Valla, Lorenzo (1407–1457)

Italian philosopher, translator, and historian. He attacked scholasticism and promoted classical literature, advocating an alliance between faith and eloquence. He influenced the Dutch humanist Erasmus and the German Protestant Martin Luther.

Valla, born in Rome, was historian and secretary to King Alfonso of Naples 1435–1448, when he returned to Rome as secretary to Pope Nicholas V. He proved some of the most hallowed documents in the papal curia to be forgeries, notably the Donation of Constantine, which purported to give the pope temporal sovereignty over the Roman emperor. Valla criticized Aristotelian logic, and believed that medieval philosophy and logic had had a bad effect on theology.

His works include Elegantiarum libri/On the Elegancies of the Latin Tongue 1471, the first Latin grammar to be written since the Middle Ages, and Annotationes in Novum Testamentum/Annotations on the New Testament 1444.