Lorenzo Valla

Timeline

1. 1407–1415Rome · RomeBorn into a Roman legal family, he was exposed to the classical Latin tradition in childhood; between 1411 and 1415 he received preliminary humanist education in Rome, studying rhetoric and the reading of classical texts, laying the foundation for his later philological critical method.
2. 1415–1420Piacenza · PiacenzaAfter about 1415 he went to Piacenza and elsewhere to continue his studies, deeply engaging with the works of classical rhetoricians such as Cicero and Quintilian and developing a critical awareness of medieval Latin style; by around 1420 he completed his basic education, preparing to enter wider Italian humanist circles.
3. 1433–1444Naples · NaplesUnder the patronage of King Alfonso V of Naples, he served as a court scholar and taught rhetoric; during this period he completed works such as De voluptate and De libero arbitrio, using philological methods to critique scholastic philosophy and medieval Latin, earning fame throughout Italy.
4. 1440–1457Rome · RomeIn 1440 he published De falso credita et ementita Constantini donatione, arguing from anachronistic vocabulary and stylistic analysis that the document was a medieval forgery, shaking the legal basis of the papacy's temporal territory; he later entered the papal curia as Latin secretary and died in Rome in 1457.