Daniello Bartoli

Background

Daniello Bartoli was born on February 12, 1608, in Ferrara, Italy. His father, Tiburzio was a chemist associated with the Este court of Alfonso II d'Este.

Education

After Bartoli entered the Society of Jesus at the age of fifteen, he studied with the Jesuits at Piacenza and Parma. In Parma (1626–29) he completed his philosophate. After teaching rhetoric at Parma for a time, he proceeded to Milan and Bologna for theological studies. Under Jesuit scientists Giovanni Battista Riccioli and Niccolo Zucchi the young Bartoli, together with his younger contemporary Francesco Maria Grimaldi was involved in noteworthy experiments and discoveries of the planetary heavens.

Career

Daniello Bartoli took his vows in 1643 and by 1650, after extensive travel, he was made historian of the Jesuits, and thereafter resided principally in Rome. From 1671 to 1673 he was rector of the Collegio Romano (now the Gregoriana), the principal Jesuit university.

Although not distinguished by valuable original contributions, Bartoli’s scientific expositions were generally objective, clear, and attractively written; they evidence wide reading and a spirit of true inquiry.

Thomas Salusbury, the English translator of Galileo’s works, published in 1660 a translation of Bartoli’s Dell’huomo di lettere difeso, et emendato. The book was designed to encourage the pursuit of scholarship under such difficulties as poverty, hostile criticism, and neglect of one’s published work; to stimulate public appreciation of original ideas; and to discourage plagiarism or the worship of authority by students. Bartoli’s work was undoubtedly effective, both in Italy and abroad, in increasing interest among lay readers in the burgeoning physics of the seventeenth century.

Achievements

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  Bartoli’s major published works comprise histories of the first century of Jesuit activity in England, Italy, China, and Japan. He also wrote extensively on Italian literary matters and on morals. In the scientific field, he did much to expand and popularize the work of contemporary physicists, particularly barometric experiments and the concept of atmospheric pressure (1677). He also wrote works on the physical analysis of sound, sound waves, and the sense of hearing (1679), and on the phenomena of freezing (1681).

Works

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  • L'Eternita Consigliera 1655
  • Della Vita del P. Vincenzo Carafa, Settimo Generale della' Compagnia di Giesu: Libri Due 1651
  • La Geografía Trasportata al Morale 1664
  • Dell'ortografia Italiana 1670
  • Missione al Gran Mogor del Padre Ridolfo Aquaviva della Compagnia di Gesiu 1653
  • Prose scelte
  • DELL'HUOMO DI LETTERE DIFESO, ET EMENDATO 1645
  • L'uomo Al Punto 1669
  • Dell'Istoria della Compagnia di Gesù 1650
  • La Poverta Contenta 1664
  • La missione al Gran Mogor ed alcune descrizioni geografiche e storiche 1653
  • Della vita e dell'istituto di S. Ignatio fondatore della Compagnia di Giesu libri cinque del P. Daniello Bartoli della medesima Compagnia 1650
  • Il torto è 'l diritto del non si può 1655
  • Della Geografia Trasportata Al Morale 1664
  • Istoria della Compagnia di Gesu l`Inghilterra parte dell'Europa 1667
  • La Tensione: E La Pressione 1677
  • Del Suono De'tremori Armonici e dell'Udito: Trattati 1679
  • L'uomo di lettere difeso ed emendato 1645

Religion

In his religious affiliation, Bartoli was a Roman Catholic.

Views

Bartoli sought to link the speculative and experimental approaches in science. He did not hesitate to mention Galileo with praise and to quote from his works (which were still on the Index) and from those of such foreign writers as William Harvey, Marin Mersenne, and Pierre Gassendi. Occasionally he disputed Galileo’s opinions, especially on harmonic theory.

Membership

Bartoli entered the Society of Jesus at the age of fifteen.

Connections

Father:

Tiburzio Bartoli

teacher:

Giovanni Battista Riccioli

teacher:

Niccolò Zucchi

associate:

Francesco Maria Grimaldi

References

• Daniello Bartoli e i prosatori barocchi
  1975
• Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies
  2006
• Daniello Bartoli: A letterato of the seicento
  1979
• Prose Scelte del P. Daniello Bartoli Della Compagnia Di Gesù
  2018
• Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
  1964