Petrarch
Petrarch, real name Francesco Petrarca (1304-74). Italian humanist poet and scholar. His Canzoniere (begun 1342) is a collection of sonnets and odes addressed to Laura, about whom little is known. Petrarch met her in a church in 1327 but apparently never saw her again. Petrarch’s sonnets had a great influence on the development of European poetry, especially on Chaucer in England. He also wrote a number of scholarly works in Latin.
