literary figure in 19th century Spain. 1863 – Kaarle Krohn, Finnish folklorist, writer, and professor whoContinue reading “May 10 Writer Birthdays”

1588 – Herman Hugo, Belgian writer, Jesuit priest, and military chaplain whose Pia Desideria, a religious emblem book published in Antwerp, was the most popular religious emblem book of the seventeenth century; it went through 42 Latin editions and was widely translated up to the 18th century. (An emblem book is a collection of emblemsContinue reading “May 9 Writer Birthdays”

1492 – Andrea Alciato (commonly known as Alciati, or Andreas Alciatus), Italian writer, historian, jurist, and university teacher who is regarded as the founder of the French school of legal humanists. He is most famous for his Emblemata, published in dozens of editions; this collection of short Latin verse texts and accompanying woodcuts created aContinue reading “May 8 Writer Birthdays”

1426 – Giovanni Pontano (later known as Giovanni Gioviano or, in Latin, Ioannes Iovianus Pontanus), poet, writer, humanist, and politician from the Duchy of Spoleto, now in Umbria in central Italy. 1711 – David Hume, Scottish historian, economist, and essayist; a key figure in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment. 1748 –Continue reading “May 7 Writer Birthdays”

1584 – Diego de Saavedra Fajardo, Spanish writer, playwright, essayist, satirical writer, political writer, historian, and diplomat who published the anti-Machiavellian book Empresas Políticas: Idea de un príncipe político cristiano (Political Maxims: Idea of a Christian Political Prince), written primarily for the son of King Philip IV. 1751 – François-Rodolphe de Weiss, Swiss writer, philosopher,Continue reading “May 6 Writer Birthdays”