Matteo Gentili

(1517-1602)

Matteo Gentili was born in 1517 from Lucentino (or Gregorio, according to the registration number of the University of Pisa). Introduced to the field of medicine as his paternal grandfather, he attended the University of Perugia and Pisa, obtaining the doctoral degree on 13 May 1549, assets defined medicine and philosophy, in the presence of numerous prominent figures of the time, like Simone Porzio. Returned to San Ginesio, the following year he married Lucrezia Petrelli, daughter of Captain Diodoro Petrelli and sister of Niccolò Petrelli, castellan of Trieste in the service of Archduke Ferdinand II, with whom he had seven children. The most famous are Alberico, the firstborn, and Scipio, the penultimate. Assumed as citizen doctor In the 1552, In the 1558 went on a mission to Tolentino on the orders of the city government, to then undertake the profession of doctor in the town until 1562. During the civil strife that took place in San Ginesio, Matteo tried to intervene to try to overcome local conflicts, but the failure he obtained caused him a negative judgment on the part of the Sanginesina population. In 1566 it is found at Borgo San Sepolcro, where he practices his profession until October 1571, when the city council of Ascoli Piceno appointed him a doctor in place of his brother Pancras, died a few months earlier. Returned to San Ginesio in 1573, he dealt with city politics and became prior of the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Thomas and Barnabas.

After the first negative opinions emerged about the members of the fraternity, In the 1579 the complaints to the inquisitorial court and some arrests pushed him to get away from San Ginesio, in the company of Alberico, to avoid trial and jail. The escape route was oriented towards Ljubljana, with a transit to Trieste, where the fugitives could count on the protection of Niccolò Petrelli, who recommended them to the baron Khisl von Kaltenbrunn. On 27 August 1579, Matteo obtained the appointment as protomedico del Duchy of Carniola, role he held only for a few months, due to the proclamation of the edict of Rodolfo d'Asburgo, which provided for the practice of the Catholic confession only and the expulsion of those suspected of Protestant beliefs. In 1580 was forced to take refuge in England, precisely London, where he acquired a certain role in the Italian Church of London, to then join his son Alberico ad Oxford. Matteo died in 1602, after becoming seriously ill in 1581. He came buried on 26 February in the St. Helena's Church in Bishopsgate.

Pancrazio Gentili

(first half of the 16th century-1571)

Born around the second decade of the sixteenth century, as his brother Matteo undertook the medical studies and worked as a physician in various places in central Italy, such as Penna San Giacomo and Borgo San Sepolcro. Enrolled at the University of Perugia between 1536 and the 1541, he occasionally attended classes, presumably because of the job. In 1545 he was called to San Ginesio as a doctor, while continuing to participate in local political life, joining in the same period to join (1554) of Belief Council, fundamental body of the city government that dealt with solving the most serious issues of the country. Obtaining various successes, the evil eye of the community fell on him until, In the 1557, moved to Ascoli Piceno for work, temporarily replacing the doctor in charge, Antonio Marino Ronconi. The following year, the City Council of Ascoli Piceno unanimously accepted the proposal of a preacher of the Lenten cycle, thus forcing the interruption of medical services for those who had not approached the sacraments: this led to his arrest, ordered from Sant’Uffizio on 27 November 1567. Thanks to the position he enjoyed with the government and the population, the city council gave him the opportunity to write to cardinals Scipione Rebiba and Michele Bonelli, proposing that his cause be delegated to the powers of the governor of Ascoli and not to those of the ecclesiastical court. In January 1568, following a Council decision, also requested by the community of San Ginesio, which enjoyed good relations with the Ascoli town, his case was entrusted to a delegation of speakers who went to Rome with the task of pleading the defense of the city doctor. The end of the case came on 9 May 1568, after having been carried out in the church of the Minerva in Rome: on 16 May his replacement with Giovanni Girolamo Ancellotti was authorized, but despite having been convicted of heresy, his sentence must have been minor, since the 6 July 1570, the people of Ascoli took care of reinstate it in its health duties. On 20 May 1571, during the service, he was struck by death and was buried in Ascoli Piceno in the church of San Francesco. His brother Matteo took over the role of doctor.

Scipio Gentile

(1563-1616)

Penultimate of seven children by Matteo and Lucrezia, the continuation of all the necessary requirements 16 years reached Liked, where the father and brother Alberico, in exile for reasons of religion, allocated temporarily. After going to Tübingen together with his brother, he faced the philosophical and poetic studies, and then move on to the University of Wittemberg, thus starting the study of law. In 1582 moved to the University of Find where he continued his philological studies below Just Lipsius and the legal ones below Hugh Donellus. In 1584 published in London the In David's 25 psalms the epic paraphrases, translation of the Psalms into Latin verses, activity which he conducted periodically throughout his life. In the same year he published i The first two books of Solymeidos were printed in Italian by Torquati Tassi, translation into Latin hexameters of the first two books of the Jerusalem Liberated by Torquato Tasso. In 1587, after Donellus lost his professorship in Leiden for religious reasons, moved to Heidelberg where he tried to get the professorship of Institutions of law, but failing, blamed Giulio Pace, law professor in Heidelberg, writing a poetic composition. Pace, offended by the work, denounced him to the academic senate. Left Heidelberg for Basel, where is the 16 April 1589 he got his doctorate, in the spring of 1590 came to Altdorf where he found his teacher, Donellus, in the role of teacher of the local academy (colleges) and, thanks to him, on 10 September obtained the professorship of Institutions, happening to Hubert van Giffen.

His lessons were very successful, so that, at the death of Donellus, which took place in 1591, he was called to hold the public funeral oration and was commissioned to perform exegesis lessons on the Codex e then of lessons on Pandette. Scipio, he was both author highly esteemed for the numerous legal and literary works, be a man highly appreciated for the countless relationships with prominent personalities of the time. In 1612 married Maddalena Calandrini, daughter of Cesare from Lucca, active member of international Calvinism, exile in Nuremberg where he exercised mercantile and banking activities. Despite the numerous calls of the University of Bourges, Orleans and Leida, he always remained in Altdorf, also refusing the invitation of Pope Clement VIII for a chair in Bologna or at the Sapienza in Rome. He died on 7 August 1616 and was buried in the parish church next to his teacher Hugo Donellus. The French Michel Piccart, professor of logic and metaphysics, he held the public funeral oration (The funeral eulogy of Scipio Gentilis written and spoken by Michael Piccart, Nuremberg 1617).

Roberto Gentili

(1590-second half of the 17th century)

Roberto Gentili was born in London on 11 September 1590. Son of Alberico and the Huguenot Hester de Peigne, Roberto was named in honor of his godfather, Robert Devereux Earl of Essex. Great learning person, he learned from an early age the many languages ​​taught by his father: the vulgar, English, Latin and Greek, using his bilingualism to translate l’To the demonic of Isocrates. Member of the Christ Church of Oxford, In the 1598, at the age of eight, he got his first degree, while at the age of twelve, he graduated again, with a Bachelor of Arts at Jesus College. For his abilities and thanks to the closeness of his father, William Laud he named it Collector of the University of Oxford. In 1607, at seventeen, he was appointed prematurely Fellow of’All Souls College di Oxford, when the minimum age required was eighteen: Alberico's intervention was fundamental, as he fought to support his appointment.

Despite in the 1612 got the Bachelor of Civil Law, his behavior changed before his father died, indeed it got worse in its ways, defined almost close to evil. Roberto moved abroad for twenty-five years, abandoning his wife Alice, then died in 1619 in London. Returned to the city of birth, remarried on 4 January 1638 con Mary, widow of Richard Simpson, and got work like professional translator receiving a royal pension. Nothing is known about him after the 1655, because of his poor health described in its translation I will sing.

Other family members

  • Manilius, Antonio, Unseen, Vincenzo and Quinto, brothers of Alberico and Scipione;
  • Sveva and Gregorio, sons of Pancrazio.