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De viris illustribus compiled as a book of exemplary ancient lives

De viris illustribus gathers Latin lives of ancient figures as moral-civic examples, a long-term compilation of Petrarch’s middle decades, stored here at year-level 1350 as a working public form. In the causal graph this event strengthens Digital Learning Access, a driver that weakens Learning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries) — an improving welfare path.

Read the full account

De viris illustribus gathers Latin lives of ancient figures as moral-civic examples, a long-term compilation of Petrarch’s middle decades, stored here at year-level 1350 as a working public form. It is not Plutarch’s parallel lives and not a later school reader’s copyright. It is one more humanist prose instrument beside Africa and the letters.

Context

Exemplary biography is a teaching genre. Shared with scribes and with the ancient authors excerpted. It is not a welfare Fact about any one ancient king. Later Italian uses of ‘illustrious men’ as national gallery are reception.

Why it matters

Exemplary lives are an education path of high confidence and modest weight.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Petrarch

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.28 · verified

    Named author of a Latin collective biography. Ancient sources were his library. Direct on the compilation as a lifetime work.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Treccani — Francesco PetrarcaIstituto della Enciclopedia Italiana · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — PetrarchEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Treccani at https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/francesco-petrarca/ (opens in a new tab) lists De viris among the Latin prose. Britannica at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Petrarch (opens in a new tab) independently treats the Latin historical-moral works. Vatican manuscript neighbourhood at https://www.vaticanlibrary.va/ (opens in a new tab) is archival, not the act.

Established: a lifetime De viris project. Not established: a unique 1350 dedication day or a measured civic-virtue series. Collective ancient lives as civic school-book, working 1350, not Plutarch and not a national gallery. Official locator https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/francesco-petrarca/ (opens in a new tab) is not independent locator https://www.britannica.com/biography/Petrarch (opens in a new tab).

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. De viris is not the Canzoniere and not Cola’s tribunate. Mixed effects of De viris illustribus compiled as a book of exemplary ancient lives are separate paths.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

The contribution type is direct. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Shared responsibility is part of De viris illustribus compiled as a book of exemplary ancient lives. Naming Petrarch does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1350-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorPetrarch
  2. contributed toFactDe viris illustribus compiled as a book of exemplary ancient lives
  3. strengthensDriverDigital Learning Access
  4. weakensIndicatorLearning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). De viris illustribus compiled as a book of exemplary ancient lives. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/pet-de-viris-illustribus

https://factrail.ai/facts/pet-de-viris-illustribus

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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