Thinkers Timeline

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and theologian whose synthesis of Christian theology with Aristotelian philosophy became the most influential intellectual achievement of medieval Catholic thought and remains a central reference in Catholic philosophy and theology today. He was born around 1225 at the family castle of Roccasecca, in the Kingdom of Sicily (in present-day Italy), to the noble family of the Counts of Aquino. His parents sent him at age five to the nearby Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino, intending him for a monastic career that would eventually make him abbot. In 1239 political conflicts disrupted this plan and he was sent to the University of Naples, where he encountered the works of Aristotle and the new Dominican Order. In 1244 he joined the Dominicans — a decision his family opposed so strongly that they kidnapped him and held him under house arrest for over a year. He persisted, reached Paris in 1245, and became a student of the great Dominican scholar Albertus Magnus. He followed Albertus to Cologne, then returned to Paris, where he became a master of theology in 1256. Over the next eighteen years he wrote at an extraordinary rate — the Summa contra Gentiles (1259-1265), the Summa Theologiae (begun 1265, unfinished), extensive commentaries on Aristotle, commentaries on several books of the Bible, disputed questions, and many other works. He held teaching posts at Paris and at the Dominican study house in Rome and spent his final years in Naples. In December 1273, while celebrating Mass, he had some experience that he described only as straw compared to what he had seen, and he stopped writing. He died a few months later, in March 1274, while travelling to attend the Council of Lyon. He was canonised in 1323. His works have been studied continuously in Catholic institutions for over seven centuries and have influenced philosophy and theology well beyond Catholicism.

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was an Italian poet, writer, and political thinker. He was born in Florence, one of the most important cities in medieval Italy, into a family of modest nobility. He fell deeply in love as a young man with a woman named Beatrice, who died young and became the central figure of his poetic imagination. He was active in Florentine politics and held several public offices. In 1301, when a rival political faction took power in Florence, Dante was accused of political offences, sentenced to death if he returned, and exiled from his city forever. He never went back. He spent the rest of his life wandering from city to city in northern Italy, writing, and composing the work for which he is remembered above all others: the Commedia, known in English as the Divine Comedy. This long narrative poem, written in Italian rather than the Latin used by educated writers of the time, describes a journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. It was immediately recognised as a masterpiece and has remained one of the most admired works in world literature for seven hundred years.

Christine de Pizan was a medieval Italian-French writer. She is widely considered the first woman in Europe to make her living as a professional author. She was born in 1364 in Venice. Her father, Tommaso da Pizzano, was a doctor and astrologer. When she was four, the family moved to Paris because her father had been invited to serve as court astrologer to King Charles V of France. Christine grew up in the French royal court. Her father supported her education, which was unusual for a girl at the time. She read Latin, history, philosophy, and poetry. She had access to the king's library, one of the best in Europe. At fifteen she married Étienne du Castel, a court notary. By all accounts the marriage was happy. They had three children. In 1389, her husband died of the plague. Christine was 25. Her father had also died the year before. She suddenly had to support her three children, her widowed mother, and a niece. She had no inheritance and no easy way to earn money. Most widows in her position would have remarried or entered a convent. Christine chose neither. She decided to write for a living. She found patrons among the French royal dukes. She wrote poems, biographies, advice books, political works, and history. By her death around 1430, she had produced over forty works. Her best-known book, The Book of the City of Ladies (1405), is one of the earliest defences of women in European literature. She is buried in the convent of Poissy, where she spent her final years writing in support of Joan of Arc.

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian artist, scientist, and inventor. He was born in 1452 in the small town of Vinci, near Florence, in what is now Italy. His name means 'Leonardo from Vinci'. He was the son of a young woman named Caterina, who was probably a peasant or servant, and a wealthy notary named Ser Piero. His parents never married. Leonardo grew up in his father's family but was treated as a separate, somewhat outside figure. He showed great talent young. As a teenager he was apprenticed to the artist Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence. He learned painting, sculpture, and many practical crafts. Around the age of 30, he moved to Milan to work for the Duke, Ludovico Sforza. He stayed in Milan for nearly 20 years. He painted, designed weapons, planned buildings, and filled notebooks with ideas. When French armies invaded Milan, Leonardo moved on. He worked in Florence, Rome, and other Italian cities. He served various rulers, including Cesare Borgia and the Medici. In 1516, the king of France, Francis I, invited him to come and live in France. Leonardo accepted. He spent his last three years in a small castle near the king's palace at Amboise. He died there in 1519, aged 67. He never married and had no children. He was probably gay, though the evidence is indirect. He was vegetarian, unusual for his time. He left thousands of notebook pages full of drawings and ideas, most of which were not read for centuries.

Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian writer, diplomat, and political thinker. He was born in 1469 in Florence, then a powerful Italian city-state. His family was middle-ranking and not rich, but his father had a good library. Machiavelli was educated in Latin, history, and the classical writers of ancient Rome. In 1498, at the age of 29, he became a senior official of the Florentine Republic. For the next fourteen years he served as a diplomat and adviser. He travelled across Italy and Europe on missions, meeting popes, kings, and warlords. He watched up close how power actually worked. He saw cruelty, betrayal, and luck shaping politics far more than virtue or law. In 1512 the Republic fell. The Medici family, who had ruled Florence before, returned to power. Machiavelli lost his job. He was suspected of plotting against the Medici, arrested, and tortured. Released and sent into rural exile, he spent his days farming and his evenings writing. In 1513 he wrote The Prince, a short, sharp book of advice for rulers. He hoped it would win him a job back in Florence. It did not. He also wrote a longer work, the Discourses on Livy, a study of Roman republican history, plus comedies, histories, and military essays. He died in 1527, just before the Republic briefly returned. The Prince was published five years after his death. It became one of the most controversial and influential books in the history of political thought.