- One of the most important of early humanists was Petrarch (1304-74), an Italian poet who applied the ideas and values of ancient Greece and Rome to questions about Christian doctrines and ethics which were being asked in his own day.
- Many tend to mark the beginning of Humanism with the writings of Dante (1265-1321), yet though Dante certainly presaged the coming revolution in thinking, it was Petrarch who first really set things in motion.
- Petrarch was among the first to work to unearth long-forgotten manuscripts. Unlike Dante, he abandoned any concern with religious theology in favor of ancient Roman poetry and philosophy. He also focused upon Rome as the site of a classical civilization, not as the center of Christianity.
- Finally, Petrarch argued that our highest goals should not be the imitation of Christ, but rather the principles of virtue and truth as described by the ancients.
- Although many humanists were literary figures like Petrarch or Dante, many others were actually political figures who used their positions of power and influence to help support the spread of humanist ideals. Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406) and Leonardo Bruni (1369-1444),