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Filippo Ferrari

Italian cleric-scientist

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 6, 2024
Entity authorityQ3071889
Source-derived summary

Filippo Ferrari (Philippus Ferrarius) (1551 – 1626) was an Italian Servite friar and scholar, known as a geographer, and also noted as a hagiographer.

Life

He was born at Oviglio in Piedmont. It is near Alessandria, and he was nicknamed Alessandrino (Philippus Ferrarius Alexandrinus). He taught mathematics for 48 years at the University of Pavia.

Ferrari was prior general of his order from 1604 to 1609, and vicar general in 1624/5. He was therefore head of the Servites at the time of the Venetian Interdict, and was consulted by Paolo Sarpi in Venice. A detailed account of Ferrari's dealings with Pope Paul V during the confrontation of those years was given by Fulgenzio Micanzio, Sarpi's ally. It was with Ferrari's approval that Sarpi took up the appointment as theological consultant to Venice on 28 January 1606.

Works

Ferrari published his Epitome Geographicum in 1605. His Lexicon Geographicum was published internationally in a number of later editions: edited by William Dillingham (London, 1657), and by Michel Antoine Baudrand (Paris, 1670).

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Filippo Ferrari” is italian cleric-scientist. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Filippo, Ferrari and Italian, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1551, 1626, 1604, 1609—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1551. For this dossier, Filippo, Ferrari and Italian is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “italian cleric-scientist” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 6, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q3071889. VIAF identifies the subject as 44604381. The Library of Congress control number is no2011193968. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1551, 1626, 1604 and 1609.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Filippo Ferrari”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Filippo Ferrari primary sources, Filippo Ferrari archive and Filippo research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Filippo Ferrari”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Filippo Ferrari” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.