Law and Poetry: Remembering Petrarch

Petrarch

In 1320, Petrarch left Florence for Bologna to study law.  The University of Bologna was the first university in the Western World, established in 1088.  He studied in Bologna until 1326 when his father, a lawyer, passed away.  Free from family expectations (and a little richer from his inheritance), Petrarch abandoned his studies in law to pursue his interest in poetry and history.  In the following year he met Laura, his muse.  Other than through Petrarch's poems, the historical Laura has been lost to history.  

Here is an excerpt from Sonnet 140:

"She who teaches me to love

 and to suffer and who wishes that reason,

 modesty and reverence should restrain my

 great desire and burning hope, thrusts aside

 and disdains our ardor."

Baylor WCII Faculty in the law school of Bologna