Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola

Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola (1463-1494), Italian humanist philosopher, born near Ferrara, and educated at the University of Bologna. Instead of completing his studies at Bologna he visited famous universities in Italy and France, astonishing scholars with his precocious learning. At the age of 23 he settled in Rome and there publicly posted a list of 900 theses or propositions about all subjects, offering to defend them publicly. The pope deemed that some of his theses dealing with cabalistic magic were heretical and forbade him to carry on his projected discussions. In 1489 Pico completed the Heptaplus, a mystical account of the creation of the universe. His library was one of the largest and most comprehensive of his day. A wealthy man, he eventually decided to give away all his possessions and become a wandering preacher, but he died before he could carry out his plan. The year before his death Pope Alexander VI absolved him of any imputations of heresy.