Girolamo Ghilini

{{Short description|Italian writer and scholar (1589–1668)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix = Reverend | name = | honorific_suffix = | image = File:Gerolamo_Ghilini.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Girolamo Ghilini | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1589|5|19|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Monza]], [[Duchy of Milan]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1668|12|12|1589|5|19}} | death_place = [[Alessandria]], [[Duchy of Milan]] | death_cause = | citizenship =  | other_names = | occupation = {{hlist|Catholic priest|Writer|Scholar}} | period = | title = [[Canon (clergy)|canon]] | boards = | spouse = {{marriage|Giacinta Bagliani|16 June 1614|16 November 1630|reason=her death}} | partner = | children = 7 | family = [[File:Stemma famiglia Ghilini.svg|15px]] Ghilini | parents = Gian Giacomo Ghilini and Vittoria Ghilini (née Omati) | relatives = | awards =  | website = | education = | alma_mater = [[University of Parma]] | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences = | era = | discipline = History of literature, statistics | sub_discipline = | workplaces = | known_for = ''Teatro d'huomini letterati'' | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''Girolamo Ghilini''' (19 May 1589{{snd}}12 December 1668) was an Italian writer and scholar of the [[Seicento]]. Ghilini was the first who used the term [[statistics]] in his unpublished treatise ''Ristretto della civile, politica, statistica e militare scienza'' (Alessandria, Bibl. civica, ms. n. 7).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ostasiewicz|first=Walenty|title=The emergence of statistical science|journal=Śląski Przegląd Statystyczny|volume=12|issue=18|year=2014|pages=76–77|doi=10.15611/sps.2014.12.04|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=States and the Masters of Capital: Sovereign Lending, Old and New|first=Quentin|last=Bruneau|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|year=2022|isbn=978-0231555647|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63RnEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT64}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Statistica medica di Milano dal secolo XV. fino al nostri giorni escluso il militare|volume=1|first=Giuseppe|last=Ferrario|author-link=Giuseppe Ferrari (philosopher)|publisher=Giuseppe Bernardoni|year=1838|location=Milan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIxNAAAAcAAJ|page=4}}</ref>

== Biography == Girolamo Ghilini was born in [[Monza]], in the [[Duchy of Milan]], in 1589. He studied literature and philosophy at Brera, Milan's Jesuit College.{{sfn|Merlotti|2000}} He went afterwards to [[Parma]], where he applied himself to the study of [[Civil law (legal system)|civil]] and [[Canon law of the Catholic Church|canon law]]; but was obliged to desist on account of ill health. He returned home, and upon the death of his father he married Giacinta Bagliani. After the death of his wife he embraced the ecclesiastical life and resumed his studies, receiving a degree in canon law and theology.{{sfn|Merlotti|2000}} Later he became [[protonotary apostolic]] and titular of Saint James Abbey in the village of [[Cantalupo nel Sannio]] in southern Italy, but he probably never went there.{{sfn|Merlotti|2000}} In 1637 he was made canon of the Collegiate of the [[Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio]], in Milan.{{sfn|Merlotti|2000}} Ghilini was a member of the [[Accademia degli Incogniti]] of Venice.{{sfn|Merlotti|2000}} He died in Alessandria in December 1668. He was buried in the church of San Bernardino.{{sfn|Merlotti|2000}}

== Works == Ghilini's most important work is his ''Teatro d'huomini letterati'' (Theatre of Men of Letters), a [[biographical dictionary]] illustrious men. The first part of this work was printed at Milan in 1633. A second enlarged edition was published in Venice, in 1647, in two volumes.{{sfn|Chalmers|1814|page=441}} Ghilini used sources available to him in [[Latin]], including [[John Pitts (Catholic scholar)|John Pitts]]' ''Relationum historicarum de rebus anglicis'', published in paris in 1619.{{sfn|Cherchi|1985|pages=211}} Ghilini's work was praised by [[Adrien Baillet]] for its accuracy but harshly criticized by [[Bernard de la Monnoye]] for its lack of critical judgement.{{sfn|Chalmers|1814|page=441}} The ''Theatro'' is an important source of knowledge on Italian XVII century writers, and is still quoted to this day. Ghilini was the first to give a literary profile of many English writers unknown in Italy in his day, including [[Geoffrey Chaucer]].{{sfn|Cioffi|1987|pages=53–61}}

== Main works == * {{cite book|title=Teatro d'huomini letterati|publisher=per il Guerigli|year=1633|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBxoDC-4iS0C|language=it|location=Venice}} * {{cite book|title=Annali di Alessandria|publisher=Gioseffo Marelli|year=1666|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xI4LcaPAq4QC|language=it|location=Milan}}

== Notes == <references />

== Bibliography == {{sfn whitelist |CITEREFMerlotti2000}} * {{Commons category-inline}} * «Girolamo Ghilini Alessandrino». In : ''Le glorie de gli Incogniti: o vero, Gli huomini illustri dell'Accademia de' signori Incogniti di Venetia'', In Venetia : appresso Francesco Valuasense stampator dell'Accademia, 1647, pp. 268–271 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=-UxmAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA268&dq on-line]). * {{cite book |first=Filippo|last=Picinelli|author-link=Filippo Picinelli|title=Ateneo dei letterati milanesi |date=1670 |publisher=Vigone |location=Milan |pages=341–2}} * {{cite encyclopedia |year=1814 |title=Ghilini, Jerome |encyclopedia=[[Alexander Chalmers' General Biographical Dictionary|General Biographical Dictionary]] |publisher=J. Nichols |location=London |url=https://words.fromoldbooks.org/Chalmers-Biography/g/ghilini-jerome.html |last=Chalmers |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Chalmers |volume=15 |pages=440–441}} {{PD-notice}} * {{Cite journal |last=Madaro |first=Luigi |year=1927 |title=Girolamo Ghilini accademico degli Incogniti e la bibliografia dei suoi scritti editi ed inediti |journal=Rivista di storia, arte, archeologia per la provincia di Alessandria ed Asti |volume=XXXVI |pages=99–106}} * {{Cite journal |last=Viora |first=Mario E. |year=1947 |title=Per una biografia di Girolamo Ghilini |journal=Rivista di storia, arte, archeologia per la provincia di Alessandria ed Asti |volume=LVI |pages=115–116}} * {{Cite journal |last= Cherchi |first= Paolo |year=1985|title= Girolamo Ghilini e le sue fonti per le biografie di letterati stranieri|journal= Studi Secenteschi|volume=XXVI|pages=209–222}} * {{Cite journal |last=Cioffi |first=Caron |year=1987 |title=The First Italian Essay on Chaucer |journal=The Chaucer Review |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=53–61|jstor=25094030}} * {{DBI|title=GHILINI, Girolamo|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/girolamo-ghilini_(Dizionario-Biografico)|last=Merlotti|first=Andrea |volume=53}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghilini, Girolamo}} [[Category:1589 births]] [[Category:1668 deaths]] [[Category:People from Monza]] [[Category:Duchy of Milan people]] [[Category:Italian essayists]] [[Category:Italian male essayists]] [[Category:University of Parma alumni]] [[Category:Italian Baroque people]] [[Category:17th-century Italian male writers]]